July 16^th – Cody, WY

Our first event today was a ride through Grizzly Country! The grizzly population in Yellowstone has grown by 3% in the park and 9% right outside the park (where we are!). It was a very different ride when compared to our fun, care-free rides with Emily at Turpin Meadows Ranch. Here, at Elephant Head Lodge, our guide was a real cowboy! Whatever Mike told us – we were sure to obey! He wore a .22 pistol and had bear bells on his spurs. Before we even left camp, he told us about the bear, mountain lions, and moose that they occasionally see. We had Mike in front, and a guide bringing up the end of our line. He told us in case of trouble, his first priority would be to take care of the kids. So, we knew this was a far more serious trail! The kids wanted to trot or lope; but Mike insisted that would be wrong for the horses; they might try that with an inexperienced rider next time. Mike had a real respect for the land and for the training of the horse. Along the way, Mike would occasionally put his hand on his pistol – eyeing the territory in front. He always followed that with, “This is a place I saw a grizzly last week/month.” I was pretty spooked; as he showed us several places where he’s run into a grizzly. We knew if we saw a bear, Mike would turn our line around and head back. We saw beautiful terrain; huge buttes with the Rockies in the background. As Keith says, “We didn’t see any grizzly, but they saw us!”

Next, we went into Cody and took a quick tour of the Buffalo Bill Dam. We found a great coffee shop with wireless internet – Yea! Success! Kevin & I spent time updating our blog site. Taking our time, we went through the quaint, cowboy shops. The real fun began with the Cody shoot out in front of the historic Irma Hotel. Wow – real guns sounds & lots of fun with characters like Bill Cody and Calamity Jane. At nightfall, we were amused at the Cody Rodeo. Those cowboys are crazy! We watched lasso tricks, tying cattle, barrel races, and finally the crazy bull riding! These bulls were angry! They’d buck, spit, drool, & chase anything in the ring. One bull even tried to jump the fence to get out of the ring! What a great time in Cody!