Shortly after leaving Cody and the Buffalo Bill Dam we entered Yellowstone National Park’s East Entrance. I had not visited Yellowstone since I was a youngster, maybe 45 years ago. Since Yellowstone is extremely large and we only had one day to see as much as we could, we took the long way around the park. From the east entrance we drove alongside Yellowstone Lake to the Fishing Bridge junction. After a nice lunch we took Grand Loop Road to Canyon Village, across to Madison then dropped down to Old Faithful and eventually out the south entrance leading to the Tetons.
Old Faithful erupts every 40 minutes to two hours. We decided we would wait up to an hour before moving on. Luckily, Old Faithful went off about 10 minutes after we arrived. Timing is everything.
We ended day four and began day five in Cody, WY. On the way to the Cody Rodeo the night before, we noticed what looked like an old frontier town in the fields between Cody and Stampede Park. We decided to check it out the next morning. It turned out being the Old Trail Town which was the original townsite of Cody, which was named after William F. (“Buffalo Bill”) Cody. If you are into Old West artifacts, you will definitely appreciate a stop by Old Trail Town.
After leaving the city limits and heading into the mountains we came across Buffalo Bill Dam. This dam was built in 1910 with no steel reinforcement and was the highest dam of the era. Another cool place to visit if you are in the area, and it is free.
After leaving Red Lodge we headed on towards the Beartooth Mountains. Since I had not been driving and had never visited this part of the country, I believed my cousin when he told me we were in the Tetons. It wasn’t until that night, when I brought out a map that I realized where we really were. Shortly after crossing the border into Wyoming we found ourselves on the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. There was no question that as far as scenery was concerned, our trip had just been bumped up a couple levels.
A viewing tip; try using the “Slideshow” link. When you click it you will see the photo ID and a couple icons. Click the one on the far right as this will give you the full scree mode. It is faster viewing and you will be able to enjoy the full effect.
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