Check out this place it is amazing!! http://www.bbhc.org/
Day 4
We are now at Cody Wyoming
After numerous delays and a quick supper at Wendy's restaurant in Kelowna we left and spent the first night and the cool roadside stop just near Christina Lake
The next morning we made it through the border with our produce intact (not confiscated) except for a lemon in the fridge. We also made it through with 15 bottles of homemade wine! Life promises to be good.
A few hours later we stopped at Coeur d'Alene Idaho and went for a cool 12 mile waterfront ride along the waterfront with our bikes.
An hour or so's driving put us along the side of the road on the way to Montana. One shortstop we made was at Wallace Idaho. It is reportedly the center of the world's richest silver deposit and a very old town in that area.
Check out a few pictures: https://www.google.ca/search?q=wallace+idaho&hl=en&qscrl=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Jc5dUsTjBeS9igK1sYHIBQ&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1260&bih=614
The state of Idaho has created a unique 70 km mile paved strip along a former rail bed that takes you all the way from Wallace to Coeur de Lane. It is said to be a wonderful ride on a bike as a grade never exceeds 2% and for the most part is downhill. You pass through mountain passes, across railway trestles and through tunnels on your way down the route.
We just made it across the Idaho border into Montana and found a beautiful little siding off the highway with a trail right near a creek or small river.
The next day saw us drive to Deer Lodge. Here was located the former Montana State penitentiary. This ancient rock-wall fortress is now a museum with many interesting stories about the characters that made this place home. Check it out: http://www.pcmaf.org/prison.htm
In addition to that right adjacent to it was the most incredible Museum of antique cars that I have ever seen with over 140 cars most of which predated 1940. We spent over two hours just walking through and admiring the pristine classics that ranged in age from 1900 through to about 1970. ...take a look http://www.pcmaf.org/wordpress/auto-museum-vehicle-list/
That night the Rockville casino parking lot became our short-term residence.
A short 2 Hour Dr. today brought us to Cody. The home of Buffalo Bills heritage Museum.
Check out this place it is amazing!! http://www.bbhc.org/
This place is truly amazing. It is actually five museums under one roof. The scale of the building was immense with about 40,000 sq ft of exhibits!
The first museum was the world's largest collection of handguns and rifles. They range from Flintlock guns that predated the American Indian wars, to rifles made for the second world war.
The collection included guns from many famous people including Presidents such as Johnson Kennedy Roosevelt and others that I've forgotten. Many of the guns were more pieces of art then actual rifles or handguns. On these guns were paintings, etchings and many plaques and ornate drawings. It was a museum that depicted very clearly how America's history was so closely tied to the rifle and handgun.
The second museum focused on American Art through the last 200 years. It too was remarkable, with many hundreds of paintings chronicling the struggles within America that enabled the nation to unify over a 200 year period. Also there were many, many pictures the unique geography and parks of the western United States.
The third focused on the history of the Plains Indians over the last 500 or more years and the trouble they had when the white man came into the territories a d of how they struggling to
reemerge as a unique culture and society within the greater nation.
The fourth museum focused on Buffalo Bill, the man. It went through his history from the time he was born on to his days as a teenage scout for the American army, where he occasionally fought on the side of the troops. After the Indian wars he became a famous buffalo hunter supplying meat to many sources including the army. It is said that he personally killed over 1000 Buffalo.
The next phase of his life was focused on entrepreneurial activities ranging from Building Cody city to creating the hugly successful Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
He entertained most of Europes aristocracy prior to WW1. at this time he was one of the worlds most recognizable people and the first American celebrity superstar, making millions of dollars over this period.
The Fifth museum focused on Yellowstone National Park. It had pictures, movies, and dioramas and statues and sculptures of all physical aspects of the park from animals to mountains to hot springs to steam geysers etc.
Its violent behaviour over recorded history leads scientists to believe that it will inevitably erupt again, but no one knows when. When it does, it will be cataclysmic to our planet, causing millions of deaths to most living organisms within many hundreds of miles of its epicentre and causing global climate change for many years.
The Buffloe Bill Cody museum captured our interest so a point where we spent a few hours the next day catching all the last minutes things that we missed the day before.
The afternoon was spent in wonderful sunshine wandering around the streets of the town.
For lunch it was downtown to the historical Irma Hotel. It was constructed at the beginnin of the 20th century by Buffaloe Bill himself. Having spent so many years in Europe, the hotel has a blend of European class and Wild West flare. It included a rosewood bar that was a present from Queen Victoria, a metal pressed and embossed ceiling, as well as a classic western fireplace.
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