Today was my day off and since the weather did not cooperate with my planned trip up and over the Beartooth Pass into Red Lodge, MT, I took myself to town with the specific plan of spending a goodly amount of time at the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center.
Along the way I ran into a bunch of the folks who work at YVI with me and we all stopped for sushi at the only place in town to serve it. Good but not great. Then to K-Mart where I met the nicest man, Robert, in the drapery department. We struck up a conversation and chatted for at least 20-30 minutes about living here, why, how, tension rods, rooms without doors, the Navy - well, you get my drift. Then the grocery store where when I said I was planning to spend a few hours at the museum before taking my groceries home to the fridge, they came up with 'free dry ice'.
As usual, along my way I had to stop and take a few pictures. The first is of an old truck which I am told was used by a medicine man/hardware salesman that went throughout the West, from ranch to ranch, selling his wares. I love it! It has a niche and place for everything, with trunks and boxes nailed on the bumpers to hold even more.
The 2nd picture is a the private swimming pool that it right on the Shonshoni River where the thermal hot springs bubbles up. It's directly across from the Cody Rodeo and the man owns 1000's of acres of land. Now I call this the 'height of wasted wealth!'.
I spent a couple of wonderful hours at the Center in the exhibit featuring over 100 painting of the Expedition of the Corps of Discovery - the Lewis & Clark Expedition - by Charles Fritz. It's a beautiful exhibit and the beautiful painting tell the story.
Though Lewis & Clark did not succeed in finding an easy water route across the North American continent as instructed by President Jefferson, they did lead the Corps of Discovery on an adventure beyond their wildest expectations. The discovery of the geography, flora, fauna, and encountering the Native peoples within the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase was meticulously documented. What they lacked, and lamented, was the inclusion of a professional artist. Until now. Artist Charles Fritz set off on the entire length of the Lewis and Clark Trail. Painting en plein-air, he visited the sites at the same time of year as the expedition to accurately capture the colors, light, weather, etc. that the group encountered in 1804-06. With exacting research, each of the one hundred paintings in the exhibition references a journal entry and is accompanied by additional text embellishing the painting's context in the collection.
I've grabbed just a few Fritz's paintings off the BBHC website to entice those of you who might be thinking of visiting this area this summer, to be sure and not miss at stop at this fabulous Historical Center, which houses 5 museums in one location.
And on the way home I just had to stop at the Bar-B-Q Wagon and get a fresh, wood-fire, smoked, pulled-pork sandwich for my supper. Being a connoisseur of bar-b-que and especially Q with red sauce, I had to give this southern Floridian's little chuckwagon a try. Will let you know the results.
Now it's time to snuggle in and keep warm and dry. The rain is just coming down in buckets. The mountains are completely shrouded in rain and low-lying clouds. It's a good night to curl up on the couch with a fat cat on your lap and watch TV!
Until next time...take care of each other!
ReAnn
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