We unpacked from the East Coast and repacked to head to
Wyoming and a visit with family. This
year we flew instead of driving as it is a two day drive from MO and a 3hr.
flight. We had a babysitting obligation
in MO for the end of the month and didn’t have the luxury of the extra driving
time. We did miss the wonderful scenery
thru Nebraska and Wyoming and seeing family that we saw last year.
We arrived in
Billings, MT. at 9:30 am and headed to Cody.
The majestic mountains were off to the right and the sky just opened up
all around us. The bigness of the country
is awe inspiring. Arrived in Cody by
noon and went straight to mom’s, she is great and loving the idea she will soon
be 90yrs. old. Good friends have opened
a winery, Buffalo Jump, in Cody and the wines are superb. Since it was Friday we were there in time for
Wine Down Friday an afterhours wine tasting club they have started. The winery interior is rustic, the walls
being from an old barn found out in the plains.
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| Buffalo skin in the winery |
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| Scott and Beckey enjoy the winery |
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| Leslie, sister Ally, and Scott and Becky |
Starting Sat. my sister, who now manages the thrift shops
for the Episcopal Church, put us to work and we volunteered for the next ten
days. This is quite an undertaking and
very successful for the church and community.
We were amazed at the variety of donations.
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| The Beer Fest at the edge of town |
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| contestants made their own tap |
Sat. night we went to an annual brew
tasting. Local brewers (garage type)
present their brews for voting. Some
really good home-made beer were consumed, my favorite was a pumpkin ale which
surprised me.
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| Leslie admires the Yaks |
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| Chewbaca |
Friends of my sister who used to live where we grew up
have moved to Cody and have a Yack Ranch.
I now know where they must have gotten Chew Baca’s character on Star
Wars, uncanny look alike. Yack meat is
delicious and good for you as it is lean.
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| Reconstructed guard tower at camp |
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| Reconstucted Barracks |
We took a morning and drove out to Heart Mountain
Internment Camp. This is the site where
more than 14,000 Japanese Americans were confined during World War ll, making it
the third largest city in Wyoming. At
one time the camp encompassed 47,000 acres with barracks type housing. A family was only allowed to bring with them
what each could carry. All their possessions were confiscated. A
family was allotted approx. a 20’by 24’ space with multiple generations living together;
as many as 10 people could be sharing this space. The space included an army cot, a mattress
and a blanket for each person. There
were no bathrooms except public baths and no cooking facilities except the camp
cafeteria. The barracks had no
insulation in the beginning and the coal furnaces were a constant worry for
fires in these flimsy buildings. The “camp”
eventually included a hospital, internee-managed fire, police and judicial
systems, a post office, a sewage treatment plant; a power station; a water
system, two grade schools in barracks, a high school building and several
cooperative enterprises. Internees
formed a very active recreation program and developed an agricultural program
to provide fresh vegetables, poultry, pigs, and cattle.
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| Picture of the camp under construction |
In 1944, the US government decided to draft
the 18 yr. old internees, 88 refused to go and were sent to prison, 800 served
our country with distinction. Even though the Japanese-Americans were
resourceful, they were living inside barbed wire with guard houses surrounding
them. The last train of internees left
Heart Mountain on Nov. 10, 1945 each person receiving a ticket to the West
Coast and $25.00. Many of these people
went on to recover what they lost, some became doctors, lawyers and even politicians
but some never recovered, a phenomenal testimony to human spirit. If you get to Wyoming this is a must visit.
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| Buffalo Bill Museam |
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| Each dot pin is a place he performed his show, impressive |
Another
must see in Cody is the Buffalo Bill Cody museum and Old Trail Town which is
where Cody first laid out the town of Cody.
The refurbished Bill Cody exhibit had reopened and the man was fascinating. We included a picture of the US which shows
by all the stick pins where he performed The Wild West Show with Buffalo Bill
Cody. He employed hundreds of people
from all over the world and had to transport and set up these shows at each
destination. The show also went to
Europe where it was extremely popular.
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| Part of Old Town |
On our
last night in Cody we went to a wild crazy annual Halloween party where the
beer cooler is a real casket in the front yard.
We must now head back to MO. and
babysit our grandchildren then onto GA to babysit our other son’s children as
he and his wife will be on travel over the next 2weeks. Eric and family will drive down for
Thanksgiving so we will all be together. Carl has many projects to finish yet in
anticipation of returning to FROLIC.
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| Ready to Party! |
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| Beer casket |
