In 2006, I rode my newly purchased 1800cc Honda Gold Wing motorcycle westward to tour the National Parks and attend a family reunion in Las Vegas. After three days of hard riding from the DC Metro area, I used Cody Wyoming as my jumping off point before heading into Yellow Stone National Park.
The morning before riding into the park, I stopped for breakfast and when I asked the waitress, “was I too far west for Grits?” She smiles and said, “oh, we have them,” and went on to explain many people have asked for them over the years and grits have been added to the menu.
When she returned with my breakfast order and my bowl of “Grits,” I realized they may have added them to the menu, but the instant grits they prepared for me did not compare to the old-fashioned boiled grits I was accustomed to.
When I mounted my motorcycle I hoped my grits experience was the only hick-up for the day because with a 30-mile ride towards Yellowstone National Park ahead of me I was excited.
But as I headed out of town my eyes caught a glimpse of a 50-100 foot gorge on my right. I slowed to get a better view from the viewing pull-out to view this incredible geological formation.
Eleven years later, I captured these photos below in 2017 and I was barely scratching the surface of astonishing sights for that day just like in 2006.
The photos of the gorges before the Buffalo Cody State Park and Dam.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit Yellow Stone use Cody Wyoming as your starting point. It is a town with a visceral pulse for tourism while providing a hometown feeling. The traffic along its main fairway streams with motorcycles, recreational vehicles, local traffic, and school buses.
Towards the end of the day during the summer a street play depicting a shootout between Buffalo Bill and the Sundance Kid is always a crowd pleaser.
I taped this video on a warm Friday summer evening, where locals mixed with tourist walked and enjoyed a beautiful summer evening of street theater.
The town of Cody Wyoming oozes everything William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody who was an American scout, bison hunter, and showman which is revealed at the Buffalo Bill Center of the west museum.
Leave a Reply