Dad made it out to Cody on Wednesday and spent a couple days with me before we headed home. He picked me up from work on Thursday and took me out for lunch in town, which was really nice, and then visited around the museum with me that afternoon. I got to introduce him to lots of people that I work with, and really enjoyed letting him see my niche for the summer. My boss, John, was out of town that day, but Dad had met him earlier in the summer so all was ok. After work, we took Jessica out for supper at a supposedly good steakhouse in town. While the food was above average but not absolutely terrific, we felt that they really needed to work on their customer service.
On Friday, Dad went exploring in some of the areas around Cody and up the Beartooth Highway (which he had a blast doing, and said that the road is MUCH improved since we did it 18 years ago...for those of you who don't know, the Beartooth is an extremely narrow and dangerous road full of switchbacks. It is too narrow for large trucks and RV's, and takes about 2 hours to drive 40 miles. There is about 6 inches of shoulder between you and the edge of nothing, although Dad said that NOW they have guard rails on the side of the road. Needless to say, it's fairly trecherous). While he was out exploring, I was at my last day of work (sad!) serving cake for 4 hours. August 13th was Annie Oakley's 150th birthday anniversary, so we served cake in honor of that and also had some other exciting events going on. It was a very full day, and I was not ready to leave. The education dept. took me out for dessert at the end of the day which was very nice of them, and we had a nice break after a busy day.
On Saturday, Dad and I got up early and went to the Shoshone Lodge (they have excellent pancakes!) and had breakfast and then went horseback riding. It was probably the best trail ride i've ever been on, and we had a really great time. The ride was fairly difficult, and the horses were frisky, so it wasn't the typical "bumper to bumper" trail ride that most are. Dad's horse liked to bite mine, so we tried to keep them in check. I got a kick out of one of the wranglers. He kept instructing me on what to do when Lucky (my palomino) got out of line. I had already done what he was telling me to do by the time it came out of his mouth. About halfway through the ride, conversation brought out that Dad and I have a fair bit of experience (mostly Dad) riding horses, so the wrangler didn't try to give me instructions anymore.
We were several thousand feet up in elevation past where the road was. We rode about 5 or 6 miles, and were about 3 or 4 miles from the east entrance of Yellowstone. We saw some recent bear droppings, and also saw a couple deer out on our ride. It was really fun and Dad and I had a blast.
(This is the road headed towards Yellowstone. You can see Pahaska Tepee at the bottom)
Saturday afternoon, I loaded up the car with all my packed stuff finished getting everything ready for our big drive on Sunday. That evening, we headed out to the George farm and had a cookout with Jessica and her family. We roasted hot dogs up at the pond and had a big time. I really miss them already, but plan to keep in touch. I was really excited for Dad to meet the people who had been so great to me all summer and given me a place to go and just get away from town. I really appreciated their generosity with me and especially Jessica's friendship. I really hope that she can come visit me sometime soon and see what things are like in the south.
Sunday morning, I finished loading up the rest of my stuff and checked out of my house and then went to pick up Dad and we headed to church. Dad really met a lot of people while he was picking me up. :) It was fun for me though, especially since I got to show him the 3 places that I spent the majority of my time this summer. He really enjoyed the church service and I'm glad that he got to meet my friends from the summer. We stopped for a quick sandwich on Sheridan (that is their big main street) and pulled out of Cody about 11:30. We drove all day with a few minor stops, and ended our day in North Platte, Nebraska.
If you know anything about William F. Cody (aka Buffalo Bill) then you might remember that his home when he wasn't touring with the show, was in North Platte, Nebraska. After seeing original pictures all summer, I thought it would be neat to see the real thing. So before setting out again on Monday, Dad and I went to Scout's Rest Ranch and got to see the home that his wife lived in and the barn that is still standing on the property. WFC and his wife had a very tumultuous relationship, so it's not really a surprise he didn't spend much time at home. Anyway, it was fun for me to explain certain things from the museum inside the house to Dad about why things were the way they were, and a few stories behind several of the objects. Dad said that I knew more about the place than the people working there. I don't know about that, but it is fun to go see a historical place and know why things happened the way they did, and what is so important about that place.
We spent Monday night in the east side of St. Louis. It was fun to say Tuesday once we got home, "hey! we were in St. Louis this morning!" We traveled a little over 2,000 miles and about 36 hours of driving to make it home.
Thank you Lord for safe travels and a most blessed summer. Who knows, I might be retracing my steps and taking the same trail again next summer! I had such a great experience and have decided that museum education is the career path I hope to get to one day, and I would absolutely LOVE to get back out to Cody, even if it is just for a summer. This journey of my trail has ended for now, and as I head back to school for my senior year, I look forward to seeing what choices and paths lie before me as I finish the end of my college trail.
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