Buffalo Bill Dam and the Big Horn Canyon

Leaving Yellowstone via the East Entrance was a good call.  It was pretty much down-hill the entire way, I shifted into a lower gear and basically just coasted down.  Nice on the gas tank :).

We picked this exit not for the gas savings, which was a bonus, but for two other reasons.  One:  this was the only entrance/exit that we had yet to pass through.  Two:  we needed to go to Cody to do some shopping.

Just before we got to the town, we came to an overlook with beautiful water and hills.  If you haven't realized it by now, water is our thing.  We love it.  So of course we had to stop and check it out :)...

it doesn't show up that great, but there were some HUGE fish in there!

We were at the Buffalo Bill Dam... Huh!  Didn't even know all this was here...

After stretching our legs and our minds a little bit, we headed on through the tunnel and in to town.  We were all pretty tuckered out by the time we got into our hotel rooms for the night, so we just ordered in some pizza and crashed. 

The next morning we were up and ready (not!) to do some serious shopping.  Truthfully, I detest shopping...for necessities, that is.  I like the wander around poking through thrift/antique shops kind of shopping...this wasn't that.  Anyway, winter was hot on our heels and we needed gear.  Boots, hats, gloves, snow pants, wool socks, scarves...everything.  So, we headed to Sierra Trading Post with high hopes of a one stop shop.  Annnnd...it didn't happen.  The only Sierra Trading Post that we had been to was the one in Cheyenne several years ago and it was awesome.  The one in Cody was way smaller.  Bummer.  We did get 2 out of the 5 pairs of boots we needed and 1 pair of snow pants.  Wal-mart was good for a few basic items and then we needed a shopping break.  Time for some fun!

We took a little detour on our way to Billings (more shopping...) and ended up in Lovell, Wyoming, at the Bighorn Canyon NRA Visitor Center...

This was the perfect stop to even out our day...

The kids got to finish up their Jr. Ranger books that we had started oh...at least 2 years ago.  Hah! 

We watched a film about the Medicine Wheel, which we hiked up to see (you can read about it here) ...and another one about wild horses in the canyon, because one of my daughters LOVES horses.  It was a fun little stop.  Had we not needed to get to Billings I would have taken a different route home and paid another visit to the Medicine Wheel.  Some other day, perhaps...

the cutest 1950's theater in Lovell