Cody

Cody, Wyoming was named for William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who was involved in the founding of the town.

The Shoshone River flows through Cody in a fairly deep canyon. The area around the river is a city park with hiking trails.

This is the poster for Buffalo Bill’s show on Long Island, New York, in 1886 and 1887.

Thermopolis

We stopped in Thermopolis, home to numerous natural hot springs and Hot Springs State Park.

The “State Bath House” is open to the public for free as part of an 1896 treaty signed with the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian tribes.

It was really hot and felt great.

Buffalo, Wyoming

We left South Dakota and headed west into Wyoming. We spent our first night there in Buffalo. We were awakened in the morning by the sounds of animals outside the coach.

They were not Buffalos.

Bix in the Black Hills

Bix enjoyed his stay in the Black Hills too.

The Crazy Horse Memorial

Just 8 miles from Mt. Rushmore, another monumental sculpture, The Crazy Horse Memorial, is taking shape. Designed and started in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziółkowski, the statue of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior riding a horse, will be the largest in the world when (or if) it is finished.

The face was finished in 1998, but the sculpture is a long way from being finished.

Ziółkowski died in 1982. The work is now being supervised by his wife Ruth. Jill took this picture of Ruth (in blue) in the visitor center’s restaurant.

Glenn and Ziółkowski’s first air compressor. Ziółkowski referred to it as the “Buda” but the compressor was actually made by Gardner Denver, a company still making air compressors. The engine was made by the Buda Engine Co.

The compressor was many years old when Ziółkowski acquired it. Stories were told about the engine stopping after Ziółkowski had climbed up the mountain only to have to climb back down to restart it.

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial

The initial view of the Mt. Rushmore Memorial from the parking garage was impressive.

Ok, well maybe not that impressive

The actual memorial was more impressive.

Custer State Park

Located in the Black Hills, Custer State Park is South Dakota’s largest and first state park. The Black Hills are an isolated area of mountains, not part of the main body of the Rocky Mountains. It is a very pretty area of small mountains and trees, surrounded by the plains.

The Black Hills really are black.

Well, not all of the rocks are black.

The park’s “Begging Burros” are not native to the area but are descendents of animals brought here in the 1920s.

Sylvan Lake

This is one of several tunnels along the Iron Mountain Road that were built to line up with Mt. Rushmore.

The French Creek Natural Area was an area within the park accessible only by driving over 10 miles of single-lane, unpaved roads.

Custer State Park is home to a herd of 1500 free roaming bison. Here are a few of them.

Some bison keep to themselves and did not hang with the herd.

This animal is sometimes called a pronghorn antelope. But they are not antelopes. Their scientific name is "antilocapra americana." But you can just call them pronghorn.

This guy is a “Least Chipmunk,” smallest member of the chipmunk genus.