CODY, WY Day 3.  Today we left early to drive the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and the Beartooth All-American Road, which loop up from Wyoming into Montana and back into Wyoming.  It was a long winding up and down road, reaching almost 11,000 feet in elevation at one point.  There is a lot of hazy light due to fires west of here, making landscape photography difficult.

Notice How Clear Betty Is, Then How Hazy the Background Is

Foreground Is Clear, Background Is Hazy

This Is The View Behind a Coffee Shop Along the Way

Betty Caught This Shot Out the Window of a Moving Car

Later after we returned and ate supper, we walked into downtown Cody.  A very upscale and friendly town.  Not what we expected of a town that has nightly rodeos.  We stopped into a mountain climbing gear store which had on its second floor an old snow coach as a conversation piece.  They must have built the building around it for it to fit in there.  Newer versions of these are still used in Yellowstone during the winter.  The staff were very friendly, articulate young people.  

Old Snow Coach

Tomorrow we shall visit the central place of the town, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.  It is huge.  We took photos with our phones of two of the statues outside, since it was closed for the night.  This town has many statues.

Bill Cody in His Early Days as a Pony Express Rider

Sacagawea, Who Guided Lewis and Clark

The following statue outside their modern new hospital is entitled, "Code of the West."  The facial expressions are of honest sincerity and integrity.  This is not the way of life we find in many western movies.    

"Code of the West"

The old west mythology of hard drinking, brothels, violence, and greed found in gold mining towns (now ghost towns) is not represented in this town.  This seems to be a wholesome place to live.  Part of the explanation may well be found in the Christian influence here.  The rodeo announcer the other night opened the rodeo with a wonderful enthusiastic prayer, closing it "in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."  As we walked down the main street of Cody last night, we saw a motel sign over the sidewalk adjacent to the establishment that displayed the following:

This is a place we should like to visit again.