CLERC SCAR 29.1
8 March 2010
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CHASING VISTAS 27
Melanie Bond
Words: 1,627
[Memoir]
Chapter 84
Buffalo Bill Historical Center and Museum
It was late Tuesday afternoon on August 29 when we left Medicine Lodge Canyon and drove to Cody, Wyoming, where the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and Museum was located. There were few gas stations between Medicine Lodge Canyon and Cody, Wyoming, but when we needed restroom breaks, we always managed to find one. And now, here we were at the Buffalo Bill complex about an hour and a half just before closing time. We debated whether it was worth going inside and paying admission fees for a quick and fast tour. But one look at the grand entrance, an architectural wonder of glass, steel, and light, convinced us to come inside and have a look around. We were surprised to learn that there not just one museum but FOUR separate museums housed within the same complex. This was big-time entertainment!
In the lobby, only Harvey could see what was on the other side of the lobby as we paid for our tickets. He was captivated by the buffalo exhibit and pulled us toward it. There were two large life-sized brown buffalo grazing peacefully while a white frisky calf played on a circular grassy plains platform. He thought it was beautiful.
From here, we entered the first museum, the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum, which featured the life and times of Bill Cody and his Wild West shows. There were many old-fashioned shops and large exhibits, including a second display of two large life-sized bison with light brown backs and long thick shaggy clumps of furry hair draping their bodies. They were awesome!
When Dano spotted a bright tall red wagon with black trim and white-spoked wheels with black rims, he fell in love with it. No doubt Bill Cody had used them in his Wild West shows. The wagon looked more like a fancy but more opened stagecoach. Attached to it was a team of four magnificent life-sized horses. Dano was awed by the sheer size of these horses as his tiny frame stood there gaping up at them. Nearby, Dano saw a kiddie bucking bronco ride and wanted to get on it. Pretending to be a rodeo cowboy, he climbed up into the saddle, firmly gripped the saddle horn with one hand and waved his other hand wildly while enjoying the gentle bucking ride. Harvey examined an old supply wagon stocked full with provisions for a long journey. Who knew, maybe the wagon would accompany a long cattle drive or a gold-prospecting journey. It was fun imagining how life was back then.
Knowing that the museum complex would be closing soon, we rushed out of the Buffalo Bill Museum without seeing everything and hurried over to the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. After a quick glance at some of the awesome paintings and sculptures, I knew we had stumbled onto something very special here. This art gallery needed to be “felt” and savored visually and emotionally. We could not do this museum justice by rushing through it. At first glance, Harvey was instantly mesmerized by the beautiful artistry of Native Americans. He was especially drawn to a large painting, maybe six feet high by ten or twelve feet wide, of perhaps a sacred Indian council meeting. Its warm, bright colors made this scene come alive. Our silent awe and reverie was interrupted when the museum announced its closing time and asked visitors to leave.
Surprisingly, one of the museum guides encouraged us to return the following day with our ticket stubs which were good for 24 hours. This meant that we didn’t have to pay any additional entrance fees the next day. There was no question in our minds about whether we’d be back or not. What we had seen in just one hour’s time whetted our appetites for more new learning discoveries.
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Chapter 85
Buffalo Bill State Park
After we left the Buffalo Bill Museum Complex in Cody, Wyoming, we searched the campground directory for the closest campground we could find. We located one within a half-hour’s drive from the museum. Based on the complex directions in the directory, we wound our way through beautiful twisting gorge overpasses and tight mountain passes until we reached the Buffalo Bill State Park. By this time, the declining sun was casting its last soft glow on the waters of a peaceful lake called the Buffalo Bill Reservoir which was located just above the Buffalo Bill Dam on the Shoshone River. It was exciting to be here because, once again, it seemed that we were following the same trail which the famous Lewis & Clark expedition took on their quest to find the Northwest Passage.
We quickly settled into a beautiful camping spot facing the lake and watched the last traces of sunset glow ebb away, leaving behind only the twilight, then a deepening darkness. I could not make out any of the park’s geographical features except for the one big dark spot which I knew was the lake. And I knew that the few dark shadows scattered here and there around me were the green pine trees which I had seen earlier. I’ve always loved evergreens and felt comforted by their presence. What my vision could not see, my imagination willingly filled in the blanks for me.
The following morning, Wednesday, August 30, I awoke to a stunning view of the entire Buffalo Bill State Park. Mist drifted in off the mystical lake. The birds in the pine trees came alive and lifted their singing voices. The lakeview with mountains surrounding us on all sides was an open-sky sanctuary. How beautiful this place was! While I could still appreciate and admire nature’s beauty, I usually misjudged how close or how far things were from me. Thinking the pristine lake to be just a stone’s throw away from our campsite, I was shocked to see how far the shoreline was when I watched Dano and his furry polar bear pal, Buddy Bear, clamber down the steep embankment, make their way to the water’s edge and become smaller and smaller until I could barely see them. This made me realize with a pang how deceptive my lack of depth perception was. Broad daylight was no guarantee that my vision would function normally. I chose not to let this get me down but to simply appreciate what whatever vision I had left. The scenery here was heavenly. It was easy to look at the lake and think, “Peace, be still.” I made myself a mental note to come back here again someday, God willing.
Wanting to capture our images here, we took a few pictures with our camera–one of Buddy Bear crawling on top of Dano’s head with the lake to their backs, another one of me standing next to Dano who sat on top of our closed camper, and another one of Buddy Bear crawling up onto my shoulder just as Harvey snapped my picture! What a mischievous but fun-loving creature Buddy Bear was!
Chapter 86
Buffalo Bill Dam
We left the serene campground at Buffalo Bill State Park and headed back toward Cody, Wyoming. But before we reached Cody, we stopped off to see the Buffalo Bill Dam. There was a visitor center with a gift shop and various displays that turned out to be not so accessible for me. I remember lapsing into a foul mood when I realized that I could no longer read the signs or the descriptions for each display. I needed light–lots of it–to be able to make out the words. To add insult to injury, I had to endure “talking exhibits” which made absolutely no sense to me, none whatsoever! Was I doomed to never read or learn again?
Harvey didn’t like my bad attitude when I started pouting, “I’m so bored! I can’t even read these exhibits anymore!”
What I didn’t tell him was how shocked and utterly disappointed I was about not being able to glean information from the exhibits on my own anymore.
There was, however, one redeeming factor when I walked toward the thick floor-to-ceiling windows and looked down. What I saw blew me away. I saw far, far below me the tiny sliver of Shoshone River winding its way through a steep narrow gorge and, to my right, the narrowest sliver of a deep dam. Here, there was no need for words. This was a million pictures rolled into one suspended heartbeat. I had never in my life experienced the thrill of being so close to the edge of danger, stopped only by the plated window. How mesmerizing this awesome view was! And how scared and fascinated I was at the same time!
After Harvey viewed some of the exhibits himself, he pulled me away from the windows and tried his valiant best to explain some of the exhibits to me. Basically, it centered around the dam-building project and the benefits that the dam provides to surrounding communities. In a basin not too far from Cody, the fossil of an Allosaurus was uncovered, with more remains yet to be found. I appreciated Harvey’s efforts to share exhibit information with me and felt much better about being included.
As we prepared to leave the visitor center, Harvey bought a cassette tape, thinking it’d be fun to listen to some outlaw ballads in the van. After listening to a few songs, Harvey mentioned how bad some of the lyrics were. They were all about the lives of wicked outlaws, bank robbers, murdering thieves, hard liquor, chasing bad women, rotting in jail cells and swinging from the gallows. It was to say the least, an ugly and inauspicious picture of what life was like in the big, bad, wild, wild West.
[To be continued next week.]
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Melanie Bond is a deaf-blind writer based in Bay City, Michigan.
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