Started our day with a docent-guided tour at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. Our group was divided into two groups with one half starting with an overview of William F. Cody and the other group hearing about the Plains Indians. We then joined together for a group discussion of early firearms of the West. The boys got to handle several classic guns and they loved this. After the guided tour, boys were able to go explore one of the major sections of the museums including the Cody Firearms Collection, natural history of the West, Western art, and more. Three boys spent their free time at a “birds of prey” program that included live raptors that are non-releasable because of injuries, etc.
After this museum we went back to the Buffalo Bill Dam. Eight of the boys had visited it yesterday but today we went so that some boys could buy a “passport book” for the National Park System. We now have a bunch of boys who have a copy of this great souvenir. All units in the National Park System have a dated rubber stamp and boys can stamp their books each time they visit a park. We weren’t able to find them in the big parks like Grand Teton & Yellowstone because this special 2016 NPS Centennial edition was sold out. I have a version I purchased over 20 years ago, but I too wanted this special edition.
After lunch we departed Cody for Riverton. We drove through the Wind River Indian Reservation and the Wind River Canyon. The views were amazing. It wasn’t all that long of a drive, but as usual it takes our group a long time to travel just because a simple bathroom break takes a lot longer than you might expect. There is virtually no broadcast radio signal along many of our drives and we only have one CD to listen to that camper Andrew Cooter brought along. So now that we’ve listened to it about ten times it’s really cool to hear many of the boys singing along to the CD. And actually, singing in tune!
We arrived in Riverton around 5 PM and checked into our hotel. Boys had time to just relax and a handful went swimming in the indoor pool. A couple of boys discovered the hotel guest computer and were happily checking baseball scores and stats. That’s fine with us…after all, they had to give up their electronics. And how’s that going? Pretty well actually. Boys are talking with each other more, playing games, inventing games, etc. I know the first thing many of them will do when they get home is check their phones for texts. But at least for this two weeks they have learned to leave it behind.
It was another great day.
Click to check out photos from today's activities.
www.flickr.com/photos/mindstretch/albums/72157670537900961
After this museum we went back to the Buffalo Bill Dam. Eight of the boys had visited it yesterday but today we went so that some boys could buy a “passport book” for the National Park System. We now have a bunch of boys who have a copy of this great souvenir. All units in the National Park System have a dated rubber stamp and boys can stamp their books each time they visit a park. We weren’t able to find them in the big parks like Grand Teton & Yellowstone because this special 2016 NPS Centennial edition was sold out. I have a version I purchased over 20 years ago, but I too wanted this special edition.
After lunch we departed Cody for Riverton. We drove through the Wind River Indian Reservation and the Wind River Canyon. The views were amazing. It wasn’t all that long of a drive, but as usual it takes our group a long time to travel just because a simple bathroom break takes a lot longer than you might expect. There is virtually no broadcast radio signal along many of our drives and we only have one CD to listen to that camper Andrew Cooter brought along. So now that we’ve listened to it about ten times it’s really cool to hear many of the boys singing along to the CD. And actually, singing in tune!
We arrived in Riverton around 5 PM and checked into our hotel. Boys had time to just relax and a handful went swimming in the indoor pool. A couple of boys discovered the hotel guest computer and were happily checking baseball scores and stats. That’s fine with us…after all, they had to give up their electronics. And how’s that going? Pretty well actually. Boys are talking with each other more, playing games, inventing games, etc. I know the first thing many of them will do when they get home is check their phones for texts. But at least for this two weeks they have learned to leave it behind.
It was another great day.
Click to check out photos from today's activities.
www.flickr.com/photos/mindstretch/albums/72157670537900961
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