At 8 a.m. we left Mammoth Hot Springs behind us. I felt sad, I wish I could have spent longer. The magic spell seemed broken.
We drove through the spectacular landscape of the park towards the East Entrance. Snowcapped mountains and a roaring river deep below unfolded bend after bend after bend.
I strained my eyes and willed my memory to store it forever somewhere safely in my mind, so that for many years to come, when I feel homesick for Yellowstone, I can conjure up the images for a private inward movie.
Dave referred back to the handouts he had given us and gave a lecture on cowboys, their reality, their myth, their history.
Most cultures have an icon. In the West it is the epic figure of the cowboy. He stands for American values such as individualism, independence, harmony with nature, informality and spontaneity; but also for a lack of education and intellectualism.
Dave explained how frontier men became cattle drivers and how ranches developed and changed the ways of the West; how corporations bought land and subdivided it into smaller pieces and "ranchettes" started appearing.
All this background information was obviously not without purpose, as we were travelling to the town of the one and only William B. Cody. Buffalo Bill built this town for himself and with the intention to open the doors to the West for the rest of the world. He had worked on the Pony express, as an army scout, as a cowboy, fought the Indians and made friends with them. Then, he had the extravagant and brilliant idea to share it with people from the east. He set up a show similar to none with hundreds of people, cowboys, Indians, Kosaks, horses, carriages, etc. He staged the Wild West in an arena in New York. It was an immediate hit. The show ran week after week. So, he took the whole organisation across the Atlantic and performed in Europe. Even Queen Victoria, who had retreated from public life after the death of her beloved Albert, was enthralled by what she saw. Royalty from Sweden and Belgium attended the show. It was a true success story that opened up new possibilities and kindled people's interest in the West. William B. Cody became a superstar, the first man to be universally known.
Our destination was the little town of Cody, Wyoming.
We drove through the spectacular landscape of the park towards the East Entrance. Snowcapped mountains and a roaring river deep below unfolded bend after bend after bend.
I strained my eyes and willed my memory to store it forever somewhere safely in my mind, so that for many years to come, when I feel homesick for Yellowstone, I can conjure up the images for a private inward movie.
Dave referred back to the handouts he had given us and gave a lecture on cowboys, their reality, their myth, their history.
Most cultures have an icon. In the West it is the epic figure of the cowboy. He stands for American values such as individualism, independence, harmony with nature, informality and spontaneity; but also for a lack of education and intellectualism.
Dave explained how frontier men became cattle drivers and how ranches developed and changed the ways of the West; how corporations bought land and subdivided it into smaller pieces and "ranchettes" started appearing.
All this background information was obviously not without purpose, as we were travelling to the town of the one and only William B. Cody. Buffalo Bill built this town for himself and with the intention to open the doors to the West for the rest of the world. He had worked on the Pony express, as an army scout, as a cowboy, fought the Indians and made friends with them. Then, he had the extravagant and brilliant idea to share it with people from the east. He set up a show similar to none with hundreds of people, cowboys, Indians, Kosaks, horses, carriages, etc. He staged the Wild West in an arena in New York. It was an immediate hit. The show ran week after week. So, he took the whole organisation across the Atlantic and performed in Europe. Even Queen Victoria, who had retreated from public life after the death of her beloved Albert, was enthralled by what she saw. Royalty from Sweden and Belgium attended the show. It was a true success story that opened up new possibilities and kindled people's interest in the West. William B. Cody became a superstar, the first man to be universally known.
Our destination was the little town of Cody, Wyoming.
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