Road Trip Day 5

Cody Wyoming has a lot to offer if you are planning a trip out west. Numerous attractions to visit, amazing scenery, and every type of outdoor activity you can wish for. But I had planned to be in Cody on a specific day, June 15th, for the Rodeo! The town of Cody has a rodeo every night during the summer for the tourists, but this night was a special event. It was an all bull and clown competition. Nothing but bull riding, and then rodeo clowns having bulls chase them around while they try to earn style points from the judges. It had been cloudy and rainy all afternoon, and when we got to the rodeo arena is was also now windy and very cold. Like any good photographer I had brought my camera to take some photos. Sitting in the stands gave you a good view, but I was able to talk my way down right to the fence for a BULLS eye view. as the event started, I started getting some breaks in the clouds and some shafts of sunlight.

Sit back and enjoy the photos. But I will tell you that the bulls won on this night. There was not one complete 8 second ride. Not sure I would ever want to jump on the back of several thousand pounds of upset bull and try and hang on for 8 seconds.But I know I also wouldn't want to be the clown  either. The rodeo clowns do an amazing job running in to divert the bull's attention to them to allow the rider to get out of harms way. I saw a couple clowns get clobbered hard to save the cowboys that night. I salute them!

Dark stormy clouds and dramatic shafts of sunlight just in the right place. Got lucky here. I shot all of these with my Canon 50D and a 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens and added my 1,4 extender.

This photo does not depict proper bull riding technique. He got launched almost right out of the chute.

Send in the clowns! Another save here.

Now this cowboy had good form and a good ride for about 4 seconds. Then he was ejected.

Would you purposly jump into the arena and not only let this really upset bull chase you, but stay so close that one slip and you are in serious trouble?

Now you know this is gonna hurt real bad. It is amazing to watch them get up and limp off, and then get back on for another ride.

This was may favorite shot from my stay in Cody Wyoming. There is an attraction there called Trail Town. They have brought in cabins and building from all over the west and reassembled them. They even have Butch Cassity and the Sundance Kid's Hole in the Wall cabin. I was wandering aroound and found this old wagon and piles of wheels and other junk. A wide angle lens shot very low to the ground was used to create this composition.

Road Trip Day 4

June 14th we left Deadwood, South Dakota and headed for Cody, Wyoming. If you are in the Deadwood area there is a must see scenic drive you should take. The highway through Spearfish Canyon is amazing. I probably would not have taken this side trip out of Deadwood, but a friend who used to live there told me about it. Amazing deep canyon with to die for scenery. Then it was on to I90 and heading west . You leave South Dakota and enter Wyoming in a short distance. But before I leave South Dakota I want to say what a great vacation destination South Dakota is. I wished I could have spent an entire summer exploring all the great attractions across the state. I will be going back. If you are planning to go, send for the South Dakota Tourism guide. A great resource to help plan a trip. I used theirs  for planning my trip. It is free if you call or email for a copy to be sent to you. Here is there link.     http://www.travelsd.com/

Driving out west is a really an enjoyable experience for me. I love to drive, and the scenery and wide open spaces make it a relaxing, stress reducing pleasure. I was constantly wanting to stop and take photos but I knew I would never get to Cody before dark. So I had to limit myself, but it was difficult.

This is the Big Horn Pass on I-90 through the Big Horn Mountains. Elevation is about 9700 feet here. Still a lot of pockets of snow even in mid-June. Storm clouds were building here. 

                                                                               

Sometimes I got a little carried away chasing down a good looking landscape scene I wanted to photograph and got off the Interstate and started driving down some roads an overloaded Ford Tarus probably should not have been on.  But hey, anything for the shot!   Right?

As I was approaching Cody Wyoming late in the afternoon I watched this developing storm moving across the vast open plains. The  clouds were only a couple hundred feet off the ground at this point. I pulled over to take some photos. There was some awesome lightning striking the ground, but I could not time it right to capture that. (Oh to have that Lightning Trigger) 

                                                                

  Cody, Wyoming is a really great place to visit. I was actually staying a couple days here because there was more that I wanted to do than I could squeeze in with just a one day visit. One of the most famous landmark's in Cody is the Irma Hotel. The original owner of this hotel was William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. If you know anything about the history of the American West, he is one of the biggest names.

Interior shots of the Irma show what a historical place this is. Listed on the National Historic Register, you can stay at the Irma and stay in rooms that were occupied by some very famous figures in American History. The all Cherrywood Bar was a gift to Buffalo Bill from the Queen of England. Probably the most photographed thing in Cody.  Here is a direct link to the Irma.   http://www.irmahotel.com/

The Cody Gunfighters put on a nightly show outside the Irma that is free to the public. Another must visit attraction is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Way to much there to cover in my blog, but I added a link to the center. Plan on at least a half day to see it all.

  http://www.bbhc.org/home/index.cfm?CFID=29563765&CFTOKEN=85780842

 

The sun is setting on another day, but the action will pick up again tomorrow!