Leaving Something Of Ourselves Behind

For a mangy country pup, my dog has quickly and easily adapted to city life, as we continue to hold up in a temporary-stay cottage in downtown Cody.

There is BLM land all around the outskirts of town and we visit those places regularly so that she can run.

But Kory and I also walk often downtown.

There are endless sights and sounds (that are compelling to both woman and dog) and I think Kory actually enjoys most of the activity going on around her.

There are a few places we have learned to avoid (that are too noisy and busy and overwhelming for Kory), but generally she likes our walks through this very lovely town.

I covet the unassuming building in the picture above.

It is an old brick structure.  An old Forest Service building in a former life  judging from the metal sign below the top front window.

The building has been empty since the first time we found ourselves in Cody back in 2011.

It is solid and beautiful in its simplicity, and if I had the money I would find out who owns it, buy it and make a home out of it...............

The red trailer serving pulled pork sandwiches sits on one corner in town, and this late in the year it is closed more often than it is open.

On this day we caught it open and I quickly snapped this picture of the metal pig standing out front, before smiling and waving at the friendly guy in the trailer and moving on.............

One more of many many beautiful metal sculptures that can be found in and around Cody.

This guy was standing in front of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

This series of museums (all together in the same compound) are typically expensive to enter, and so LC and I have never been there.

On December 2 entry is free in celebration of the holidays.

On the same day entry to Old Trail Town is also free.

We are going to have a VERY busy day that day, and I am excited..................

There are waist high concrete pillars that line two sides of the sidewalk surrounding the museum complex.

Each of the pillars lights up at night, and each pillar has a square metal, decorative surround.

Each surround features wild animals typically found in the west - black bear, grizzly bear, elk, moose, deer, beaver, coyote, bison, big horn sheep, wolf, salmon and more.

They are beautiful and highly decorative and one more thing that makes Cody so unique.............

Wooden sculpture of a cactus...................

We've wandered together around the museum a few times and Kory is beginning to find her way around.

Jumping from one decorative boulder to another.

Scaring a bunny underneath a sage bush.

Sniffing beautiful metal sculptures with the same level of keen interest she sniffs a STOP sign.

The simplicity of her needs, and the simpleness of her joys is cathartic for me.

She helps to keep me grounded................

Cedar Mountain.

For all the snow we have had over the past month, the past week has been very warm and the past couple of days have been close to 70 degrees.

There is no snow left in town as I write this, and very little in the mountains surrounding Cody......................

Across a quiet road from the museums is a small park that is largely forgotten for most of the year.

One weekend a year this park is home to a Pow Wow.

It contains a few small structures, an amphitheater, plenty of green space, and two metal sculptures of Native Americans.

The sculptures are not as detailed as many other in town.

Rather, they were created in broad strokes.

But they are both wonderful none-the-less, and on this day Kory and I stopped to look at them..................

Eventually we found our way to the back of town where both the hospital and the iconic Bill Cody statue are located......................

One more of the buffalo statues that rest all over town.

This one was located outside the hospital.................

Hospital on the right.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West on the left.

Bill Cody statue in the background, with Cedar Mountain right behind.

I love this town.

It has called us back time and time again.

Alright Cody.

We hear you now.

We do.

We're paying attention now.

We are...................

It had snowed a couple of inches the night before we took this walk.

That morning had started off very cool but by the time we arrived at this statue temperatures were rising very quickly.

Snow was melting so fast at this point that Kory and I literally waded through two inches of water to reach it, so that I could take this picture.

As I looked at the water I realized for the first time just how efficiently the storm water systems were in this town.

Parking lots were gently sloped, gutters were wide and large, and drains were large and swiftly removing water from the streets.

I was standing in front of this beautiful metal statue of two cowboys greeting each other, but found myself mesmerized by the sheer volume of water from melting snow, and how efficiently it was being drained.

I have lived in a lot of towns in a lot of states and in a lot of countries, but I don't ever remember seeing such an efficient system to deal with runoff...............

And..........another one.

I will take pictures of statues every single time I pass one..............

Cody has town deer as well.

They are everywhere and I held my breath the other day as I watched a full grown buck running across the busy Sheridan Avenue.

Thankfully he made it across safely.................

Pictures taken while on BLM land on the outskirts of Powell (25 miles from Cody).

We had been up there looking at homes.

We may have found a home to buy.

Seven miles outside of Cody.

We'll see.

More if that falls into place the way we hope it does................

 

We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there............Pascal Mercier, Night Train To Lisbon