We have gotten into the comfortable habit of eating brunch at the historic Irma Hotel in downtown Cody every Sunday:
We will be eating brunch there on Tuesday as well. Sharing a meal on Christmas Day with two other people who also do not have family close by for the holidays.
The food is always good and the decor is always wonderful at the Irma, and it is just a place that we greatly enjoy.
A few weeks ago we ate brunch as always and then took a walk through town with our dog.
The day was grey and damp and very windy.
After a busy summer of endless noise and endless tourists, the silence of downtown was welcome.
We had our town back.
A common feeling among locals, who understand and appreciate the important financial contribution that tourists bring to Cody but who also breathe a sigh of relief when the last of them leave.
We have our town back......................
Because we had Kory with us we did not go into stores.
Instead we walked and wandered and window shopped.
Already a good number of stores downtown were closed for the season - shuttering the front door and heading south the moment that last tourist bid farewell to Cody.
More businesses will close right after Christmas.
A few downtown will stay open and tighten belts over the winter, but not many.
Downtown Cody (even a few weeks ago) was already beginning to shut down.
To fall into hibernation.
And we love Cody when it is like this................
There are still plenty of businesses available through the winter to service the local community.
Restaurants, dry cleaners, grocery stores, banks, garages, liquor stores, laundromats, and all the rest (located at both ends of town) are year round businesses.
On Sheridan Avenue downtown there are jewelry boutiques, portrait studios, photography studios, art galleries, western home decor stores, t-shirt stores, saddlery and high end boot shops, book stores, coffee shops, fly fishing and high end outdoor gear stores, paddling and back country outfitters.................everything that both a moderately financed and well financed tourist could possibly want or need to ensure their trip to Cody, WY is memorable.
All the places that locals (for the most part) avoid like the plague.
The winter business hours of one Sheridan Ave store........................
When we were done with our walk we loaded back into the Tahoe, headed towards the turnoff for the South Fork and on the spur of the moment decided to go through the drive through at Dairy Queen.
A chocolate milkshake (with whipped cream) for LC and a chocolate brownie blizzard for me.
Our neighbor was working at the window and is one of the assistant managers.
Kory received an unexpected surprise during that visit.
DQ is now one of her favorite places.................
It was a quiet trip.
A good brunch in a wonderful place.
A good walk down a quiet downtown street.
The companionship of a beloved man and a beloved dog.
Ice cream all around on the way home.
One more small and quiet adventure in a year of endless small and quiet adventures......................
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies............Mother Theresa
