All about Matt

Matt here. Friday we were in Cody, WY. Cody was our stop point because it was well placed between Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore, and because it contained a museum that I dragged Mike and Annette to.

Cody is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Buffalo Bill Cody founded Cody) and the Historical Center houses the largest collection of American firearms in existence. I had first heard of the firearms collection in Cody a few years ago on a TV show and have wanted to go there ever since. That museum was the reason I wanted to go to Cody. Joyfully, I was not disappointed!

I spent close to 3 hours looking at over 2700 firearms representing examples of every kind of firearm I'd ever heard of, seen, or read about, and a huge number I had never even knew existed. They had actual surviving examples of 16th century "hand cannons" to modern era one-of-a-kind prototypes. I got to see examples of techniques I had only read about before and learned a bunch because I could finally see examples of the techniques. I learned new historical facts about areas I though I knew well. I have never seen a collection this extensive and this well presented before. Without boring y'all with details, I raved about what I had seen for the rest of the day to Mike and Annette.

The museum also had 4 other major exhibits on natural history, Buffalo Bill himself, the Plains Indians and Western art. I only spent about 30 minutes running through the Buffalo Bill and Plains Indians exhibits as we had to get on the road to our next destination.

I think Mike and Annette spent about 1.5 hours in the whole museum and then wandered around Cody until I was done.

I think we drove to Rapid City, SD, to see Mount Rushmore that afternoon, but, honestly, all I can remember about that day is the museum. So, yes, today was all about me :-) .