Treasures of Wyoming: attractions abound in Cheyenne and Cody, frontier cities that cling to their Western ways

Travel America, May-June, 2002 by Patrick Soran

Cheyenne

In the lexicon of the Old West, a prairie may do only three things: It may lie flat as a fritter; it may spread wide as the cloudless sky; or it may roll in waves of grass fluid as an ocean.

The expansive grassland surrounding Cheyenne, Wyoming, pitches and heaves like a sea gone mad in a windstorm. Immense banks of land ridge skyward as if pulled by the tug of a harvest moon. Between each roller sprawls a broad valley, and in one of these Cheyenne itself spreads out. On the south, the railroad and the Interstate rip by, carrying commerce coast to coast. To the west a four-lane guides visitors northwest to the splendors of Yellowstone. Downtown, stone Victorian structures sit rock to rock with Art Deco dandies.

Now, all that prairie is felted with grass and that grass is mown crewcut short by cattle. And those cattle are punched by cowboys, and those cowboys mosey into Cheyenne for, indeed, Cheyenne is a cowboy's town. Ranchers, and us visitors too, may bed down at the Frontier Motel or the Hitching Post Inn. They can sip whiskey at the Eagle's Nest or belly up to the Cowboy Bar. Locals love the Albany Restaurant, where mahogany booths line the walls and waitresses cheerfully serve up plates of prime rib followed with apple pie.

When it comes to shopping, visitors make their home-on-the-range fantasies come true at Wyoming Home. Clothes hounds head for The Wrangler, Corral West, or Just Dandy in their downtown storefronts, selecting clothes and gear from racks and racks of brand names. Others want souvenirs carefully worked to suit their own taste, made by men and women who build things the way they used to be built--by hand. For incredibly detailed bronze sculpture, head for Dulce's Fine Art. Jewelry lovers find rapture at Bohemian Metals. Cowboys like the boot-making skills on offer at Frontier Boot.

But the greatest cowboy skills hereabouts are showcased at Cheyenne Frontier Days, the nation's largest outdoor rodeo. For ten days every July, the town nearly shuts down as thousands of volunteers pitch in to help amuse the 400,000 visitors who come calling. Locals must want guests to pack plenty of memories, for in addition to each afternoon's rodeo, they organize parades, air shows, pancake breakfasts, hell-bent-for-comedy shoot-outs with the Cheyenne Gunslingers, dramatic hilarity at the Old-Fashioned Melodrama, a touch of the cowpoke past at the Old West Museum, and a carnival that separates you from your allowance quicker than a cowboy can bounce off a Brahma bull.

Children seem to like pokin' around these parts as well. At the IKON Center, Cheyenne's newest attraction, kids may go ice skating or play arcade games and Lazer Tag. They may enjoy Wyoming Adventure Miniature Golf while Dad swings at one of the city's four golf courses. Young adults who are crazy about the distant past shovel into the Archaelogical Dig Site. This center contains a number of human artifacts dating back more than 10,000 years.

For some more modern entertainment, check out Big Boy 4004. At 1.2 million pounds, it is the largest steam engine in the world. More modern yet, pay a visit to the F.E. Warren AFB Military Museum, home of ICBM missiles.

Perhaps you'll want a tamer glimpse of the Wild West. At the Terry Bison Ranch you can ride a wagon or a horse, tour their winery, and glimpse the nearly 3,000 bison that call this high prairie home.

As they say hereabouts, this is the West at its best.

Contact: Cheyenne Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, (800) 426-5009; www.cheyenne.org.

Cody

When I decided to pay a call on Wyoming, I knew I wanted to spend a weekend exploring Cody, in the square-cut state's northwest corner. Cody is the city founded by the roughest-toughest, shoot-em-up, cowboy showoff--er, showman--who ever roamed the West, William "Buffalo Bill" Cody.

Cody--the first true international superstar--really was a showoff. His Wild West show entertained audiences in the U.S. and Europe for 30 years. His visage beamed from posters, handbills, and the dozens of dime novels that transformed his legitimate exploits into mythological legends. In a sense, every fringed coat ever sold is a tribute to Cody, as well as every thigh-high boot.

Bill Cody founded his namesake city in 1896. Flanked by the Wapiti Ridge on one side and accented by Heart and Carter mountains, Cody--today a town of 8,000--splays out on a rise overlooking the Shoshone River. The main street--Sheridan Boulevard--boasts fine two-story stone buildings. Cody's own hotel, the Irma, is one of the best; beige and orange sandstone play background to a heavily-carved cornice and a shady porch. An oval portrait of Cody himself announces the hotel's lineage.

Rodeo is a tough, competitive sport, but at the Cody Night Rodeo it's meant only to entertain. The announcer explains the events for visitors--saddled and bareback bronco riding, calf roping, bull riding, and barrel racing. About half-way through they hold a "calf scramble," where kids in the audience get to chase a cow around the arena.