Advertisement
Published: September 10th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Our journey from the Black Hills to Yellowstone was quite a long one so it required a couple of stop-offs along the way. Our first night in Wyoming was in the small town of Buffalo. We stayed in a nice little cabin in the KOA campground there, had dinner out at the one local restaurant that was open on a Monday, and that was pretty much it.
Our next night however, in Cody, Wyoming, was much more exciting… Cody likes to brand itself as a proper little Western town; it’s the former home of Western hero, Buffalo Bill Cody. Now there are museums and tours that you can take to learn about Cody’s past, but we were told that the best ways to truly experience the ‘Wild West’ Cody were to eat at the Irma Hotel restaurant and to go to the Cody Rodeo…so we did both! (Cody takes its rodeo so seriously that it has even fashioned its town motto as "Cody is Rodeo!".)
We arrived in downtown Cody just in time to catch a bit of the ‘gunfight’ that’s held each day outside of the Irma Hotel. We decided to miss out the end of the fight,
certain that the good guy would win as always, and headed into the hotel restaurant hoping the beat the crowds. The Irma Hotel has been around since the 1800’s and its current restaurant used to be the town saloon. Obviously it has changed a bit since back then, but they have tried to maintain some of the Wild West charm. We admired the many dead animal heads adorning the walls of the restaurant as we entered and this really helped build our appetites. We quickly browsed the menu and decided immediately that, at least out of curiosity, we should try the local cuisine, buffalo steak. Unfortunately the steak was so heavily char-grilled that we couldn’t actually taste the buffalo flavour at all, only bitter blackened meat. Oh well, I’m sure it could have been quite good, and we may try it again sometime to find out…or maybe we’ll just stick with beef.
We finished our meal just in time to get over to the rodeo and secure our front row seats. The smell of all the bulls, cows and horses standing around was absolutely fantastic...if you like the smell of piss that is. Some lovely country music helped pass
the time waiting for the action to begin… and before long it was time to start the show. First up were the bucking broncos. Basically these horses are forced into a small cage with four walls and no roof. The cowboys gently fit a harness with only a handle to hold onto, no saddle, onto the horse; then they place a strap very tightly around the horse’s nether regions, which he is obviously not very happy about. The rider jumps on, they release the front door of the cage, the horse bucks out into the arena like mad trying the get this strap off his meat and two veg, and the rider holds on for dear life whilst being tossed around like a rag doll. It was great! How these guys manage to stay on beyond the first buck is amazing, and the excitement really grips you! You never know what might happen next - Will he hang on long enough to get the points? Will he get flung off and trampled by the horse? Or will the rescue riders pull him to safety just in time? This rodeo stuff is properly intense!
Round two was the “Rope and
Tie”, also very exciting but in a different way. This time a calf is released into the arena a few seconds before a cowboy on horseback comes chasing after him. The cowboy lassos the calf around the neck and jerks it violently to the ground. He then jumps off his horse and runs over to the calf. He picks up the calf and throws it down on its side so that all four legs are facing out; he then whips out his rope and ties both back legs and one front leg together so the calf cannot get up. If the calf stays down for 6 seconds then he get the points, and the man with the quickest time wins. What a competition! Now this is a real man’s sport, Tim Henman you got nothin’!
Next they let the women get in on the action too with the Barrel Run and Calf Roping. Fortunately the women did not have to tie up the calves as well, only lasso and let go. There were even some girl riders for the Barrel Run as young as five years old, how cute!
Last but not least was the grand finale, the
penultimate Bull Run. Pretty much the same as with the bucking broncos, but this time with very large, angry bulls instead. Most of the riders ended up with no points either for not staying on long enough, or for touching the saddle with both hands (they are only allowed to hold on with one hand). But finally there was a winner, an Australian chap would you believe. Who knows how he ended up in Cody, Wyoming.
So if you ever find yourself in Cody, or anywhere else that has a nightly rodeo, we highly recommend a visit. Even if you think it’s not your cup of tea, it is something that you have to see at least once. A rodeo is truly a fantastic and exciting event that you will never forget...seriously!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.05s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.029s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
chris sewell
non-member comment
Yeeeeeaaaaawwwwwww!!!!!!!
Round em up boooooi's-Jen-you should be used to this type of stuff coming from where we are from????-Hope yalls is havin' some good ole' fun-chris