a bird's nest: Cody Fire School

   As most of you know, Brent is a Firefighter for Lyman. And every year, the department picks certain guys to come up to one of the most reputable Firefighting schools around. It takes place in Cody, Wyoming. Cody reminds me of Jackson Hole WY, for those of you who can compare the two. It's a beautiful "cowboy" town FULL of history. I wish we had more time to spend here and make a vacation out of it, because there is a lot to see. But Brent is busy with fire school; he is taking Thermal Imaging, Off Road Driving, and Emergency Driving. Each class is about 4-5 hours long. Departments come from all over to attend this school. I would say there are close to 500 people here, everyone brought their best engine to show off to other departments. Lyman brought up their new Rescue engine, and it is beautiful, most definitely the nicest engine here.

   Interesting fact about the Fire Departments: the further away you get from Utah, every Fire Station has a bar inside the department. Apparently they serve free beer and mixed drinks all day to any firefighter. So, some of the other firefighters had some fun!

   It's such a fun atmosphere here; everyone is fun, relaxed, and friendly.We are both having a great time and learning a lot! As for me, while Brent is in class, I get to enjoy Cody and explore the sites! Our friends Heath (fellow firefighter) and his fiancé Stefi came up here as well, and she and I are having a blast together. Swimming, shopping, site seeing, and eating! Ah, the joys of being a tag-along to the firemen! On Saturday, we woke up rather early and enjoyed a nice swim, then headed out to explore the town; there are some really neat old historical buildings. We explored the town, saw the sites and hung out at the station until the boys got done. That night, we went out with the entire department to dinner. On Sunday, Stefi and I went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum. It is five different museums put into one. It was absolutely amazing. I learned a lot about the Plains Indians, Buffalo Bill himself and his show, the West, the adaptations of the modern world, and of the Indians and their developments. The whole thing was a really great learning experience. After the boys got out of class, we packed up and headed home! What a fun weekend, but I am glad to be home!

Downtown: The Saddle shop, and the famous Irma Hotel

DAY AT THE MUSEUM

This was the painting section. There were tons of paintings of the old west, and what the "ideals" western living is like.

This was the transportation used to tour Yellowstone National Park. Guests could take week-long tours, and where allowed 25 pounds of luggage at most. Other buggies followed carring food and supplies. It is said that the biggest stage coach robbery took place in Yellowstone on a tour, and the robber made off with over $2,500.00. Automobiles were not permitted in the park until 1915. The buggies shut down in 1917.

This is one of Buffalo Billl's Wild West Show posters. The museum had a lot of actual show bills and advertisements from the shows. My favorite part of the museum was the photo gallery of the Indians that participated in the show. Indian tradition is that a camera steals the soul of anyone who gets there photograph taken, but Wild Bill's Indians gave permission to a famous photographer and allowed her to take pictures of them. They were beautifully done, each one having a story to go along with the person. Only a few of the Indians looked directly into the camera, while others were just photographed from the side.