“Is there anyone from Texas out there?” hollered the rodeo compere. Small sections of the crowd yelled acknowledgment. “Howdy y’all!”.
“Anyone from Minnesota here tonight?” A similar response from the crowd and a warm greeting from the compere: “How y’all doin’?”
“Any Californians out there?” Roar of approval and enthusiastic foot stomping from the audience. “Hey you Californians, welcome to America!”
“And welcome y’all to Cody, Wyoming, Rodeo capital of the world!!!”
Being at a rodeo felt just so delightfully and stereotypically American. Gutted I didn’t have my cowboy hat with me. And you’ve gotta love how the US claim global dominance in a field that barely exists outside its boundaries. Still, we were in cowboy country and we were embracing it.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a rodeo. From bucking broncos to bull riding, and steer wrestling to barrel racing, it was certainly entertaining. There were some spectacular falls and more lassos than you could shake a stick at.
But the highlight of the night was when all the kids in the audience (aged 12 and under) were invited into the arena. The host patiently explained what would happen next. Two cows with red ribbons attached to their tails would be released into the arena. The children’s task would be to remove said ribbons from said cows’ tails (while leaving the tails themselves on the cows). With a smirk and a raised eyebrow, I caught Darren’s eye as we wondered what they were really going to do.
Sure enough, into the stadium came two (not full grown) cows, flashes of red visible on their tails. Bring on the It’s a Knockout/Hunger Games version of Pin The Tail on the Donkey. The crowd of marauding kids ran like zombies on a mission to chase the cows down. And those cows weren’t hanging around.
I was quite relieved when two young boys emerged victorious, claimed their prize of a free burger & fries and just like that, the stampede was over. Wonder what the cows had to say to each other before they retired for the night?
The Wild West theme continued into our campsite, perched above Buffalo Bill reservoir just a few miles out of Cody, in Buffalo Bill State Park. Fab spot to spend a week, and we even inadvertently met up with another BaseCamp.
Some of our morning walks took us into what felt like the heart of cowboy country.
And we couldn’t leave Cody without experiencing the old town street gunfight, apparently “this free & entertaining shoot-out is listed as a ‘must see’ on the list of things to do in Cody”. We armed ourselves with a beer from the historic Buffalo Bill’s Irma hotel but even that couldn’t save what at best was a tragically amateur performance.
Nevertheless, I certainly felt like I came, I saw and I experienced Cody cowboy country.
