Tag Archive for: wyoming
Wyoming is truly cowboy country, and there is no better way to experience that first-hand than by booking a stay at a dude ranch.
Wyoming is proud to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the country’s first and oldest dude ranch, Eaton’s Ranch, which still welcomes guests today. Located in Wolf, Wyoming, Eaton’s Horse Ranch coined the term “dude ranch” in 1904 and still offers a more traditional Western experience.
However, Eaton’s is not the only ranch you can find in Wyoming. We have dude ranches for every type of adventure, from kid-friendly ranches great for the whole family to a little R&R time for adults. Wyoming dude ranch vacations offer an opportunity to live out the Western way of life, even for just a short time.
Many of these accommodations welcome guests year-round and offer guided horseback riding trips, adults-only getaways and fall hunting excursions. With so many options, it is hard to find a reason not to stay at one of Wyoming’s amazing dude ranches.
Wyoming is truly cowboy country, and there are dude ranches for every type of adventure, from kid-friendly to adults-only options. Photo courtesy of Wyoming Office of Tourism
For more information on Wyoming, visit TravelWyoming.com.
Buffalo and Kaycee, Wyoming, are among the few remaining authentically Western towns where the past and the present collide. This community is full of rich and diverse cultures keeping their heritage alive in everyday practice from agriculture to art, trade skills and music. Here, you can interact with experts while getting hands-on with ancient techniques still used today and hearing the incredible stories of individuals who keep our Native, cowboy and immigrant legacies alive today.
Come out to the TA Ranch for Buffalo Heritage Days, a fun day chock-full of history and entertainment. Learn from our wonderful historians, speakers, musicians and entertainers to see how the past and the present collide. This event promises fun for all with a kids’ corner, Basque and Indigenous dancing, and live canon firing and blank shooting from our reenactors! Take a photo with the family at the old-time photo booth or kick up your heels at the barn dance starring Wolf Creek Revival.
This is an event you do not want to miss!
Come out to the TA Ranch for Buffalo Heritage Days, a fun day chock-full of history and entertainment. Learn from our wonderful historians, speakers, musicians and entertainers to see how the past and the present collide. Photo courtesy of Johnson County Tourism Association
For more information on Johnson County, visit VisitBuffaloWY.com.
Visitors to Cody Yellowstone next year will experience a special treat, as one of the destination’s most celebrated and recognizable art attractions (The Scout) turns 100. Installed in 1924, the massive bronze sculpture is a cornerstone of the Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. The lauded art museum will also hit a milestone – it turns 65 next year.
Named one of the top small art towns by USA Today, there are plenty of other places to experience the artsy side of Cody, including By Western Hands Museum & Gallery, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary next year, and the Cody County Art League, a 60-year-old nonprofit facility that promotes the work of local artists.
2024 is also a great year to become a “dude,” as one of the region’s perpetually popular dude ranches, Shoshone Lodge & Guest Ranch, will celebrate a century of welcoming vacationers for an old-fashioned, Western-style vacation. Built in 1924 by Henry and Berthan Dahlem, the historic lodge is still in the family, and it still offers all-inclusive ranch experiences including cabin lodging, horseback riding and nightly cowboy entertainment.
The Shoshone Lodge & Guest Ranch will celebrate 100 years of helping visitors become “dudes” during old-fashioned, Western-style vacations. Photo courtesy of Cody-Yellowstone Country
For more information on Cody Yellowstone, visit www.CodyYellowstone.org.
In Cheyenne, rodeo is tradition, and a big deal. For the last five years, a new rodeo has made its way into town. A more intimate and affordable experience, it is filled with fun and excitement – rodeo at its best. The Hell on Wheels Rodeo and Chuck Wagon Dinner Series celebrates five years in 2024, and you can bet it will be the biggest yet.
At Hell on Wheels, you can join a tour behind the chutes, seeing the animals up close and meeting cowboys and cowgirls who are competing for cash and prizes. Cheer on the contestants in everything from bull riding to barrel racing. Enjoy a delicious chuckwagon dinner option, experience the pride and patriotism of the rodeo, and even take home a bottle of local whiskey.
Hell on Wheels is the fastest-growing open rodeo series in the West, but the fifth anniversary only happens once! With only six rodeos spread across the summer season, tickets typically sell out in advance. Group tickets go on sale January 1, and individual tickets April 1. Experience a taste of the true Great American West this summer in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
At the Hell on Wheels Rodeo and Chuck Wagon Dinner Series, you can join a tour behind the chutes, cheer on the contestants, enjoy a delicious chuckwagon dinner option and even take home a bottle of local whiskey. Photo courtesy of Visit Cheyenne
For more information on Cheyenne, visit Cheyenne.org.
Join us for the Parco/Sinclair Centennial Celebration on August 17, 2024! This all-day event celebrating 100 years of history will feature a parade, speakers, free food, food trucks, bands, concert, carnival games, fireworks and huge giveaways.
The fun will begin with a parade at 10:30 a.m. to open the event. The day will feature speakers sharing the history of Parco/Sinclair, live music from local bands, and carnival games for kids and adults of all ages.
In the evening, Brandon Jones will take the stage for a free concert to celebrate this momentous day in history. Jones is a country music singer and songwriter who is known for his hits “Black Hills Back Road” and “Kiss Me All Night.”
There will be a variety of food and drink options available at the celebration. Free food will be served to get the day going after the opening parade. Once the food trucks roll in, everything from tacos to burgers to ice cream will be available on-site.
The day will conclude with a fireworks display over the Parco/Sinclair Town Square. You won’t want to miss it!
The all-day Parco/Sinclair Centennial Celebration in August 2024 will feature a parade, speakers, free food, food trucks, bands, concert, carnival games, fireworks and huge giveaways. Photo courtesy of Discover Carbon County
For more information on Carbon County, visit WyomingCarbonCounty.com.
Step into the captivating past at Wyoming’s South Pass City, where time stands still. This historic mining town, nestled just north of the legendary Oregon Trail, welcomes you with open arms. Explore its rich heritage through a visitor’s center, 17 restored historic structures and more than 30 period room exhibits. Established in 1867 during the gold rush, South Pass City holds historical and cultural significance. Experience the Carissa Gold Mine or try your luck at panning for gold in the river, embracing the challenging allure of the past. Beyond its mining history, South Pass City played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. In a bold and encouraging act, one of its representatives introduced the women’s suffrage bill, leading to Wyoming becoming the first state to guarantee women their inherent right to vote and hold office in 1869.
Preserved as a treasured piece of history, South Pass City invites you to embark on an exploration of American history. Afterward, delight in the picturesque picnic areas and nature trails that envelop the historic site. Discover Wyoming’s true essence as you uncover the resilient and approachable soul of South Pass City.
Time stands still in Wyoming’s South Pass City, where a visitor’s center, 17 restored historic structures and more than 30 period room exhibits allow visitors to explore the rich heritage of this historic mining town. Photo courtesy of the Wyoming Office of Tourism
For more information on Wyoming, visit TravelWyoming.com.
There are countless ways to experience the history that shaped the American West when you visit Sheridan County. Less than an hour from downtown is the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Other important Indian Wars battle sites – including Fort Phil Kearney, the Wagon Box Fight and the Connor Battlefield – can be visited on a half-day tour.
The Brinton Museum, located on the 620-acre Quarter Circle A Ranch, offers a view into the life of Bradford Brinton, a Western art collector who was a patron of many of the most celebrated early Western artists. Also in Big Horn is the LeDoux Saloon, where Ernest Hemingway spent time during the 1920s (when it was known as the Last Chance Saloon).
The Trail End State Historic Site is a Flemish revival-style mansion built by former Governor John B. Kendrick. The Sheridan Inn, constructed in 1892, was conceptualized and developed by Buffalo Bill Cody. Cody auditioned new members for his legendary “Wild West Show” from the front porch. In the Bighorn Mountains at over 10,000 feet is the Medicine Wheel, an ancient ceremonial Indian site still used today for cultural and ritualistic events by the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Tribes.
The Trail End State Historic Site is a Flemish revival-style mansion built by former Governor John B. Kendrick in Sheridan County, Wyoming. Photo courtesy of Sheridan County Tourism
For more information on Sheridan, visit SheridanWyoming.org.
Red Wall Country is adjacent to the Middle Powder River at the southeastern end of the Bighorn Mountains in northern Wyoming. It is an area rich in history of Native people, cattle barons, homesteaders and outlaws. The area lies within the BLM’s Middle Fork Powder River Recreation Area. The landscape was the setting of tales of Indian trails and warfare, Dull Knife Battlefield, Hole-in-the-Wall, Outlaw Cave and the Johnson County War. It is a land of colored canyons and hidden valleys of breathtaking scope. It is an iconic landmark of the American West.
The Hole-in-the-Wall was the site used in the late 19th century by the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, a group of cattle rustlers and other outlaws that included the Logan brothers, Black Jack Ketchum and Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch.
The area was remote and secluded, easily defended because of its narrow passes, and impossible for lawmen to approach without alerting the outlaws. From the late 1860s to around 1910, the pass was used frequently by numerous outlaw gangs. Eventually, it faded into history, with gangs using it less often. Today’s travelers can reach the area in the comfort of their car and enjoy the views and vistas.
Red Wall Country is an area rich in history of Native people, cattle barons, homesteaders and outlaws. Photo courtesy of Johnson County, WY
For more information on Johnson County, visit JohnsonCountyWY.com.
Buildings that line Cody’s main street and dot the vast northwestern Wyoming landscape illustrate Cody Yellowstone’s storied past. Here are some examples:
Built in 1841, Buffalo Bill Cody’s boyhood home can be seen at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Pahaska Teepee, just outside the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, was Cody’s hunting lodge where he brought his pals – including Theodore Roosevelt and the prince of Monaco.
Kirwin Ghost Town is an abandoned mining town in the high Absaroka Mountains and 34 miles from the town of Meeteetse, Wyoming. A short hike away is the foundation of Amelia Earhart’s cabin, intended to be her summer home before she disappeared.
Old Trail Town/Museum of the Old West is an enclave of 27 authentic frontier buildings, including one used by Butch Cassidy and his infamous Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Barracks at the Heart Mountain WWII Interpretive Center show how incarcerated Japanese-Americans lived until the war ended.
The Chamberlin Inn in downtown Cody often hosted high-profile guests like Ernest Hemingway and Marshall Fields. And The Poker Church was built after a group of men gambling in 1902 pledged that the winner of the game would put all of his winnings toward the church of his choice.
Kirwin Ghost Town is an abandoned mining town in the high Absaroka Mountains, a short hike away from the foundation of Amelia Earhart’s cabin, intended to be her summer home before she disappeared. Photo courtesy of Visit Cody Yellowstone
For more information on Cody Yellowstone, visit www.CodyYellowstone.org.
