Pow! Pow! Pow!  That was the sound of the explosions coming from the high-powered revolvers used by some rough-looking, tough-talking cowboy-types in front of the Irma Hotel in downtown Cody.

         We were there in July and my granddaughters held their hands over their ears in shock at just how loud a high-powered pistol could be.

         The Cody Gunfighters have been staging their downtown shootout six nights a week from June to September since the 1980s before big crowds in front of the historic Irma Hotel.

         Earlier we had loaded up our old motor home and some of our Texas family (daughter Amber and granddaughters Daylia and Emery) and took a tour of northwest Wyoming.

         The gunfight was just one of many events that dominate the local landscape.

         Claudia Wade of the Park County Visitor Council steered us toward a number of events. We really wanted to float the Shoshone River but could not fit it in.

         The Buffalo Bill Center for the West is probably my favorite museum on the planet.  It is gigantic and the half-day we spent there did not do it justice.

         The complex consists of five different museums.  My favorite is the Buffalo Bill Museum, itself, as this man was the most famous Wyoming person who ever lived.

         What he did with his famous Wild West Show, plus his life story documented in over 1,000 dime novels, is the stuff of a real living legend.

         The Museum of Natural History is awesome and the Whitney Museum of Western Art is one of the best.  The Plains Indian Museum is a visual treat, while the firearms museum will show you guns you could only imagine.

         We could not linger, as we had other places to go to such as Yellowstone National Park.

         We made what we thought would be a quick trip through the east gate but traffic was busy and the crowds were big.  I was able to check out the famous “corkscrew,” which is an odd switchback bridge that allowed early travelers to scale steep Sylvan Pass with horse-drawn wagons.

         Hayden Valley saw a big bison herd blocking the road, which held up traffic for 20 miles.  If you are in a hurry, you better not go through Yellowstone, especially in the middle of the day.  We laughed at the new signs in the bathrooms which indicated “squatting” over the toilets is a forbidden activity with a very descriptive illustration.  This is because of the huge influx of Asian tourists and their toiletry habits.

         We exited the park at Cooke City and took the spectacular Sunlight Basin road back to the Cody-Powell area. A wonderful trip that includes the highest single span bridge in Wyoming.

         The next day, we toured the visitor center at the Buffalo Bill dam, which when built in 1910 was the largest in the world. There is a comprehensive facility there. The reservoir provides much of the irrigation water that makes the Powell area and the Big Horn Basin such an agriculture oasis.

Then we visited the Japanese-American internment center outside of Powell. History was made here when over 11,000 Japanese- American men, women and children were locked up during World War II. It is a powerful story and a remarkable exhibit; everyone in Wyoming should visit it.

Our trip also included a visit to the Medicine Wheel high in the Bighorn Mountains, and also a scenic climb up the famous highway 14A out of Lovell. Both were well worth the time and were written about in an earlier column.

Not long after we got home, I read in the local newspapers about how the Cody gunfight was suspended because something had gone awry. Apparently some kind of live round was inadvertently used and did some damage to a building and produced some slight injuries to a child watching.

The show was suspended until the situation could be sorted out.

As loud as those guns were (and they were shot a lot during this event) and as powerful as they no doubt were, it was extremely fortunate that no one was badly hurt, including the characters themselves.

Northwest Wyoming is a big tourist mecca. As the east gate to Yellowstone, it benefits tremendously from tourism. This could be another record year and if so, be sure to put the area on your list.

Lots of things to see and many more that I have not mentioned here; you really need to go explore for yourself!