Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The closest commercial airports to Thermopolis are in Worland (30 miles) and Riverton (65
miles).
Great Lakes
(800/554-5111,
www.flygreatlakes.com
)
operates flights out of both
airports, and in Riverton offers codeshares with United and Frontier.
Daily
bus service
is available through Greyhound (
www.greyhound.com
) to and from
points north (Billings) and south (Denver) at
Exxon Southside Travel Center
(167 S. U.S.
20, 307/864-3108).
By road, Thermopolis is 82 miles southeast of Cody, 150 miles southeast of the east en-
trance to Yellowstone National Park, and 190 miles south of Billings.
It seems somehow fitting that this Western town was the brainchild of one of the West's
most colorful and dynamic showmen. Indeed, Cody (population 9,653, elevation 5,088
feet), named for Buffalo Bill Cody, is a small town that packs a lot of punch. Set as it is
in the arid Bighorn Basin, you might expect Cody to be all dust and tumbleweeds. But that
couldn't be farther from reality, although there are plenty of both when the Wyoming wind
kicks up. Cody is high style with shiny boots and fringe on almost everything. Cody is
Molesworth furniture, a little gaudy sometimes but an absolute classic. Cody is a nightly
rodeo and old-time gunslingers. In many ways, Cody is the old West, the
real
West, that
visitors want to see and experience.
An obvious destination in and of itself, Cody is home to what is arguably the best
Western art and history museum in the world. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is beyond
compare. Visitors could spend a week in the complex's five separate museums and never
see the same exhibit twice. The compact downtown is scenic and historic, with world-class
art galleries, fun tourist shops, and great eateries. There are plenty of Western entertainment
options as well across the valley.
Just outside town, the landscape shifts into the lush South Fork, and into the high country
the closer one gets to Yellowstone National Park. There are a hundred reasons to go to
Cody, including its proximity to Yellowstone.
