a to explore. One of the places we enjoyed was the Irma Hotel, built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1902. It’s retained most of the original woodwork inside, and has one of the most popular lunch buffets in town. The dining room is beautiful, with tintype ceilings, chandeliers, and the “famous” cherrywood” bar. We enjoyed our lunch, the highlight of which was the bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Real whiskey. 
Lots of REAL whiskey. I enjoyed it so much I went back three times, and would have gone for more except that Brenda pointed out (with just a touch of sarcasm) that I was no longer filling my bowl with bread pudding, just the whiskey sauce. Oh well. After a few cups of black coffee, we were off to shop. 
I don’t normally like shopping, but there’s nothing like a quart or so of whiskey sauce to put me in the mood for anything. While not very large, the shopping area of Cody has a number of interesting shops with all types of outdoor and wildlife items. It was a beautiful day, and although we didn’t find anything valuable enough to further crowd into our 400 square feet of home, we enjoyed the day. Leaving Cody for the next leg in our journey, we headed west past Buffalo Bill Reservoir and into the East gate of Yellowstone, then over Sylvan Pass down to Yellowstone Lake. I
t’s probably the least scenic route in the park, since most of the drive to the lake is through burnt forest. At the lake, we watched as a wildfire burned on the far side. Because of the cool and rainy weather in the park, the fire’s growth was slowed, although there was still a lot of smoke. We continued through the park, amazed at the crowds this late in September, and exited in West Yellowstone. From there, it was an easy jaunt down to Island Park, where we stayed at the Valley
View RV park, a nice park that accepted Passport America. (Our Review). Island Park is in a beautiful area of forest and meadows, and we took a drive into the woods to see Big Springs, where over 120 million gallons of water a day bubble up to form the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. What an incredible place! 
We walked the path along the river and watched as Common Mergansers and Redhead ducks enjoyed the crystal clear water. Later we drove up to the top of Sawtelle Peak, a 10000’ mountain with great views that I described to Brenda since she had her head covered in a map and refused to look.We left Island Park and are headed for the Salmon River valley, so stop back and check on our journey!
