Lookout Mountain and the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum and Grave

Near our house, only a short drive above Golden, CO is a place called Lookout Mountain. I joke with my boys that they named the mountain after a airplane pilot who didn't see the mountain because of obscuring clouds and before crashing, yelled out "Look Out!!! Mountain!" But, once you get up there, you realize that it is named because it is definitely a look out. You can see for miles and miles from up there. You can clearly make out Golden, downtown Denver, and the great American plains in the distance that make up Nebraska and Kansas. It's beautiful up there. We decided that we'd spend memorial day checking out this treasure in our own backyard. Also, on Lookout Mountain is the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum and Grave. Fascinating guy! Besides creating and running the "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show" for many, many years...he was a soldier in the civil war, worked for the pony express, established towns (namely Cody, Wyoming), worked for the railroad, got a medal of honor from the president, an advocate against slavery and a proponent of the respectful treatment of Indians, and was the inspiration for characters in books by Bram Stoker and Emilio Salgari. He died in Denver at his sisters house and his last request was to be buried at the top of Lookout Mountain because "you can see everything from up there". So, we visited his grave and walked through the museum. We had some homemade fudge at the commissary and stood on the lookout and looked...out. Afterward, we went to Genesee Park (which was nearby) to see the wild bison herd that lives there and maybe do some hiking. We went to the very top of another mountain and did a little hiking. We took these pictures there.

On the way down the mountain, we spied a bison eating off the side of the road. Around the next corner, we found the entire herd on the side of another mountain. We pulled off on an overlook and watched them for a few minutes. Then, we went back home and BBQ'd some steaks, made some corn on the cobb, and Joi made her famous Potato Salad. Yummy! Also, we went swimming. The pool in our complex is finally open so we enjoyed it and the beautiful, warm weather. All in all, it was a nice day as a family exploring the treasures in our own backyard. Now we know of somewhere else we can take people who come to visit us.