Mily Lourenço Adventures

We loved our time here! The first week was already so packed with fun and it only continued on from there! We spent a short but fun few evenings with Craig & Felicia, we headed back out to Yellowstone National park for a weekend, enjoyed the cute little town of Cody more during the weekdays, went horseback riding, and visited Old Trail Town! There is so much more to do in Cody, but because we are working M-F we don’t always get the time to do everything we are interested in. Because we have to be selective in where we spend our time, I’m really learning that we need to plan our visits better to make the most out of our weekends! A month sounds like a long time at each state, but we are quickly learning we could definitely be spending more time at each location we visit!

Craig and Felicia travel often in their trailer so it was so cool for them to plan to make a stop in Cody to visit us as they were making their way up to Montana for their summer travels. We went to Bubba’s BBQ for dinner shortly after they arrived. Definitely had a few laughs there to start out the night. They did some whiskey tasting from Mike’s fine collection. The guys got to catch up a bit as we chatted the night away. They came on a Monday night and left on a Thursday morning, that meant we couldn’t do too much as we had to work while they explored. Craig and Felicia went on a scenic ride on their street legal dirt bikes, on ‘America’s ultimate high-country-route, a trip between Red Lodge and Yellowstone, The Beartooth Highway. This is definitely something I’d love to come back to see, but we definitely need dirt bikes/motorcycles for this! I had so much fun riding Felicia’s bike around the neighborhood nearby. Thanks again, Felicia! We ended our time together by their fire-pit with dinner, Pie for dessert and had a great time together. Always nice when Mike gets to see his HS buddy and catch up! Thanks for visiting guys!

We went back to Yellowstone for the weekend! This time we decided to stay a night in the park. Yellowstone is such a large park, over 2 million acres large. Last weekend when we went, it was exhausting for Mike to have to drive all day and then also drive home through the mountains. We booked a cabin at Canyon Lodge! It made it worth it since we also got to spend Sunday morning/afternoon there before heading back into town! Thankfully I did some research and saw that there was a road closure from Tower Roosevelt to Canyon Village. This is something that is easy to find on the NPS.gov website on each National Park’s Front Page. You just have to look vs just showing up. That meant we would want to enter the park through the North-East Entrance vs the East Entrance we went through last weekend. The drive there was about 1.5 hours, about half an hour longer than the other entrance. We were so happy to come across a Breakfast Burrito sign right before getting to the park. Mountain Getaway Eats is a cute little family owned Food Truck. Perfect stop for a cup of delicious coffee and a breakfast burrito! The owner had his son helping him out that day. He was so cute, “look dad, I got a tip on my very first day!” He was probably about 10 years old if I had to guess. We’re glad we got to make that little boys day! Definitely would stop here again if we come this way again into the park. He also mentioned building cabins there soon, check out his FB Group if that’s something that would interest you when you come visit Yellowstone!

Coming in from the North-East entrance allowed for us to start in Lamar Valley early morning to see all the Buffalo! Definitely recommend this route! We saw so many herds, but we stopped at the very first herd we saw to get a closer look. They were all down by the river enjoying the beautiful morning. We were spoiled by one fun guy who put on a little show for us. He dropped down onto a dirt pile and rolled around while making some grunting sounds. I learned, they do this to coat themselves with dirt as a protective layer from flies and mosquitos. Such an awesome sight to see! I uploaded a video to our YouTube Channel for anyone who’d like to see! I could probably spend all day watching the Buffalo roam around and play. If wildlife is something you’re interested in seeing, go to the park early and go to Lamar Valley!

We headed towards Mammoth Hot Springs next. On the way there, we stopped at Wraith Falls, this was a super short hike to a somewhat disappointing waterfall, although I’m sure it has its better days in other times of the year. Once we got to Mammoth Hot Springs, we walked around the Lower Terrace before driving through the Upper Terrace and making our way back down towards the Grand Prismatic Spring! Last week when we came, we drove past this not realizing what a sight we were missing out on, so I wanted to make sure we made it a part of our plans this weekend and I am so glad we did! I had no idea the beauty that my eyes were about to see! This is a must see stop if you’re planning to visit Yellowstone.

We jumped onto Firehole Canyon Drive and hidden in this little drive is a gorgeous waterfall, Firehole Falls! This definitely made up for the earlier one! We walked down into the water and enjoyed a quick dip of our feet to cool down a bit. Perfect way to end the day!

The following morning we went for a hike at Elephant Back Trail. This 3.5 mile loop trail leads you up to an amazing panoramic view of Yellowstone Lake. There are a few switchbacks and it definitely was a lot of uphill climbing. But how else would you get to such an amazing view of Yellowstone Lake! This hike took us about 1.5-2 hrs from start to finish. We did stop to enjoy the beauty and had a nice rest before descending back down. We are guilty of not having any bear spray with us on this hike. Definitely need to make sure to carry Bear Spray for each adult when hiking in wildlife’s backyard next time. All these adventures are so much fun, but we definitely need to remember to be smart along the way! We’ve already bought ourselves a couple of sprays as we want to continue to go on these amazing hikes. It’s so much fun to be out here surrounded by nothing but nature. Knowing we might come across wildlife makes it that much more exciting. I just was hoping to see Elk and maybe a Moose. (see pics below to see if you can spot the ‘moose’ we saw) Still soaking in all the beauty that Yellowstone had to offer. I hope the photos I’ve shared will only excite you to want to visit yourself someday!

On our way home from Yellowstone this time, we stopped at the Buffalo Bill Dam. We drove past it the first time we went to Yellowstone because we wanted to get to the park early, and then on the way home they were already closed. So glad we had another chance to stop here because its so Dam beautiful! We made it just 15 minutes before they closed! A quick history lesson and a few quick snaps of photos was all we had time for.

How do you beat that amazing weekend? You take me Horseback Riding at Bill Cody Ranch! I was in heaven on Saturday! Getting to spend my afternoon with these beauties trotting along on a beautiful 2 hour trail was pure bliss! I got a couple bags of horse treats in their gift shop before our ride. Feeding the horses was fun, you get to see a bit of character in the horses especially when they fight for the treats. Mike’s horse’s name was Ted! He was a big one! I had a beautiful white horse, Paint. I struggled a bit at the beginning learning how to get Paint to listen to me. Once they get on the trail, they just follow each other and that became less of a problem. There were a few younger girls who were on the trail with us, they were so sweet and tried to give me tips. They also shared so many cute stories of their trip with us. I am definitely eager to spend more time on trails riding. Hoping to have many more rides as our adventures continue on. Of course every little girls dream is to own a horse one day, and that still is a dream of mine!

The following day, Sunday, we wanted to visit the Cowboy Bar in the city of Meeteetse. This bar was established in 1893. Mike heard from a neighbor that you can see bullet holes from a Butch Cassidy shoot out. I was definitely interested in hearing more about the history. We drove there, only to realize they were closed. Sadly, we are learning that we need to double check times especially on Sundays. So instead we went to check out another gem, Old Trail Town, back in Cody. This was more than what we expected. Old Trail Town is formed by 27 cabins. Many of these cabins were completely taken apart and moved to this site to be reassembled. These buildings date from 1879 – 1901. They also moved 6 gravesites to this location. There is a huge collection of old, ancient, authentic artifacts to be seen here. During the week one night, we finally made it out to see the Gun Fight in downtown Cody. It was a cute little town show that they put on daily at 6pm. It’s fun for the tourist and the kids.

Wow! We did a lot in Wyoming even though this is the shortest amount of time we’ve spent in one location so far. We are learning to plan more to make the most of our time. Our day to day here at Buffalo Bluff RV Park has been perfect. Our sunsets daily were so gorgeous here at the park. The first couple weeks we were also spoiled by a group of deer that would come by the back of the park. I love when we get to see animals anywhere we go! We found Crossfit Cody which is only 5 minutes away, and on days we miss out on the gym, we go on our bike rides at the nearby neighborhood. There’s a herd of cows there that we get to ride by and some horses in some backyards too that are such a treat to see. The family (Ron, Kelly, Nathan & Nicky) who own this RV park, and the sweet front desk girl, Kylie, really made us feel welcomed and at home here. Thank you guys so much for your hospitality. We’ll definitely be back in the future as there is so much more to see in this charming town!