We took the Chief Joseph Scenic
Highway drive. The highway is just northwest of Cody and features some of the most beautiful scenery in the U.S. Spectacular mountains, lush ranch valleys, rugged canyons and arid flat lands provide contrast that enchant visitors and locals alike. The highlights of the drive is the 12,253 ft. Spectacular mountains, valleys and ranch land. Sunlight Creek Bridge is Wyoming's highest elevation bridge. Nearby Clark's Fork Canyon, cradling Wyoming's only Wild and Scenic River. The Road took us up to an elevation of 10,988 feet before we began out decent to the valley below. The drive was specular! The views incredible!!!What a beautiful drive. It seems that everyplace that we go it is more beautiful than the last.
There was one more fact about Cody that I found very interesting! I love the WW II history and loved reading books about WW II. One of the most interesting facts was the on Heart Mountain just east of Cody there stands several empty buildings and the hospital chimney spire rising in the sky as the few visible reminders of the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, once the third-largest community in Wyoming.
At the height of World War II, in 1942, about 120,000 Japanese-American citizens were removed from their West Coast homes and placed in 10 internment camps around the country. One was the 10,767-resident Heart Mountain camp Northeast of Cody.
Two-thirds of the internees were American Citizens, the camp was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and armed military police. The Wyoming Legislature enacted special laws restricting the actives and movements of internees.
The camp was occupies Aug. 12, 1942-Nov. 15, 1945. When released, many internees found they had nothing to return to as their homes and businesses had been foreclosed on because of their inability to continue payments while detained in the camp.
The national security measure, established for the supposed "protection" of Japanese-Americans, has since been criticized as an overreaction.
We left Cody on Saturday, September 5 and headed East. More on the adventure later.
Until then..... Candy and Johnny
