where to stay|General Discussions & Questions|Forum|Winchester Collector

Book as soon as you can.  It gets full of tourists.  We stay in a small motel just down the hill from the event.  Close to Granny’s cafe.   Holiday Inn is next door.  Very nice but as most places in this town, very pricey.   The Irma is the only old and original place to stay.

It’s hard to go wrong in Cody. As someone else mentioned, it’s largely up to your budget. But things fill up, so reserve early. I’ve stayed at Holiday Inn, Best Western, Comfort Inn and all were fine. Irma is good for the price and near good food choices.  I even stayed at the Chamberlin Inn once, which is quite pricey but a unique experience for my wife and I.

From my own past experience a long while ago. If you think that you might only go this one time, then the memory of staying at the Erma, I feel is worth it! IMO!

Anthony

Tom, we’ve only been once and that was in 2024.  We got a room at the Holiday Inn and found it clean and safe, although priced like the Waldorf for the season. 

Ordinarily, we try to stay in Hampton Inns and did on the drive up and back to Wyoming. Having been food poisoned twice each, we are leery of food on the road and a steady diet of restaurant food, saltier, richer, and in larger portions than I’m accustomed to, causes me trouble anyway. 

My only complaint about the HI was no in’-room microwave so I could have some morning oatmeal for less than $25 USD.  The Hampton solves that problem for breakfast and the small fridge and mw gives us a needed break for a small, quiet, and inexpensive evening meal, if we’re staying for several days. Being sedentary for 600 miles a day burns few calories except for those burned by panic and frustration going through the wilds of metro Denver during rush hour. No mas!

If I were to visit the firearms library again, I would want to have in hand an index to the enormous and anonymous pull-out cases of guns under glass. I was unable to find an index and the cases are blind and identified only by number.  There were two many to go through without a map. 

I have stayed at the Green Gables last few years, always clean and in good repair. No restaurant or kitchenette but microwave and small fridge is in room. They are closed in the winter so won’t be answering the phone for a few more weeks.

Mike

That’s great, Tom. I know you’ll both find it worthwhile. 

One of the things I most enjoyed was meeting in person friends I’d made on the forum but had never laid eyes on. I very specifically remember walking over to Seewin’s table on Saturday morning and introducing myself by my real name. 

Even though Steve and I had engaged in long conversations about Model 52 Sporting rifles, during which he helped me enormously, on the forum and by private messaging, he drew a polite blank while shaking my hand. Seeing he was confused, I told him my forum handle and his face lit up like a Christmas tree and he greeted me enthusiastically. We had a grand conversation.  

I wish I could get there this Summer but it isn’t in the cards. 

If you have the time and inclination, Yellowstone is only a couple hours away by car.  I’m not sure where your plane will be landing, of course. Perhaps it will be at that airport. 

Do bring some short sleeve shirts.

Yes, those experiences and memories of them are worth more than gold. 

I never expected to get as old as I am. My former profession is infamous for how early the hearse horse shows up, snickering. But here I still am, reading the obits in the bar journal monthly to see which of my classmates or colleagues has been hauled away. 

Nonetheless, my ability to get physical tasks done rapidly or even timely takes a permanent step down at odd intervals, unexpectedly.  Hard Winters suddenly get harder. 

But curiously – and thankfully – my seeming ability to absorb concepts, grasp probable consequences,  solve intellectual problems and find solutions, has increased a bit. Possibly through patience and self-forgiveness learned from a half Century of participating in the wretched conflicts and troubles of strangers. 

What Thurber’s talking lemming failed to grasp about humans is our capacity to enjoy the company of friends and the life-saving capacity of most of us to learn from history. Not all but most. 

Chuck said
Anyone thinking of going can contact codyyellowstone.org and get 2025 Adventure Vacation Guide.  It lists places to stay from motels to Dude Ranches.  All sorts of other things.

  

Thanks, Chuck. I wish I’d known that last year. I will make a note for the future.