The Real Old West

We headed to Wyoming for Adam's Great Grandma's 100th birthday party. While we were there we stayed at the Occidental Hotel. Talk about a step back in time. It was one of the coolest places! It has been accurately and beautifully restored to original, the way it was in the 1880's. It has been awarded the Best Hotel in the West for the past two years in a row. This was the famous hang out for Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, and many many others. Since there were six of us, we booked a suite with three bedrooms. When we were told what our suite was called Adam just laughed with a big grin! What was so funny about the Bordello suite? I didn't know what that word meant! To my surprise it means a whorehouse! I said, "We are staying where?" One of Lori's cousins had connections, and was able to get us some killer rates! I guess long ago after a hard days work, the cowboys had certain things on their mind; a hot bath, games and drinks at the bar, and of course some lady lovin'. I wished we had pictures of our faces as we walked through the door with our three girls in hand into the Bordello suite! They still had the soft red light shining through the window to alert people that they were opened for business like many years ago. As we walked through the door, Lori and I quickly noticed the photographs on the walls. You can only imagine right? We quickly scouted each room to preserve the innocence of our children. Then again we are staying at the old "hook-up" or "humpin'" hotel as Adam calls it. It was crazy! The first thing I read as I walked in was a sign that said:

"One Upset Cowboy"

Apparently some ornery cowboy, upset with not being able to get into see his favorite girl, left the marks on the bordello door by pounding on it with the butt-end of his Colt-45 pistol.

There was even a back escape door for those cowboys that had to make a quick exit! It was actually a pretty educational place. It was amazing to see what things were really like so long ago. To get to the restaurant in the hotel, you had to walk through the saloon. There were original bullet holes left from the fights that had broken out over 100 + years ago. Myself and the girls had never seen anything like it. As we walked through the saloon, Kourtney noticed the giant naked lady painting that hung from ceiling to floor right away! Sure enough when you want her to miss something she never does! We hadn't prepared ourselves for such talks! After dinner, we were visiting with some family when they asked which part of the hotel we were staying in. We told them and they said, "I'm glad you guys are staying there because I've heard that's where the ghosts hang out." Oh great! Once again our kids didn't miss that one either! So our original sleeping plans changed in a hurry! Each adult ended up sleeping with one child. All in all, it was a neat experience and very educational! When we were getting ready to leave Wyoming, Kaitlyn said, "I have noticed in Wyoming that they always have dead things all over the walls!" lol