Buffalo Bill Historical Center

Along about 9:00, we headed out for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center which was only a few minutes away from the campground.  This historical center houses five different museums inside.  There was a special display available about saddles and leather tooling, that I was especially interested in.




Back in one of my former lives, I did leather tooling.  I never did a saddle, but I could certainly appreciate the workmanship.






This was  a magnificent display of the art of leather tooling.  If you’ve ever worked with leather, you would understand my fascination with this special display.  :)




Then along came a miniature cowboy with his father.  He strutted along with his hat, boots, and thumbs hooked in his jean’s pockets.  He couldn’t pass up the chance to “get in the saddle.”  I tried to get a picture of him with his dad, who also had spurs on his boots, but it wasn’t to be.  What a hoot!  They had obviously come to check out the saddle display, and left shortly afterwards.

All of the five museums concern the history of the west.  In the museum containing artwork and sculpture, there was a hands-on activity that caught my interest.  Alexander Phimister Proctor,  was an artist that sculpted, among other things, a public monument to Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders.   The challenge was to recreate this sculpture in miniature.  I tried it myself, but found I needed more than two hands to solve the puzzle.
I enlisted Stan to help me out, and eventually….
we got the sculpture puzzle assembled.  The actual, bigger than life, sculpture can be viewed in Oregon, North Dakota, and New York.

After four hours at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, we were kind of overloaded mentally, so we headed out for a late lunch.  If you ever find yourself in Cody, Wyoming, the Historical Center is a must see place.  The cost for seniors is $13, and well worth it!

I’m hoping the very high winds calm down overnight so we can drive through Yellowstone to the Red Rocks RV park in Idaho tomorrow.  It will be nice to settle into a location for a while.

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy