Our third annual awards honoring this year's top museums based on their grand showcases of the American West in the previous year. 1- Great Platte...
Top 10 Western Museums of 2009
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Travel & Preservation
Back Trail to the Reel West
My wife Dana and I rode into the heart of the Alabama Hills, a place I had been to thousands of times in my 50-plus years, even though I’d never set...
Herding Belligerent Bison
If you get up close, especially when one decides to charge you on horseback, bison can be pretty scary beasts. They look prehistoric, with their...
San Antonio, Texas
"Bring in your deer antlers and you can trade them for a shot of whiskey or beer." When you enter the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum in San Antonio,...
Ups & Downs of Ranching Dream
Who hasn’t fantasized about riding off into the sunset on your own horse through beautiful Western terrain that is all yours for as far as the eye...
Journey Through Spanish Missions Country
Tourists—tons of them—walk inside these walls with a quiet reverence. It’s not because the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) remind them of...
The Road to Mangas
The dirt road to Mangas almost loses itself amid low hills as it winds through the windswept plains of New Mexico’s high desert. It isn’t a drive...
The Lazy Person’s Guide to Oregon
“A lazy person should never think about going to Oregon,” wrote Elizabeth Wood, in her diary entry for August 3, 1851. Elizabeth was traveling on...
Wagon Train Rediscovers America
The discovery of gold in 1874 by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s expedition ignited a stampede. Mining camps sprang up in the Dakota Territory’s...
Alaska’s Quiet Gold Rush
He said his name was Tommy. In his 60s, he had driven his compact pickup truck from Mississippi all the way to Alaska. Arriving in Homer, he spent...
Staycations & Vacations
This past winter, when I finally made my way to Mystery Castle at 800 E. Mineral Road in Phoenix, Arizona, I was glad to hear I was not the only...
What’s in a Name
GENE AUTRY If not for his job as a telegrapher at the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, Gene Autry may not have become famous as the Singing...