National Bighorn Sheep Center, Dubois, Wyoming

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Photograph of Gift Shop sign for National Bighorn Sheep Center

After a leisurely morning and breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and drove about a mile to the National Bighorn Sheep Center. They have a more formal sign, but it is hidden by trees, so the gift shop sign had to do. The center has a number of displays that discuss various aspects of the biology of Rock Mountain bighorn sheep, but also offers some comparison with other bighorn sheep subspecies. The exhibits were nice and, I think, almost anyone who visits is going to learn a few things about the sheep. 
 
Photograph of Bighorn Sheep Diorama at National Bighorn Sheep Center

 High on the back wall, they had head mounts of a number of different wild sheep. I had heard of some, such as the mouflon, but there were others I hadn't heard of such as the Marco Polo, which had some really large and crazy horns.
 
We spent about an hour at the center, which was a slow, leisurely pace. While we were there, several other parties came in, some with children, who seemed to be quite excited about the displays.

Photograph of a statute of a bighorn sheep, National Bighorn Sheep Center
Statue of a bighorn sheep located on the grounds.

We decided to return to the National Museum of Military Vehicles to take a few photographs. The tickets are good for two consecutive days, so we thought we'd take advantage of that.

We passed by the World's Largest Jackalope Exhibit, in Dubois, but didn't stop. Perhaps, if it had been titled, "National Jackalope Exhibit," we might have stopped in. At least to determine whether it is the largest in terms of area or number of exhibits, or whether the large jackalope statue outside was the world's largest. A mystery to solve another day.

 Back to the National Museum of Military Vehicles. We wandered around for a couple of hours taking photos and watching a couple of videos. My last photo was of a Colt 45 that had belonged to Wyatt Earp. Unfortunately, he owned this gun after his lawman days, so there are no good stories to go with it. But, still, Wyatt Earp.

Photograph of a Colt 45 owned by Wyatt Earp


 After leaving the Museum, we drove back down to Lander. We saw several pronghorn antelope, but not so many as we saw yesterday. Perhaps the time of day?

In Lander, we did our weekly grocery shopping and headed back to SPC. I fired up the pellet smoker and smoked some chicken breasts for dinners and lunches for the next few days. We also made two fritattas, and baked in the pellet smoker, for breakfasts over the weekend work days,

 

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