The Money Museum, Colorado Springs, Colorado

The Money Museum is one of the largest museums dedicated to bringing culture to life. The museum includes history, science, art and much more. There are three main galleries with spectacular rarities and incredible findings about the world's history with money. 

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Garden of the Gods red rock formations were created during a geological upheaval along a natural fault line millions of years ago. Archaeological evidence shows that prehistoric people visited Garden of the Gods about 1330 BC. At about 250 BC, Native American people camped in the park; they are believed to have been attracted to wildlife and plant life in the area and used overhangs created by the rocks for shelter. Many native peoples have reported a connection to Garden of the Gods, including Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Pawnee, Shoshone, and Ute people.

Balanced Rock

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody Museum, Cody, Wyoming

The Story of the American West is framed by an iconic image of the land, chapter after chapter devoted to the freedom, exploration and optimism it inspired. The story is forged by Native Americans, pioneers, cowboys, ranchers and settlers -- people with vision, courage, strong backs and hardy beliefs. People like William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who imagined what could be and created a lasting legacy. More than a century ago, Cody dreamed of developing a special place that would "teach people by seeing history." Today, we've expanded on that dream at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the only museum in the world where people can immerse themselves in the story of the real American West. 

Draper Natural History Museum, Cody, Wyoming

The Draper Natural History Museum highlights the extinction of animals and the possibility of extinction of species still around. The causes of Ice Age extinctions remain a mystery, however, some scientists hypothesize that hunting by humans may have caused the late-Pleistocene extinction of large North American Animals. Other scientists disagree with this hypothesis on the grounds that the human population was too small and technologically primitive to cause such extensive extinction. Of the many kinds of animals that became extinct, only two ~ the mammoth and mastodon ~ have been directly associated with large-scale hunting by humans. Other explanations for late-Pleistocene extinctions include disease and ecological changes related to a warming climate. The extinctions may have been caused by a combination of many factors. There is limited hard evidence, so the mystery remains unsolved - for now.

Jade

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

With no foothills to obstruct your view, the jagged peaks and deep canyons of the Teton Range rise abruptly from the Jackson Hole valley. This landscape was born out of an ancient past and shaped by recent geologic forces. The 2.7 billion year old rocks found in the core of the range are some of the oldest in North America, but these mountains rank among the youngest in the world.

This is the only moose that we got to see on our travels. I took the following pictures of Jenny Lake with the Teton Range in the background.