Fort Union National Monument, Watrous, New Mexico

During our stay in Las Vegas, New Mexico, we took a short trip to visit Fort Union National Monument. The end of the Mexican American war in 1848 expanded the interests and obligations of the United States. As American Indians and Mexicans defended themselves against the invasion of their homeland, concerns for safety increased among settlers, traders, merchants, travelers, townspeople, and farmers. To protect its new U.S. territory and extend its influence and security to travelers on the trail and to newly arriving American settlers, the United States established Fort Union in 1851.

Van Houton Mine, Raton, New Mexico

The Van Houton Mine remains and ghost town is here on the NRA Whittington property. From the main road, you go to the end and turn left, and keep driving. This road takes you past most of the places for shooting, the cabins and primitive camping. We drove to the mine on Thursday, and I would have gone further, except for Jim getting vertigo. I had parked and started walking to look at some things, and he was looking down on the canyon. We should have kept going to the main mine entrance. We probably won't go back as it's supposed to start raining and since it's a one lane narrow road, I don't want to drive it wet. But, I did find a picture of the mine entrance:

Sante Fe National Historic Trail, Raton, New Mexico

The Santa Fe National Historic Trail runs from Lincoln, Missouri, through Kansas into New Mexico, ending in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It linked routes originally followed by American Indians and Frontiersmen, developing into the most important trade conduit in the United States. The trail played a critical role in the westward expansion of the United States as well as trade relations with Mexico. We first visited the NRA Whittington Center back on August 5, 2018. We just visited again this year, so I have taken the blog from 2018 and incorporated it into this post.

Western Museum of Mining & Industry, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Our last museum while we were in Monument, Colorado was to the Western Museum of Mining & Industry. All of the machines in the museum work and our guide actually turned them all on; some were pretty loud so he did not run them very long.

In 1970, the Museum of the West was incorporated as a private non-profit with a mission to preserve and interpret the rich mining history of Colorado and the American West. The nucleus of the collection was a group of mining artifacts contributed to the museum by Mr. Frederick McMenemy Farrar and Mrs. Katherine Thatcher Farrar.

National Museum of WWII Aviation, Colorado Springs, Colorado

I read that this museum is one that should not be missed, so we made it a point to visit the National Museum of WWII Aviation. It was not just airplanes in the museum, but a history of World War II.

Ghost Town Museum, Colorado Springs, Colorado

We arrived in Monument, Colorado on August 6, 2025, for a two-week stay. I had a list of museums to visit but I'm not sure how many we will get to as this place is so crowded. But anyway, the first museum we went to was the Ghost Town Museum, which was created in 1954 to preserve a piece of Colorado’s Wild West heritage. It depicts the town as it was growing back in the 1800s when pioneers learned of gold in California, and the railroad was being built from east to west.

Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody, Wyoming

The last time we were in Cody, Wyoming in 2018 to see the Buffalo Bill Museum our visit got cut short, though I did do a blog post on William Cody himself. This time I picked up on some other exhibits that I don't recall seeing last time. There's not a lot of exhibits, but I wanted to highlight them anyway.  

Plains Indians Museum, Cody, Wyoming

The Plains Indians Museum is another of the museums located within the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. The last time we were here we went through this museum, but I did not pay much attention to it nor did I take any pictures. This time though, I decided to take my time in the museum and took pictures to tell the story of the Plains Indians.