What a day! | Cerrito Creek OLD

Thank you, Cerrito Creek families, for pulling together and making the field trip happen today. The verdict is in: the Blackhawk Auto Museum’s Spirit of the Old West exhibit is jaw dropping! Unbelievable artifacts grace this place, putting the wax and plastic figures common in so many museums to shame! Everything was authentic, most of it on permanent loan from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West museum in Cody, Wyoming. The students brought a wealth of knowledge to their experience, which always makes for better museum learning. Thank you, especially, to Nina for putting it together and Birgitta for coordinating drivers last minute. Enjoy the photos and plan a family visit. It’s suburban paradise!

Homework is to finish Bound for Oregon and study for spelling. More photos are being taken tomorrow, so dress nicely and brush your hair!

We had a chance to view this old Packard and many other classic cars after the Old West exhibit.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show included people from all over the world. All the same, the cowboys always seemed to be the good guys…

Buffalo Bill and his buddy, Pawnee Bill.

Annie Oakley’s actual pistol! She would shoot those blue glass balls in mid air.

Students spun the wheel to see how they met their end of the Oregon Trail.

A yoke of oxen.

Prairie schooner!

Once iron came to native people, it replaced the traditional stone.

Circles were and or central to Native American iconography and cosmology.

An actual white buffalo head. That’s how incredible this place was.

Unbelievable arrow points

All parts of the buffalo were important

A bag made from buffalo mask. One student remarked: this must have been made after the missionaries came. I love when my students say really smart stuff in public.