Fun day in Sheridan, Wyoming

My Dad and I are in Sheridan, Wyoming today.  Tomorrow is the Big Horn Trail Run, but today, we did the tourist thing with my Aunt Ethel.

This morning, we visited Big Horn, Wyoming, a tiny town south of Sheridan, population 198.  We toured the Bradford Brinton Museum, a gentleman's farm of the 1920s and 1930s.  Brinton was a farm implement engineer and well-enough off to have a 2000-acre ranch in Wyoming as a summer home.  The house and museum contain an awesome collection of western art from the likes of Hans Kleiber and Frederic Remington. 

We ate lunch at the Bozeman Trail Inn in Big Horn.  It is the oldest continuously operating inn in the west.  We had tasty ham and cheese sandwiches and awesome steak fries while admiring the collection of fancy whisky bottles collected over the years.

In the late afternoon, we headed to Story, Wyoming to visit the Story Art Station, an artists' coop with selections of local artists' work.  I particularly enjoyed the beeswax candles and Christmas ornaments by Harts Aglow and the fused glass objets d'art by Paulette Kucera.  I was equally impressed by the artwork of all the other talented artists.  If I had any wall space left in my house, I would have surely bought more!  And I would dearly love to own one of the fabulous hand-felted purses by Marilyn Roberts, but being allergic to wool has its drawbacks.  A humorous story from Story:  The road sign announcing the city said Population 650, but someone had painted a large 1 over the 0, so I guess there was a recent baby born to some lucky family!

We ate dinner at the Wagon Box Inn in Story, and all I can say is Yum!  I had the Coriander Salmon Salad with Huckleberry Vinaigrette and it was totally tasty.  Dad had the daily special — Stuffed Rainbow Trout — and Aunt Ethel had Chicken-Fried Steak.  They both enjoyed their meals as much as I did.  Definitely worth a trip!

Lastly, we visited the historical site of the Wagon Box Fight, a battle fought during Red Cloud's War in 1867.  Thirty-two soldiers held off an attack by 1000-2000 Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, Cheyenne and members of other Indian tribes by taking shelter in a corral created by placing 14 wagons on their sides in an oval.  The soldiers were equipped with new Springfield-Allin repeating rifles with which the Indians weren't familiar.  The Indian warriors had planned to attack and then, when the soldiers reloaded, to storm the corral and kill the soldiers.  But the lull during reloading never came, and despite several attacks, the Indians were unable to overcome the soldiers.