The wife and I were agreed that this

was our favorite bison statue. At first I thought those were bulrushes painted on its side, but soon realized that made little sense for bison art. I guess I'm just not used to seeing grasses that tall on the prairie.

A close second favorite, which we did not even see until we were leaving Central City to come home, was standing out front of the hospital.

Yeah, somehow in five days we had managed to never drive on the north side of the hospital block during daylight. And almost missed seeing this blood-red bovine guarding the state's sick, wounded and dying.

In discussing these artistic creations, I mentioned if I had a bison to decorate, he would be two-toned like the grasses, or Washakie bison, but his sides would be covered with tan prairies, dotted with herds of bison. Kinda like in Dances with Wolves.

Then, as we gassed up for the two-hour drive home, we spotted this fellow across the street.

They didn't have the prairie and sky, but got pretty close to my idea. The reverse side had the native encampment.

But the clever thing, what I really liked, was the trail of tears leading from the bison's eye to the camp.

Unfortunately, the more I looked, the less I liked it. First, the tears were coming from the wrong side of the eye. Bison are mammals, and so, like us, have their tear ducts on the inside, by the muzzle. Bothers me even more, now.

Their tracks are wonderfully detailed, but bison have left and right legs, like all other mammals. And they don't set them down in a neat, narrow line.

Yeah, nit-picking, I know, but it was frustrating to see a wonderful work tainted by simple mistakes.

And, finally, there was one other bison of note that we found downtown, across the street from Chief Washakie. Another native village on one side

with a modern scene on the other side. Canids of some sort (coyotes or wolves I could not tell), staring at livestock within a corral. The most interesting point, though was this.

The artist painted their home on their bison. Complete with the street address and a cat on the porch. Neat. Obviously, they have strong feelings about their home.

Problem is, when you look at where they painted their home...

you have to wonder what those feelings are.