Shoshone, ID

Eight miles north of Shoshone, off Highway 75 and two miles down a dirt road, is the Shoshone Bird Museum of Natural History. This little DIY museum holds a lot more than just birds though.

The collection is astounding in its size alone: There are hundreds of artifacts, including a wealth of taxidermy, African art, Alaskan fishing equipment, Stone Age tools, fossils, and various other historic and natural wonders of the world. A moderately close perusal would take several hours.

The building itself is a treasure too. Built from raw black lava rocks, individually stacked, the construction of the circular museum took 30 years. The museum is a family project, separately owned by three generations of Olsen men, all of them collectors. A complete history is available onsite, and a tour of the museum incorporates family history into explanation of the curiosities.