Miracle of America Museum: Unique. Funky. Amazing!

When it comes to viewing Americana, I don't know of any place better to see it than at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson, Montana.

There is more "stuff" in this sprawling roadside showcase of American culture than in any other museum I have ever visited. It's a hodgepodge collection that co-founder Gil Mangels says documents America "from the walking plow to walking on the Moon." It is also, he says, "a celebration of the benefits of the free enterprise system."

It sprawls over several acres along U.S. Highway 93 on the south edge of town.

One minute the museum is serious, with patriotic exhibits of World War II; displays of antique motorcycles, cars and tractors; an old one-room schoolhouse and a shrine to Thomas Edison and his contributions to America. Then there's the weird stuff —  a two headed cow, "an official U.S. government cover-up tool" (a fold-up Army shovel) and assorted flying saucers and rockets. A new exhibit, the Alien Autopsy Lab, is complete with an alien sprawled out on a medical examination table, looking very much like those in the secret films from the infamous Roswell, NM, spaceship crash in the late 1940s.

The museum was founded in 1981 by Gil Mangels and his late-wife Joanne. Gil carries on today, running the show and deciding how to expand the already giant collection of memorabilia. If you visit, say "hi" and thank him for his years of dedicated work.

I could go on and on, but instead here's a three-minute video I put together of my visit in July, 2015. It explains a lot better what's at the museum than I could put into words.

Admission is $6, worth every penny and then some. It's less for kids.