Don't let any non-Wyomingite try to kid you, God really did bless the Cowboy State. Besides natural resources and rich Old West history, here are the 5 most awesome things Wyoming gave the world. You’re welcome.

When the location expert for “Close Encounters” welcomed the director to the site, Steven Spielberg said, “Oh yeah, perfect. This is the place.”

The “Mother Store” opened by James Cash Penney, himself, in 1902 was in the small town of Kemmerer, WY and the rest is history. In fact, that store is in another location in town and the original address is now a museum.

3. Rodeo

Cheyenne Frontier Days wasn’t the first rodeo (that was in 1840s Santa Fe, NM), but there’s only one “Daddy of ‘Em All.” It bulges the Capitol City’s population for 10 days in July. Also, Cody’s Rodeo rocks nightly June through August, the entire rodeo season.

And being just the first National Park, Yellowstone is not the only one, but it has the largest field of geysers anywhere in the world. Old Faithful was named for its eruptions timed like clockwork. Watch a National Park Service webcam here.

You could say Wyoming was the first state to give women the right to vote, only it was actually 21 years before we were a state. The Territory “needed the women’s votes to get enough votes to become a state,” according to answers.yahoo.com. But Wyoming would give the nation its first female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross. The first Ross to be Wyoming governor - her husband - died in office. A week later, Nellie was asked if she'd consider running for gov, herself, and she was elected ... IN 1925. So maybe we didn't give equality to the world, but we definitely nudged it.

Bonus: Chris LeDoux The pride of Cheyenne Central High School was first to ever appear on both a Cheyenne Frontier Days bull and the Frontier Night stage. Even if you moved to Wyoming after LeDoux's death from cancer in 2005, you quickly learned that, to Wyomingites, Chris LeDoux was everything.

Of course, there are well over 5 great things Wyoming gave to the world, and if you want to add more, we’re glad to have you do that in the comment pool.

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