The three exhibit areas of Living West include Mesa Verde (western Colorado), the Dust Bowl (the plains), and the Mountains.

In this section, museum visitors can experience the Black Sunday storm of the 1930s and see what hardships the Dust Bowl offered homesteading Coloradans.

Using a hands-on water diorama and trees affected by the Mountain pine beetle as examples, the museum illustrates just how important preserving Colorado's resources is.

The trip through the exhibit is narrated by several actors portraying real residents of Keota as it winds through the general store and school, among other places.

Highlights include a ski jump simulator and a short video on loop depicting the struggles faced by internees at the Granada War Relocation Center, an internment camp in Southeastern Colorado used to house Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Other exhibits include a Silverton, CO silver mine, a look at rangers working in Rocky Mountain National Park and a section that explores the various triumphs and hardships experienced by Colorado's African-Americans.