More Montana

We drove through some more of Montana.  This is what is left of Fort Benton.  It was right on the Missouri River. ( After L&C.)

This is your dad at the helm of a river boat that use to run the Missouri before all the dams were put up.

We drove up the road that day and went to The First Peoples Buffalo Jump.  It has a really neat Museum.

A couple of miles from the museum we got to the site of the jump.  The tribes had a buffalo runner wearing a calf skin, he could get the herd to go toward the cliff.  Then there would be men there to scare the herd into running over the cliff.  People would be at the bottom to make sure the animals were dead.  This could keep the tribe going fo a long time.

Now we are at a museum in Helena.

A diorama of the buffalo jump.

The state capital

We took a tram tour of Helena.

Fancy house

Also while we were there we went to The Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri.

L&C were here in this spot.

Hard to see but these are pictographs that are over 1000 years old.

L&C named this the Gates of  the Mountains  As you travel up the river it looks like a sliding door opening.  It's cool.

Now we are in Dillon.  This rock is called Beaver's Head. These is where  Sacagawea said her native tribe's summer camp near.  They needed horses to continue on because the river ran out near here.

L&C camped here.

Then we drove to Bannack a ghost town up the road from our RV park.  It was a gold strike town.

Here is the headwaters of the Missouri.  It has three rivers coming together to make the Missouri.

They are the Jefferson, the Madison and the Gallatin.  We saw all three.  In fact we ate lunch beside the Gallatin.  I'm not sure how this happened, but some how I've made this photo bounce to the bottom.  It is suppose to be above the ghost town picture.

The weather here has been pretty good, not to hot.  But the fires in the area has made the air awful.  We got to Dillon Wednesday and the air was thick with smoke.  You couldn'tsee the hills next to the RV park.  Thursday morning we got up to almost clear skies so our 250 mile round trip the the Headwaters was lovely.  Then the wind brought the smoke back the day (Fri.) we left.  It's not as bad here in Missoula but it is still here.  We leave tomorrow for Spokane for the night and then on Clarkston, WA.  That's all 

Love, Mom and Dad

Day one in Great Falls

We saw three waterfalls today.  We are in Great Falls, MT.  This falls is called Black Eagle Falls.

We went to another L&C site again.  This is the best museum for L&C that we seen so far.

This is a New Foundland like went on the Corp of Discovery with L&C. I'm not sure how to spell the name of the breed.

This is how the men took the boats around the five waterfalls.  It took them almost three weeks.

This is the shortest river in the world.  It's about 250 feet long.  It's called Roe River.

This is Giant Springs. It's suppose to be the largest spring in North America.  I can't remember how much water comes up from these springs but it's a lot.

This is the second falls.  It's Rainbow Falls.

This is the third falls.  It's called Ryan Falls.  It was named from the Ryan Dam.  This falls was the first falls that L&C saw.  This is the real Great Falls.

When we got back this afternoon we found we had a visitor on our doorstep.  A neighbor told us it had been there for an hour sleeping.

We have two more days here, then we head off to Helena.  We'll be able to see 90% of the eclipse from Helena.

That's all for now.

Love, Mom and Dad

North Dakota

We were in Bismarck and drove the 83 to Washburn to visit the Fort Mandan.  L&C spent their first winter here with the Mandan Indians.

This is one of the rooms in the fort.  The crew fixed knives etc. in exchange for food.

These are boots made by a modern Mandan from bison hide.  They are beautiful and very soft.

Our guide, Juan.

This is a recreation of a Mandan village.

This a community earthen house.

It's huge inside.

The Missouri River.

Up on a hill is where Ft. Abraham Lincoln. I don't remember what it was called before.  It was used during the Indian relocation.  It was later named Fort Lincoln.

We are now in Medora.  Last night after we got here we went to the pitchfork fondue for dinner.  Those are some of the steaks they cook on pitchforks and dunk in huge barrels of hot oil.

Dinner music

Then we walked across the Parking lot to the theater.  Before the show started we had an elk wander across the hill.

The show is called Medora Musical.  It was pretty good.  It was all about ND heroes.

At the end there was this horseman representing the state.

Today we went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Teddy stayed in this cabin when he first came to North Dakota.

Prairie dog     There are several prairie dog towns here in the park. At one point in the day we saw a coyote hunting these critters.

The Bad Lands

Bison Jam

This big guy just ambled by our car on his was to better grass.

The other cars doesn't seem to bother him.

Some wild horses in the river.

This old guy is all by himself.

We have one more day here and then we are off to Montana.

That's all for now.

Love, Mom and Dad

The Corn Palace

We went to a prehistoric Indian center yesterday.  They have a dwelling that they think might have looked like.  An estimation of the people in this medium sized house is maybe 15 or so lived in here.

This building shelters an ongoing dig.  The folks feel fortunate that this bluff has never been plowed.

Here's the dig itself.

Today we went into town to see the Corn Palace.

There's a lot of murals all made out of corn.

Even on the inside are corn pictures.

It's an arena.  They have plays, basketball games, and concerts.

The city is in the process of redoing the murals.  They start in June and should be done by the middle of August.

The workers fill in the blanks with the correct color corn.  It's a corn by the number.

We leave in the morning for Kennebec.  We'll be seeing a couple of L&C sites to see there.  The wind has come up here in SD.  The temp dropped about 9 degrees in 30 minutes. Maybe we'll get some rain. I saw on the net that San Diego might get some rain as well.

Well that's all for today.

Love, Mom and Dad