We woke up to a bright and sunny day in Bozeman although it was a little on the cool side. Our plans today were to go to Helena, MT and tour the Capitol building, and then continue on to Great Falls, MT where we will spend 2 nights before heading to glacier NP.
This is a view from outside the Super 8, our home for last evening. The sky is very clear here and we are located in a valley between a stretch of 2 mountain ranges about 15 miles apart. This was at about 5400 feet.
Traveling up the road a bit we see a little snow in the upper elevations. Most of today's travels were between 3500 and 5500 feet. I admit, this picture looks a little fake, but it wasn't.
We were surprised to see so much green in the fields and they were still being watered.
Plenty of wheat still growing. This looks like it might be a 3rd crop.
These wheat bales look to be about 8 times the volume of regular Maine bales. There were many stacks still in the fields.
Apparently they have a festival coming up this weekend and this is part of the advertizing.
In Helena, this is a painting of the joining of the 2nd transcontinental railroad...the Northern Pacific. The story goes that the actual spike, (not Gold) was used from the first completion. Ex President Grant officiating.
In an attempt at restoration of the original building of 1898, these panels were discovered in a railroad car and used to complete this section of the roof.
A view of Helena from the 3rd floor.
Overhead in the Senate chambers are some more stained glass. Of interest though is the light fixture. This building is reputed to be the fiest Capitol building with electrical wiring used in the building, thus electric fixtures.
"Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flathead Indians at Ross's Hole" by Charlie Russell (1912).
Museum in Great Falls, MT CM Russell Museum
A view of the capitol dome. The building was completer in 1902.
A view of the wide Missouri River.
A lot of the hillsides look similar to this one. Montana is known as "Big Sky" country. Driving up the expansive valleys, one does see a lot more sky for the simple reason that there no trees lining the roadsides like in Maine, so one tends to see a lot more sky, plus the hillsides are farther apart. Another reason is that for every square mile of land in Montana, there are at least about 2.7 square miles of sky overhead.
Malmstrom Air Force Base has to be the BEST place we have stayed in yet. I can't belive it is only 5:45 pm here and I have the blog finished. For the last 2 mornings I did the blog the next morning because of internet issues.
Time for supper...Tom thinks salads are in order.
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