19 July 2013
A lot of driving and not much action today. We drove from Devils Tower to Sheridan, Wyoming, to Little Big Horn National Battlefield, and finally to Great Falls, Montana.
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| This is what Wyoming looks like |
Sheridan is a real western town, but not touristy. There are a lot of boot and western gear shops, but they are aimed mainly for the people who live in the area, not tourists. The downtown area is well-preserved and architecturally interesting. Based on recommendations from several sources, we decided to stop in to the Mint Bar for lunch, only to find out that they didn't serve food (which I guess is why it isn't called the Mint Bar and Grill). So we stopped in at a place across the street that reminded me of a typical 1950's family restaurant. It also reminded me why many aspects of the 1950's are overrated.
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| Downtown Sheridan, land of boot shops |
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| The Mint Bar (and not Grill) |
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| Some art in downtown Sheridan |
After lunch in Sheridan, we crossed into Montana, and eventually arrived at
Little Big Horn National Battlefield.
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| Part of Little Big Horn National Battlefield |
The battlefield had lots of stone markers. Originally markers were placed where U.S. troops fell, and a few years ago they acknowledged that Native Americans also died there and added markers for them.
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| Markers indicating where Custer's troops fell |
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| Where Custer fell. He is buried at West Point. |
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| Native American marker |
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| Monument to Native Americans who fell |
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| U.S. Military cemetery at Little Big Horn. Graves are veterans of all wars. |
From Little Big Horn, we headed through Billings and on to Great Falls. The picture below summarizes the entire drive.
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| This is what eastern Montana looks like |
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20 July 2013
After a brief drive around Great Falls, we headed for Glacier National Park.
In Great Falls, we stopped at the
Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. I don't know what the difference between an Interpretive Center and a Museum is, but the place was nevertheless interesting, and worth a visit if you're in the area. I would have lasted about 2 days on the Lewis and Clark expedition.
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| Downtown Great Falls |
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| Memorial to the cowboy artist C. M. Russell in Great Falls |
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| Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center |
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| View of the Missouri River from the Interpretive Center |
After our visit to the Lewis and Clark Center, we headed north to
Glacier National Park. There is one main road (
Going to the Sun Road) that cuts through the park, and we drove around the south side of the park to get on the road on the west side of the park.
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| Lake McDonald, on the west side of the park |
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| Lake McDonald Lodge. We did not stay there. |
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| Inside Lake McDonald Lodge |
One of the neat things about Glacier Park is their collection of "
Jammers" (short for gear jammer), which are open-air buses built in the 1930's and restored in the 1990's. There are about 30 of them and they are used for tours.
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| A Jammer |
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| A Jammer on Going to the Sun Road |
Going to the Sun Road should actually be called "Going From the Sun Road", since if you are driving into the sun, you can't see anything due to glare. So we arranged our schedule to drive from west to east when we arrived in the afternoon, stay in the park overnight, and then drive back on the road from east to west the next morning. Below are a few shots from the road:
At about 6:00 we arrived at the
Many Glacier Hotel, our home for the night.
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| Many Glacier Hotel |
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| Many Glacier Hotel from across Swiftcurrent Lake |
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| Inside the Many Glacier Hotel |
You may have observed from the pictures that there are not many glaciers in Glacier National Park, even near the Many Glacier Hotel. Blame that on global warming.
After breakfast the next morning, we started on the reverse of our previous afternoon's drive, taking the Going to the Sun Road from the east side of the park to the west side.
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| Breakfast in the dining room of the Many Glacier Hotel |
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| A view of the other side of the Many Glacier Hotel |
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| Lake St. Mary and Wild Goose Island |
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| Along Going to the Sun Road |
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| Back at Lake McDonald |
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| Relaxing at Lake McDonald Lodge |
After leaving the park via the west entrance, we headed for
Whitefish, Montana, where we spent the night. Whitefish turned out to be a pleasant (and hip) resort town. Here are a few views from downtown Whitefish:
Next:
Lake Louise and Banff
