Bend, OR

 After a stopover in Boise for a couple of nights to see my parents, we headed to Bend, OR.  We had been once previously but we felt like we barely scratched the surface so we were excited to go back.  

We met up with Gary's long time friend, Roger and his wife Kristen for dinner. They gave us a few suggestions for hikes in the area.  Once again though, it was SO hot!  UGH. But we made the best of it and took a hike to Tumelo Falls. It's a beautiful area just outside of town.  A short little walk from the parking lot will give you a great view of the falls.  But that would be too easy for Gary so we hiked another 2 miles up the trail to see more falls.  Good news! We saw 2 more falls AND the temperature dropped 10 degrees.  We were scheduled to stay another day but after looking at the drive time to our next stop, we decided to split the drive to 2 days rather than 1and left a day early.  

I'm sure we'll be back though! 

What a Butte

Still exploring Montana took us down the road to Butte.  We found out that it is considered the richest hill in the world.  Butte is historically known as the mining capital of the world.  The main hill in Butte is rich in copper.  About 1/3 of the world's copper comes from Butte.  It provided 70% of the metals for the munitions during WWII. This town is steeped in mining history.

Guess what we did while there? Of course we took an underground mine tour!  :D  I had to admit I was a bit anxious about the tour but I gave it a try and so glad I did.  It wasn't claustrophobic or dark at all.  I would whole heartedly recommend it.  You do learn a lot and you are humbled and so thankful for miners when you are done with the tour.  We also went to the Berkley Pit. It's a Super Fund site.  Yikes! But, you can pay $3 to go out to the viewing platform to see this gigantic pit that used to be a mine but is now full of water.  It doesn't sound that interesting but between the reading plaques and just being there, it's well worth a visit.  After that we drove out to Anaconda which is home to the largest brick structure in North America.  It is a 585 foot smelter stack and another Super Fund site.  (Gary only takes me to the nicest places) They have a cool monument dedicated to all the people involved with the smelter and the whole mining industry.  

I was excited to learn that Big Sky was fairly close to Butte so we drove 2 hours up the road to visit.  I am so glad we did! The views of the mountains and the ski hill itself were breath taking.  What's amazing is the ski hill is set up with a lot of fun activities during the summer time.  The main activity is set up for mountain biking though.  They have most of their chairs operating, they have automated gates for loading and they even have reports of trail conditions for the bikers to consult before heading up.  Quite a thing to see.  After having a light lunch at the bottom of the ski hill while taking in the views, we went back into town to explore,  Upon leaving the town we have decided a trip back to Big Sky is in our future.  After all, it is a mountain and mountains are what we love the best! :)

More adventures down the road!

Billings

We really hadn't spent much time in Montana so we decided to remedy that this year. 

We pulled into Billings and it was hot. Just like the rest of the country, Montana is experiencing hotter than normal temps.  UGH.  We made the best of it and went exploring.  We found an old mansion called Moss Mansion that was actually very modern.  It could actually be lived in today despite being built pre-depression era.  Well worth a tour should you find yourself in Billings.  We also went out to a national monument called Pompey's Pillar.  It is a rock formation that was along the route westward that Louis and Clark explored.  William Clark was so taken with it that he explored it and then carved his name into it like the many Indian tribes before him.  He also named it after Sacagawea's son.  His nickname was Pomp or Pompey.  They had a neat, little museum that explained the route and their experiences. You can also see Clark's signature on the rock. 

The next day we drove an hour out to see Little Big Horn.  This was the site of Custer's Last Stand. Again, there is a little museum explaining the events leading up to and then the battle itself.  (My own cliffnotes: Custer was a dumbass). You can drive along a road and they point out the sites of each event and battle.  Kind of a cool thing to see.  

Lastly we drove to a little town called Red Lodge.  I would describe it as a cowboy mountain town, complete with its own little ski hill.  Of course we drove up to the ski hill first to explore and then drove back down into town.  There is a little part of town that got washed away when the river swelled last month and took out part of Yellowstone.  So sad to see and also amazing to see how devastating nature can be.  

On down the road!

Cheyenne

Cheyenne is a short trip down the road from Denver and I do have family there (lets be honest, where DON'T I have family?) so we wanted to stop there.  

My cousin picked us up to go to “Fridays On The Plaza”.  It's a cool thing where the city brings in various acts every Friday night all summer long.  I was impressed! Of course with our luck, it started pouring rain on our way there.  We tried to wait it out but it kept on coming so we rallied and went to dinner.  After dinner we gave it one more try and went back to the concert area.  We are very glad we did!  We got there in time to see the headliner which was an electronic music act called, "Mystery Skulls".  He was pretty good and we decided to text our daughter (who listens to everything and attends a lot of concerts) to see if she knew who he is.  Turns out not only did she know but she booked him to play at one of the music festivals she is associated with in AZ as well.  She was proud of her parents for branching out.  :D 

The next day was a beautiful day so my cousin took me to the botanical gardens.  Yet again, another surprise.  They have this super cute, children's garden full of interactive activities like sidewalk chalk, puppet shows, etc... They also had a rain forest garden and a desert garden.  I grew up going to Cheyenne every summer and had never been so I felt fortunate to be able to finally see it.  

That night my cousins had us over for dinner.  They recently retired from owning and running a Mexican food restaurant for 25ish years so of course the dinner was super YUMMY.  As a bonus, they showed us how to play Mexican Train.  We now have a fun game to play with friends and family in the future.  Delilah and Steve, thank you for the great weekend!! 

Working our way west!

Denver, CO

We made our way west from Kansas to the Denver area.  We decided to stay in the mountains above Denver in the old mining town of Central City.  Our park above the town was at 9K feet.  We had planned to see family and two different friends while in the area, but both friends moved recently, so we did a little exploring of the area to see some new sites.  

Staying at 9,000 feet presented a problem of altitude sickness our first day there so we didn't do anything the entire day. Days like that make you thankful for satellite TV and your own bed.  :)  

Luckily we rallied and had a great time exploring a whole new area of CO.  We drove the white knuckle rode to the top of Mt. Evans, at 14,000 feet.  Absolutely gorgeous views and we got some close up shots of mountain goats and marmots. :)  We drove back down and decided to explore the little town of Blackhawk which was right next to where we stayed.  Again, another surprise! Turns out Blackhawk is a mini, mini Las Vegas.  It has 7-10 casinos and some of them are rather big.  Who knew? Nestled right in the mountains of CO.   

We got in some bonus time with my aunt and uncle, getting to see them twice for dinner was such a gift.  :)  Our last dinner together was close to Denver so we decided to head into the city and tour a couple of museums.  We went to the Ballpark Museum which was a very small space but jam packed with so much memorabilia from the old parks, the old players and facts and figures to make your head spin.  It was small but really packed a punch.  The other museum was the Denver Art Museum which had a special exhibit that Gary loved because it was an Armor exhibit.  Suits of armor, oh boy!  ;)  It was actually a very cool display. The museum is huge and well worth going to again and again if you are in the area.  

Getting closer to home!

Abilene, KS

We needed a stop to break up the long haul from St. Louis to Denver so we chose Abilene, KS.  It is home to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library.  We had stopped in Abilene a few years ago to tour the museum but it was closed for renovation.  We weren't sure we would make it back but it was a half way point this year so why not? We are so glad we did!  They did a really good job with all the new exhibits.  If you are into touring the presidential libraries, I would put this one second only to Reagan's.  We could use Ike about now.  

Again, another surprise was the Wizard of Oz museum in Wamego, KS.  We saw a billboard along the highway so we stopped.  It's a cute and very small museum filled with facts about the stars of the movie and some memorabilia.  Just down the sidewalk from the museum is the Oz Winery tasting room.  It had a a couple of decent wines.  The names were really clever, such as Squished Witch, Flying Monkey and Oil Can.  :D  

On to the next stop!