Find the Northwest Passage

June 30, 2013

 

"Find the Northwest Passage" was one of the charges made to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark by President Thomas Jefferson in 1804. The Great Falls of Missouri River played a critical part in the success or failure of that Expedition. The Passage was not here to be found, but the success of the expedition far exceeded expectations of that time in history. Today we toured two of the best attractions in Great Falls, MT. We started by driving the River Road along the Missouri. Some of the pictures below are the sights along the River.



Donna and Katherine by the Lewis and Clark Statue at the Visitors Center

 overlooking Great Falls and the Missouri River

Old Great Falls Railroad Station

Black Eagle Falls and Dam

Rainbow Falls and Dam

Adult American White Pelican - Can have a wingspan up to 9 feet!

Sacawagea Point Overlook

 

Our first stop was the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center. This is a must see if you are in this area as it is time well spent telling the story of the Expedition. The best start is with the ½ hour Ken Burns movie that tells the whole story of the Lewis, Clark, and Sacagwagea. It really sets the stage for the exhibits to follow. What they must have gone through during the two plus year arduous expedition is incomprehensible to a modern person.

Great Falls Portage

Katherine donning a Wolverine pelt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second stop was the C.M. Russell Museum. All of the artwork in this museum depicts life in the western US.  Well, except for one picture of the Sphinx and one from New Delhi?! No pictures were permitted in the museum galleries. When we first arrived my thoughts were…”this will be a short visit.” That is simply so untrue as the museum is about 4 times larger than you would expect form outside appearances. We were in there 2 hours and went at warp speed. The artwork includes numerous paintings by C.M. Russell and other prominent western artists (e.g O C Seltzer), bronze castings, Native American artifacts from the many tribes that populated this area(Hanson Gallery), portraits of people from various tribes (F. Winold Reiss), an exhibit of model wagons of just about every variety imaginable, and an Exhibit featuring the American Bison this one animals role in developing America. The pictures are from outside the Museum or in the C.M. Russell Artist's Studio.

Welcome to the CM Russell Museum



Native American Artifacts

Native American Artifacts

Cheyenne Baby Board

The CM Russell Studio

Donna and Katherine inside Studio

The Moose and Us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course after such an exhausting day sustenance was required in the form of a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard from Dairy Queen. 

 

Tomorrow is the Official Day 1 of the Caravan, meeting and orientation day. 

The Dash to Great Falls

We were on the road at 0615 with sunny skies, cool temperatures and no wind. The no wind part lasted until noon when the heavy headwinds cropped up. I had to slow down to 57mph. We traveled across Montana on MT200, a very good 2 lane road. We saw several indications of life in the past, such as old country stores, old wooden grain elevators, one old sod home, an abandoned ranch with two old wooden box cars. Unfortunately, there were no places to stop to take pictures. We saw more antelope and a coyote. One ranch featured a massive Black Angus bull. He was ambling along like he owned the place.

 

We stopped for lunch in Lewiston, MT at Docs OK Korral, a combination restaurant, bar, and casino. The food was good and the service was super-fast, especially for cooked to order burgers. I took some pictures with the dash cam and even tried some video in the Bad Lands area. Well, I could not upload the video, too big? The picture below is typical of eastern Montana. The prairie goes on forever. I cannot comprehend crossing it in times past by horse, by walking or by wagon.

Not Just Another Day Driving

We left Clearwater at 6am with cool temperatures. Unfortunately the cooler weather brought with it WIND, heavy head-winds. But after 9 hours and 500 miles we arrived in Medora, ND and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Since we picked up another hour going into Mountain time zone we had time for a quick park visit. What is this place? The Park is comprised of the North Dakota Badlands or Painted Canyons. And yes Custer was here too.

 

 

We grabbed our cameras and set forth. The first spot we came to was the first Prairie Dog Village complete with a visiting buffalo. He gave us a great show by lying down and rolling on his back to dust himself. I did not get photos of him rolling.

 

A couple miles down the road in the Little Missouri River Valley we saw an antelope out in the field. A couple of miles further we saw our first two wild horses. They were very close to the road and being very playful. A few miles further there were three separate herds of wild horses, along with several young colts. There were lots of different formations from the eroded landscape, with numerous different layers evident.

 

As for Medora, it was founded by a Frenchman (1884) building a cattle slaughterhouse to ship fresh meat in Northern Pacific refrigerator cars. The meat plant is gone but the town survives on the tourist dollar.

 

All in all Katherine was very happy since she saw the buffalo, numerous prairie dogs, the antelope, and many wild horses. Not a bad day for “just another travel day.”

The Trip West

We left Harrington at 5:30am on Monday with stays in OH, IL, and MN. Last night we were in Clearwater, MN. The humidity finally broke even though it was still very warm. My former co-worker and friend Leon Sawyer drove down to meet us for dinner at our place. The local grocery store had bacon wrapped sirloin fillets that were excellent. We had a relaxing time chatting with Leon and we’ll stop by his place in September.

Mid-Atlantic Samboree Wrap-up

We finished our work on Sunday at 3PM with big smiles. I think everyone who attended had a good time. I know we did despite lots of work. There was after all the dessert trailer with apple and peach coober apple crisp and dumplings and of course hand dipped ice cream!!!

 

After packing up we headed over to the Casino for our 2 for 1 dinner. The food was very good, but I limited myself to one plate and one dessert. We actually got to sit through an entire evening performance. The band was absolutely great.  They’ll be back for the Delaware Fall Samboree.

 

Mid-Atlantic Samboree

We have been "on the road" since June 16 and are at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington for the Mid-Atlantic Samboree. It has been a very busy week as Donna and I have been working Security 7+ hours per day. She mans the Security office while I'm out and about in the golf cart. Best part is that the job is boring as nothing significant has occurred. Lets hope it stays that way. Katherine has been kept busy doing adult crafts and helping out with the children's crafts.