big sky country

i know, i know...by now i'm sure many of you have lost interest in my inability to keep a consistent posting cycle, but alas, i have the internet now for a wee bit of time so i will do what i can.  last the story left off, oh those many weeks ago, i was starting to travel with my mom from spokane washington. on day one of our travels we headed through the northern west united states, through cour d'alene, kellog, and into wallace idaho.

we stop purely on a hunch that there might be something to see.  and because we saw a couple of signs for some silver mine tours that looked of interest.  our first stop was into the visitor center, leaving when our stomach's voices were out-weighing each others vocal chord sounds, and headed to the smokehouse bbq and saloon where we dinned on smoked salmon with jalapenos and a buffalo burger [ a first to many meals that i will eat containing meat of various catagories that i have not consumed regularly since around the age of 14 ].  all tasty, all fed, and with belly's happy for the moment, we venture over the the oasis hotel per recommendation to check out the brothel musuem and tour.

the tale goes something like this:  this was a working and prosperous brothel until 1988 when there was a tip that the FBI was coming to town.  low-and-behold, it was in suspicion of illegal gambling, but the entire mining town was pretty much shut down of all illegal activity in one foul swoop.  thus, the brothel 'hotel' was left fully furnished, as the girls were intending to only be out of town for a week or so...not decades.  quite interesting i might say, though the look of it was something straight out of a 1970's decor catalog, not quite the glitz i was expecting.  needless to say, enjoyable and i bought a dress off the premises as well [ nothing that had been previously used or anything, there was just also a little retro store in the lobby ].  from here we headed over to the silver mine tour headquarters, only to find ourselves 13 minutes late to the start of the last tour.  tour missed, we still hopped on the trolley for a little ride to the mine head, saw some more of the town, got some local lore and historical info, and learned that 'eh, this trolley could climb up a tree' from steve. 

after such an afternoon, we booked it out of town to the destination of great falls, mt for the night and a morning tour around what was a little over a year of mommy's habitation.  in the morning, much too her discovery, the building she worked in looked small, the house looked about the same, but was occupied...so as we started to take our paparazzi photos, a woman walked out [ quite possibly with gun in hand ], so we split fast style.  done with great falls.  that day then in late september was basically filled with a lot of driving, as montana is a large state from west to east, and we had some north dakota to see.  it was amazing to notice how much changed in landscape from our traveling direction as well.  it started very hilly, mountainious really, and full of trees and folage, but ended in something much more flat, bare, not tame exactly, but not appearing to hide any secrets.  that was until we stumbled upon a sign for the pictograph caves just

before our night stop in glendive.  an ancient ritual sight for indians, there can still be some paintings seen from the edges of the cliffs looking into the caves. red and black 2D sketches just scattered about the walls, ceilings, and floors even.  the sky was beautiful, the road was long, no radio [ not because it didn't work ], talking, sharing, and enjoy car made avocado, cream cheese, and sprout bagel sandwiches we look forward to tomorrows and our days filled with dakotas.

notable montana:
     for whatever reason, they had a whole lot of really large letters on the sides of a lot of their mountain sides.  schools?  city names first letters?  just cuz?  it looks cool in the snow?  i don't know, but i like it!
     there were so many areas of really well manicured green, freshly cut lawns just a couple of feet around and surrounding homes in the middle of the deserted lands.  just little randomly appearing green oasis.
     and it seemed like almost every town, no matter how small, had a college in it.  most likely at a community level, but still...lots of potential learning going on.

photo: livingston, mt