Nancy, Where Are You?

Wed we got an extra day off so we drove to Helena, MT. We took a tour of the Cathedral of St. Helena which was build in the Victorian Gothic style. We kept remarking that we couldn’t believe a cathedral like that was in the middle of Montana. It was fabulous.
We got on the open air “Last Chance Tour Train” and took an hour ride around the city hearing various stories: about the discovery of gold in Last Chance Gulch, how Helena beat out Anaconda to become the capital (it didn’t hurt that twice as many people in Helena voted as they had citizens!) We saw the original Governor’s Mansion and learned that Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy were both from Helena. I had on two coats and the wool blanket that they provided us. I was warm but wouldn’t have been without the blanket. After the “train” tour we walked through the capital. We were both surprised that there was no security.
We went to Reeder’s Alley, the oldest section of town that is still intact. We made a reservation at what we thought was the Holiday Inn Express . . . we put the address(Washington St.) into our GPS. We kept driving down Washington St but couldn’t find it. The GPS “speaker” kept saying “you have arrived” but the Holiday Inn was no where to be seen. We must have called the hotel 3-4 times telling them where we were, they kept trying to give us directions. The last time we drove down Washington we decided to go into the La Quienta and ask them if they knew where the Holiday Inn was. Well, it turns out that La Quienta bought Holiday Inn Express recently. We called many times yet the girls on the front desk they never mentioned the hotel name had been changed.

We left early Thurs morning for Great Falls. When we got there we went to the Visitor’s Center. The lady there was lovely, she gave us all kinds of info plus suggesting a place for us to stay.
The first thing we did was go out to Black Eagle Falls on the Missouri River. This was one of the falls that Lewis and Clark had to portage around.
It was so cold where we ate lunch (because the had the A/C on) that I went out to the car and got my winter jacket with the hood. All the other people had on short sleeve shirts and sandles, of course they were from MT.
We stopped at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center where we saw a film and went through the exhibit hall. We walked the trail to another falls. On our way back ND let out a scream, I couldn’t imagine what had happened until I looked down and saw a rattle snake. We were both looking at the falls and not down, she heard him rattle.
We went to the Charlie Russell Museum to see the paintings, sculptures, drawings and illustrations he created from childhood through the end of his life. His subjects were based on western history and his own experiences including cowboys, Indians and wildlife. His home and studio are also on the property.
We checked into our hotel, the O’Haire Motor Inn, which came complete with a dumpy room, an A/C that didn’t work, and the Sip and Dip Lounge with a mermaid swimming around in an “aquarium” behind the bar. We took one look at her and turned around and walked back to our dumpy room.

We got up early Fri and drove out to Ryan Falls another place where Lewis and Clark had to portage the canoes around the falls.
On our way back to Mammoth we stopped at a Buffalo Jump. They had an interruptive center there. It was very interesting. A Ranger also told us the history of the buffalo jump. We drove up to where they chased the buffalo over the cliffs.