Thursday, October 31, 2013

Birthday Trip Continued

In addition to spending time with my mom, visiting friends, and checking out some of the local shops and restaurants, Vince & I spent some time checking out some historical places outside of Billings that were really extraordinary.



Our first stop outside of town was Pompey's Pillar
and its accompanying visitor's center / museum


Dugout canoes


Information and displays inside the museum


Bullboats (small boats made of buffalo hides)


…and Pompey's Pillar- a beautiful rock formation named 
after Sacajawea's son. This landmark was a great sign for
Lewis & Clark and their Core of Discovery team


Here is where William Clark carved his initials on the pillar- so cool!


After visiting Pompey's Pillar, we headed to the Bighorn County 
Museum in Hardin, MT. These cabins were modeled after cabins 
used by Custer's troops at Fort Custer


A beautiful teepee replica


Painting of Custer's Last Stand


Various arrowheads, spearheads, and hide-scrapers


Just a few of the many gorgeous black-and-white photos


Some articles from the troops


Uniforms



…and weapons- pretty cool. Next stop: the real scene of the battle!


Here is where Custer's Last Stand took place


Some information about the site


Photos of Teddy Roosevelt and Sitting Bull


Short summary of the battle


Wow- this would take some getting used to!


Awe-inspiring


Another perspective of the battle


Vince and I near one of the large memorial stones


In addition to visiting the main burial area and the visitors' center,
you also have the option to walk along a path that depicts the battle…
which to me was the best part. This sign was near the start of the trail- ssss!


The red markers were for the Native American warriors


Signs along the trail did a great job depicting the battle


The white markers were for Custer's troops


Pretty amazing- I had no idea of the distance covered by
this battle. It was a very educational and evocative visit; so 
glad we had the opportunity to go here :)


Another great place we saw was the Madison Buffalo Jump


Some information about the site


Although many buffalo were killed this way, everything was used


…and the jump itself; how neat! We stopped here on 
our drive back to Washington, and it was a great last major 
"landmark" stop before our return. We are definitely looking forward 
to our next visit to Big Sky country :)


No comments:

Post a Comment