Billings, Butte and Puyallup

We finally headed toward home traveling across Montana, Idaho and finally Washington and Oregon

We drove South from Billings to the Little Big Horn, the site of Custer's last stand. The depiction of the battle and the terrain with the grave markers was most interesting. We have a new appreciation for what happened here.

This sculpture stands on the top of the hill overlooking the battlefield.









We stopped in Butte for the night and spent the afternoon looking around the town. Butte was a copper mining town and at one time was a  bustling town. Today it's a sleepy town with only a mine or two still in operation.




After a stop in Coeur d'Alene and Quincy  we drove to Puyallup for a weekend with Kris. On Sunday we drove to Northwest Trek not far from Puyallup. We took a hour and a half tram ride and saw native wildlife in their natural habitat.
From here it was off to woodburn, Oregon to visit relatives and then home once again. A great trip with lots of memories.

Medora North Dakota

We drove to Medora through the pretty Northern Minnesota lake country.
The stop in Medora was to visit Teddy Roosevelt National Park found there.

Friday morning we got up early and headed into the park.
Driving into the park our first sight was a herd of Bison.







They didn't seem to mind us and went about their business of eating the grass and doing Bison things.







Later  on the 36 mile road through the park we were stopped by a herd of Bison. We stopped while they took their time crossing the road. It's clear who owns the road in the park.


It was a good sized herd and it was like being in Yellowstone without the people. Just to sit and watch these animals was special.





We took a hike through a Prairie Dog town. The little critters were everywhere and didn't seem to mind that we were there as long as we didn't get too close.




We turned a corner and there was a wild horse just walking down the road at us. So..... I just stopped while he sauntered past in no hurry and again it was clear he did own the road.




Later in our drive we came upon a herd  of wild horses running down the road ahead of us. We fell in behind them and after a half mile or so they stopped and moved off the road.



And this is why. They were just heading for a drink and they knew where there was water. Pretty cool stuff.

One last look at the Teddy Roosevelt National Park and then it was back to the trailer and the Medora Musical in the evening. Saturday we continued the drive West toward the general direction of home.

Bemidji Minnesota

We drove over to Bemidji and spent the weekend just relaxing.

On Monday we drove to Lake Itasca to tour the State Park there. The lake was beautiful in the morning and the view was wonderful.

We drove along the lake to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Here the mighty Mississippi starts it way to the Gulf of Mexico.






As a good tourist I had to walk across the Mississippi so this is to prove I did it.






We took a couple of hikes along the lake before heading back to Bemidji and dinner with a Classmate that I started 1st grade with in 1952. A super day all in all.

Tuesday was errand day and Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox was on the list. All visitors are required to visit the statue.
Wednesday it was off to Medora, North Dakota

All things Minnesota

We drove from Springfield to Rochester with a overnight stop in Madison Wisconsin.

We had a afternoon free there so we visited the gardens and found a delightful place. Butterflies in the hot house and wonderful gardens. It was then on to Minnesota.

We took a trolly tour of Rochester with one of the highlights being this Plummer house. Plummer was a doctor who worked with the doctors Mayo in their clinic.



We spent most of 11 days just visiting friends and relatives then it was on to Duluth for four days of sightseeing.



The first day was spent on the North shore of Lake Superior. We drove North to Split Rock Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was placed into service in 1910 after a major storm in 1905 killed some 35 sailors. It's built on solid rock and is an amazing architectural feat for the 1910's.




On the way back to Duluth we stopped at Gooseberry State Park to visit the falls. A short hike brought us to this view.

The port  of Two Harbors is halfway back to Duluth and here we stopped to see ore loading docks. The rail cars are backed on top of these docks and the ore is then loaded to the boat below.

We watched a loaded ore boat leave the harbor. There are 13 of these boats on the great lakes each is 1000 feet long.

Day two saw us visit Glensheen Mansion in Duluth. This is the carriage house that housed the horses, carriages and male servants on the second floor.

The house is over 27,000 square feet and was built in 1910. Mr Congdon was a lawyer who purchased stock in the iron mines. Several years later JP Morgan bought the iron mines and made him a very wealthy man.

The rooms were furnished with the original furnishings. It gave us a accurate glimpse of life of the wealthy in Duluth at that time.














In the afternoon we wandered harbor park and were rewarded with a departing ore boat. The bridge (built in 1930) raises and the massive boat sails down the narrow canal to Lake Superior.

Once clear of the harbor they head for Lake Michigan or Lake Erie to off load at the steel mills there.

Day three found us taking a harbor cruise on the Vista line. A great morning for touring the harbor up close.

The tour took us out into the lake. Coming back we had the same view as an arriving ore boat. The canal looks pretty small to me.

In the afternoon we visit the ore ship Wiliam Irvin which is now a museum. It was retired in the 1930 because at 600 feet it was too small.

One last look at the harbor from Enger tower and it's farwell Duluth. Off to Bemidji tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Springfield Illinois

From Cave City we headed north and stopped for the night at Mt Vernon, Illinois.

While driving around Mt Vernon we spotted the 5th district Appellate court. Here young Abe Lincoln argued a case while he was a lawyer in the area.




From there it was on to Springfield to learn about Abe. We first we visited the house he lived in before he became president. He bought it for $1500 and lived here in Springfield for about 6 years.



Then it was on to the museum which was the best of any presidential museums we have visited. We spent about 4 hours just taking in the information found there. A real history lesson.




The museum consisted of many displays with two main areas. The first was his history prior to becoming president and the second from his election until his assassination.



Scenes depicting his stance on the issues of the day were prevalent.






Other scenes showed his home life with Mary Todd Lincoln. The civil war history played a major role in the museum.

After the museum we walked the downtown and visited the old State Capital building. 

The House of Representatives  was as it would have looked in Lincoln's day.

 

From there we drove to the cemetery to visit the Lincoln grave site.







Inside we found the grave marker of President Lincoln. A fitting end to our Lincoln day. We'll spend two more days in the area and then head for the farm in Minnesota. There we'll take a 11 day rest from the road and recharge the batteries. More in a couple of weeks.

Mammoth Cave Kentucky

We Stopped  for a day at Cave City Kentucky to visit Mammoth Cave National Park.

 We  took two tours each taking 2 hours. The first was Gothic Avenue and was on level one of the five levels. Here early visitors wrote their names with candles and the writing still visible today. It was interesting to read the names of those who visited the cave in the mid 1800s.

Later in the day we took the Historic tour which went down to level 4 and traveled 2.5 miles. We walked through narrow passageways and across deep pits.

  

The cave has over 400 miles of caverns at five different levels. While the cave is impressive we did not find the spectacular colors of those found in Carlsbad Caverns. After 4 hours down in the cave we were happy to be on the surface.

Lexington day 2

We had Monday free so we did some laundry and then set off for Bourbon trail. We drove over to Frankfort about 30 miles West and found the oldest continuous operating distillery in the US.

Buffalo Trace distillery is a historic landmark and one of the premier distillers of fine Bourbon in Kentucky.







The buildings date to the early 1800s. While they make some large quantity Bourbons they are known for their small lot single barrel Bourbons.

 This building houses their 6 millionth barrel of Buffalo Trace Bourbon. When they hit 7 million this barrel will be replaced and the contents of this  barrel will be sold and the proceeds given to charity.

We loved the look and feel of this place. Again so much history. During prohibition they were allowed to make whiskey for "medicinal" purposes. You needed a doctors prescription but that was no problem down here.



Just another example of what we found here. They are extremely proud of their heritage and the product they make. We did some tasting and I agree that what they do is exceptional.


Since Frankfort is the state capital we popped over to the building to look around and found it to be stunning. Back to Georgetown to finish errands and then off to Mammoth cave tomorrow.