Wed., June 20, 2018 Happy Birthday in Montana

 Wednesday, June 20

Happy Birthday, Greg! We celebrate this bright morning with blueberry pancakes!  Then we stop at the front office to get some ideas of where to explore today.  Nothing scheduled here till a 5:00 meeting about going to Alaska.

We are told that the Going to the Sun Road will open today, but figure it will be too busy today, so plan that for Friday.  Instead we head back to Two Medicine to see Running Eagle Falls.  Running Eagle was a female Blackfoot who did the fasting and wilderness tests usually reserved for males who wanted to be warriors.  She was successful and a legendary warrior and leader.  The Falls are a short hike.  So nice to see blue sky again!

On the way in, we spotted a moose with a young one crossing the road, but they vanish quickly into the dense forest. Some places the forest is almost park-like with nice green grasses between the trees.  Other places the trees are so thick that they create a dark wall from the passing road.

There is an artist named Diane set up here painting and I speak with her for a while.  

She is from Colorado and she too is grateful for some sunshine. There are artists all over the park this week, she says, and there will be a show of their work next week at the Hockaday Museum in Kalispell – where we stopped just a few days ago!  If Going to the Sun Road opens, we may make it to the show.

More flowers, and a family shows up with young kids who like playing in the dirt and pebbles along the river.

The trail to the falls is closed due to  high water. 

We continue down to Two Medicine Lake and it is a gorgeous gem today! 

 I could hear the men fore and aft in this canoe giving lessons to the Dad and Son in the middle.  

  By the time we leave, the parking areas are overflowing and we are ready.

From here we take another road towards Browning, again through pastureland with many horses and these pretty wild irises in one damp spot.

 Montana is called Big Sky country and we can see why as beautiful blue sky and white clouds surround us 360 degrees!

In Browning, we head for the Museum of the Plains Indians. 

 In the parking area, Greg stops for Beth to go take some photos and he is approached by a couple of panhandlers who chat a bit before asking for money. They look pretty rugged, with tattered clothes and few teeth.  Greg gives them a little change as we move on to the museum parking. We have heard that alcoholism is a major problem in this area.

The man who greets us at the museum, Reaggan, asks where we are from.  He is a Blackfoot who used to work for Compaq Computer near our home in the 90’s. Then he was in Silicone Valley for a while.  He is now managing this museum and some other businesses here in Browning and says he enjoys working the admissions area sometimes and talking to people from all over the world.  Very friendly and well spoken guy.

The museum is small but very nice.  Built in 1940, it is well maintained and depicts the life of  the Indians of the Plains which included the Blackfoot, Arapaho, Crow and several other tribes.  There are individual panels dealing with different aspects of Indian life – from Home and Horses, to  Warfare, Hunting,  Courage and Honor, etc.   There are displays representative of each area, such as saddles, blankets, weapons, cradleboards, pipes, containers, games, etc.  Reaggan told us that all of the items are authentic - no replicas here.

The largest display is of ceremonial clothing. There are outfits featuring animal skins, painting, beadwork, feathers, fringe, quillwork, etc. I  am especially impressed by the quillwork where they use porcupine quills to create intricate patterns. Beautiful and detailed work!  (Sorry, no photos allowed.)  There are also dioramas showing aspects of Indian life, like the Sun Dance celebration, or Moving a Camp.  Though there are written explanations and descriptions, it is the visual aspect that reaches out and grabs you at this museum.  

We take Route 486 back towards Babb, and notice a ranch that raises bison.  In Babb, which consists of just a few buildings (population 174), we visit an antique shop and a general store. 

Back at the campsite, we forego the planned steak dinner when the 5:00 meeting we were going to attend is changed to 6:00 because the hostess isn’t back from her hike yet.  We meet with a small group interested in going to Alaska. We share how our previous Alaska outing was planned.  There is a woman who did one of the pricy, RV caravan trips who also chimes in.  Some emails were shared to see if a trip might be organized for 2019 or 2020.  We are considering doing it again but wouldn't want a highly structured trip.

The lady who hosted the discussion, Lish, is also a wildflower expert, I was told. (She also works for Road Scholar!)  So I ask her about some of the flower photos I’ve taken and we spend a half hour or so with two books, identifying most of them.  Since this ran late, I miss the writing workship scheduled for 7:00. Greg has a fire for a bit and then we crash before the 10:00 meeting about the stars.  We haven’t seen many stars yet this trip because of cloudy skies.

We’ve talked a bit with our neighbors on either side and Debbie, a single traveler from the Chicago area.  One couple are pretty new at rv'ing and are from Atlanta.  The others are from Wisconsin. There are other rigs from California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Oregon, Canada and others!

Tomorrow there is supposed to be a pot luck dinner, but we’ll be having steaks, baked potatoes and corn on the cob at the campsite.