With my homecoming on my mind, I made a few calls this morning to make arrangements to re-connect my cable modem in my apartment, restart my monthly magazine subscription, etc. I will be home soon!
Following that brief administrative delay, Matthias and I left the Billings KOA quickly this morning. We visited Billings’ Barnes and Noble and stocked up on reading materials for our upcoming trip to the Boundary Waters, music for the ride there, and a fix of coffee and tea.
Next we visited Montana’s Pictograph Cave State Park, located just 5 miles to the south of Billings. Not only was the scenery beautiful, with three looming caves forming a half-circle around a shaded glade and with a view of a creek below, the trail guide and informational placards around the park were very informative. Matthias and I ambled around the 1000 foot long trail and learned how the caves provided shelters for prehistoric hunters. An archeological dig in the 1930s uncovered paintings on the cave walls depicting meaningful events and spiritual topics. The caves seemed to be a perfect place for a prehistoric home; there was a water supply, fruits and roots nearby, cover from the hot sun, and animals in the plains above and the ravines and creek below. The day was quickly heating up. I was glad that we weren’t doing any serious hiking today.
From Billings, we headed east then south on Interstate 90 towards Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. It was nice to be back on the interstate, but I did miss the intimate feel of the two-line highway. We discovered a Subway, one of Matthias’ favorite American fast food joints, and a Dairy Queen, in Hardin along the way.
The national monument provided a great visitor center with Indian and cavalry artifacts collected from the battlefield as well as a collection of the accounts of the battle from both sides. On a patio behind the visitor center and just below the hill where Custer made his ‘last stand’, Matthias and I listened to two park rangers tell the story and provide interpretation of the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself, and the aftermath.
During the summer of 1876, three military expeditions left three different forts in the vicinity to pursue Lakota and Cheyenne Indians. In a nutshell, these plains Indians were trying to preserve their way of life (traveling nomadically, hunting on the open plains) and the primarily Euro-American settlers were exploring and moving westward in search of resources (including gold in this particular area.) The Battle of Little Bighorn was one of the last armed conflicts between these two groups. Lt. Col. Custer was the leader of one of the three expeditions and the first to take action with his command when he discovered a large encampment of Indians along the Little Bighorn River. Not wanting to wait for the support of the other two expeditions for fear of allowing the Indians to break camp and escape in the meantime, Custer divided his command into two groups and gave orders to attack. Custer most likely underestimated the power and fighting force of the Indians which included an estimated 1,500 – 2,000 warriors. Custer’s first group attacked, was repelled, and retreated leaving Custer and his men isolated from reinforcements. The made their ‘last stand’ on a grassy hill and no soldier was left alive. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were both present at the battle… I remembered the general story from when I was young – it was great to see the details open before my eyes. The National Park Service has been making an effort, over the past 25 years, to make the park and visitor center more inclusive of both points of view of Custer’s Last Stand, including renaming the park from ‘Custer’ to ‘Little Bighorn’, adding red markers along the plains were Indians had fallen (in addition to the white markers where the cavalry had fallen). Even one of the park rangers was Lakota and she integrated (albeit somewhat confusingly) Lakotan lore into her presentation. Following the presentation, Matthias and I drove along the crest of the hills where the battle had taken place over a period of two hot days in June, 1876. We read the placards (sometimes from the car) along the way.
We were definitely two-for-two on our day’s history tour so far. It was a nice change from hiking. From Little Bighorn, we retraced our path briefly on Interstate 90 to the north, took Highway 47 out of Hardin and connected with Interstate 94 heading east. The specific scenery already escapes me. I remember it was flat… Matthias drove part of the way beginning at exit 49 towards Medora, North Dakota. We rolled into Medora about 8:00 PM. I was back in familiar territory having passed through this area back in May! The famed Medora Musical had not yet opened for the season when I was here the first time, but it was in full swing on this night. All within 20 minutes, Matthias and I located the Medora Campground, bought a tent site for the night and drove up the hill to the top of the Burning Hills Amphitheater.
At the top, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Compared to the small, sleepy, old-western-style, reconstructed town of Medora, this theater was super-tech. We purchased our tickets at the modern ticket counter where the ticket girl accessed her Windows-based PC to select our seats and then we rode an open-air escalator down to our seats. The stage couldn’t have been better placed; the setting sun was shining on the rocky hills behind the old-western-style stage.
The 11-person group, the Burning Hills Singers, sang and danced in this western musical extravaganza while the 6-piece Coal Diggers fiddled and plucked away. Other colorful characters, including Teddy Roosevelt and Sheriff Bear, rounded out the cast. The show also included two featured attractions; a comedian from New York and the Mapapa Acrobats from Mbassa, Kenya. The acrobats were the highlight of the show. I recommend this show to everyone going to Medora.
Following the show, Matthias and I returned to camp and set up the tent. Then I lay out on the picnic table and stared up at the Milky Way for a while. I watched the satellites fly by and the stars shoot. I heard that one can see the international space station on a clear night if one knows where to look (but one didn’t.)
Following that brief administrative delay, Matthias and I left the Billings KOA quickly this morning. We visited Billings’ Barnes and Noble and stocked up on reading materials for our upcoming trip to the Boundary Waters, music for the ride there, and a fix of coffee and tea.
Next we visited Montana’s Pictograph Cave State Park, located just 5 miles to the south of Billings. Not only was the scenery beautiful, with three looming caves forming a half-circle around a shaded glade and with a view of a creek below, the trail guide and informational placards around the park were very informative. Matthias and I ambled around the 1000 foot long trail and learned how the caves provided shelters for prehistoric hunters. An archeological dig in the 1930s uncovered paintings on the cave walls depicting meaningful events and spiritual topics. The caves seemed to be a perfect place for a prehistoric home; there was a water supply, fruits and roots nearby, cover from the hot sun, and animals in the plains above and the ravines and creek below. The day was quickly heating up. I was glad that we weren’t doing any serious hiking today.
From Billings, we headed east then south on Interstate 90 towards Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. It was nice to be back on the interstate, but I did miss the intimate feel of the two-line highway. We discovered a Subway, one of Matthias’ favorite American fast food joints, and a Dairy Queen, in Hardin along the way.The national monument provided a great visitor center with Indian and cavalry artifacts collected from the battlefield as well as a collection of the accounts of the battle from both sides. On a patio behind the visitor center and just below the hill where Custer made his ‘last stand’, Matthias and I listened to two park rangers tell the story and provide interpretation of the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself, and the aftermath.
During the summer of 1876, three military expeditions left three different forts in the vicinity to pursue Lakota and Cheyenne Indians. In a nutshell, these plains Indians were trying to preserve their way of life (traveling nomadically, hunting on the open plains) and the primarily Euro-American settlers were exploring and moving westward in search of resources (including gold in this particular area.) The Battle of Little Bighorn was one of the last armed conflicts between these two groups. Lt. Col. Custer was the leader of one of the three expeditions and the first to take action with his command when he discovered a large encampment of Indians along the Little Bighorn River. Not wanting to wait for the support of the other two expeditions for fear of allowing the Indians to break camp and escape in the meantime, Custer divided his command into two groups and gave orders to attack. Custer most likely underestimated the power and fighting force of the Indians which included an estimated 1,500 – 2,000 warriors. Custer’s first group attacked, was repelled, and retreated leaving Custer and his men isolated from reinforcements. The made their ‘last stand’ on a grassy hill and no soldier was left alive. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were both present at the battle… I remembered the general story from when I was young – it was great to see the details open before my eyes. The National Park Service has been making an effort, over the past 25 years, to make the park and visitor center more inclusive of both points of view of Custer’s Last Stand, including renaming the park from ‘Custer’ to ‘Little Bighorn’, adding red markers along the plains were Indians had fallen (in addition to the white markers where the cavalry had fallen). Even one of the park rangers was Lakota and she integrated (albeit somewhat confusingly) Lakotan lore into her presentation. Following the presentation, Matthias and I drove along the crest of the hills where the battle had taken place over a period of two hot days in June, 1876. We read the placards (sometimes from the car) along the way.We were definitely two-for-two on our day’s history tour so far. It was a nice change from hiking. From Little Bighorn, we retraced our path briefly on Interstate 90 to the north, took Highway 47 out of Hardin and connected with Interstate 94 heading east. The specific scenery already escapes me. I remember it was flat… Matthias drove part of the way beginning at exit 49 towards Medora, North Dakota. We rolled into Medora about 8:00 PM. I was back in familiar territory having passed through this area back in May! The famed Medora Musical had not yet opened for the season when I was here the first time, but it was in full swing on this night. All within 20 minutes, Matthias and I located the Medora Campground, bought a tent site for the night and drove up the hill to the top of the Burning Hills Amphitheater.
At the top, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Compared to the small, sleepy, old-western-style, reconstructed town of Medora, this theater was super-tech. We purchased our tickets at the modern ticket counter where the ticket girl accessed her Windows-based PC to select our seats and then we rode an open-air escalator down to our seats. The stage couldn’t have been better placed; the setting sun was shining on the rocky hills behind the old-western-style stage.
The 11-person group, the Burning Hills Singers, sang and danced in this western musical extravaganza while the 6-piece Coal Diggers fiddled and plucked away. Other colorful characters, including Teddy Roosevelt and Sheriff Bear, rounded out the cast. The show also included two featured attractions; a comedian from New York and the Mapapa Acrobats from Mbassa, Kenya. The acrobats were the highlight of the show. I recommend this show to everyone going to Medora.
Following the show, Matthias and I returned to camp and set up the tent. Then I lay out on the picnic table and stared up at the Milky Way for a while. I watched the satellites fly by and the stars shoot. I heard that one can see the international space station on a clear night if one knows where to look (but one didn’t.)
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