On Friday May 25th 2012, Dave and I went to explore the Billings area. We spent the Friday night in Bozeman then went to Billings on Saturday.
Our first stop was for lunch at Montana Brewery downtown Billings. One of their specialties is a seletion of macaroni and cheese dishes. Dave decided to have the Southern Mac with fried chicken and bacon in the macaroni. I had thier chicken alfredo. Both dishes were very tastey.
After lunch we went to Pompey's Pillar. It is a landmark used by many throughout the years. One of the more famous people that used this land mark was William Clark.
Pompey's Pillar is located east of Billings and is next to the Yellowstone River.
The yellowish box in the picture below is where William Clark carved his name.
WIlliam Clark ( of "the" Lewis and Clark) carved his name in the stone on Pompey's Pillar when he came thru the area.
After climbing the 200 stairs to get to the top of Pompey's Pillar, you can see a view of the valley for quite a way out. Would have been a better view if it hadn't been a rainy and drizzley day.
The view below is looking West from the top.
Our traditional photo at the Portal sign
Our next stop on Saturday was Pictograph caves.
There are 3 caves. The one below is the one with the most pics on the rock.
The pictograph below shows rifles and they think the oval with the dot in the middle represents a beaver.
The pictographs are very light. In fact it is easier to see them on the digital camera than with your eyes.
The guy at the visitor center said that on a sunny day a lot more of the pictographs will show up on your camera than what you see. The day we were there, you could only see the red pictographs. We were told there were a lot of black and white ones also, but we couldn't see them.
There were cottontail bunnies all over the trails. Baby bunnies that came right up to you... Killer rabbits...
Notice the red eye? That is always a dead giveaway.
Dave is looking in the Ghost cave.
May 27th, 2012 Dave and I went to see Battle of the Little Bighorn National Monument.
Portal sign picture
Below is Custer's last stand.
The markers represent the location of where Custer's troop died.
Custer's marker is the one with the black.
There are about 39 horses that they estimate to be in the horse grave.
There are a few markers for the Indians. It wasn't until recently (within the last 10 years) that they started marking where the Indians died.
The memorial below is dedicated to the Indian Tribes that fought in the battle.
Opposite these horse sculptures is a weeping wall.
The monument below represents the battle where Maj. Marcus A. Reno led his troops to die.
This was my first time to the prairie side of Montana. Dave--standing in the prairie.
The park did an excavation in the mid 90's and found a bunch of spots and places where soldiers/Indians had died. There are markers scattered throughout the prairie battlefield.
Below is the National Cemetary located at the Battlefield National Monument.
Soldiers from many wars are buried here.
Since it was Memorial Day weekend, there were small flags on all the graves.
The saying below is on the side of the Visitors Center at the Battlefield of Little Bighorn.
We spent Saturday and Sunday nite in Billigs and then headed home Monday morning.
It was just about the right length of trip for the weekend.
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