Aug 1-3, Monday
We arrive at Dick's RV, in Great Falls, in the early afternoon. It seemed like a good plan to lay claim to the laundry room before too many overnighters pulled in. I got things going and then soon struck up a conversation with another patron. She and her husband were just back from Alaska, it seems the rough roads pounded their little Casita to pieces, so they had repair work to do. We chatted while the machines worked, then I trundled back to the trailer, the laundry all finished for a week or so. Dick's is OK for an overnight or two. The spaces are larger than average for an RV park, and all have grass and a picnic table. The Sun River(a tributary of the Missouri) is right across the road, and there's a bike trail along part of it, allowing for some dog walking freedom. The train tracks nearby aren't in use except for storage, so there was very minimal traffic noise.
We took advantage of Great Falls "big city" resources and did chores like an oil change for the truck, groceries, and buying a new mattress!! Our old RV airbed (older than this trailer!) had decided it was going to leak no matter how many times we fixed it, so we had to work on a more permanent solution. Purchasing something that has to be shipped, when you have no permanent address, is always an interesting challenge. In this case the UPS Store in Rapid City, SD, was the solution. Now, we just hope that we, and the mattress, all show up in Rapid City, as scheduled.
I made a stop at Big Sky Quilts to pick up a Montana "license plate" for my collection, and also bought their row-by-row kit. There is a real story that goes with both.
The license plate "MAJ STASH" refers not only to the fact that most quilters have major "stashes" (collected fabric) but one of the owners of the shop is a major! I didn't catch what branch of the military, but Malmstrom Air Force base is located here.
We also made a long-anticipated visit to the C.M. Russell Museum.
Oh-my-goodness. We've never before seen such a marvelous collection of western art all in one place. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, and casual whittled objects make up the collections. Coincidently, their current rotating display is the artists of the Going to the Sun Road, in Glacier, and their relationship to Charlie Russell, who had a cabin at the south end of St. Mary Lake, not too far from where we were camped on the west side of Glacier NP. (No photos are allowed in the museum and galleries, so you'll have to go to their website to see the offerings.) The profiles of each of the artists and the examples of their work were wonderful and really enriched the enjoyment of their individual works.
The museum also houses a fantastic number of Native American artifacts. Many are displayed in glass cases, others in a multitude of drawers (their tops sealed with plexiglass) that visitors are invited to pull out and investigate. The beadwork, garments, stone weapons, ceremonial items, basketry, and more, were just amazing. Needless to say, by the time we'd finished our brains were numb. There was just too much to absorb, but it was a wonderful experience and we very much enjoyed it.
We had just enough umph left for a quick tour of Charlie and his wife Nancy's home, which is on the same property. It's furnished with period authentic items, though most didn't belong to the Russells. His log studio was under construction, being refurbished, so if we ever get up this way again we'll have to check it out.
It's there we discovered Poutine, a Canadian dish that will melt in your mouth. Crispy fries with cheese curds, all topped with a flavorful brown gravy. 'May sound a little strange to some, but it was really good, and I can imagine really hits the spot on a cold Montana day.
Bert and Ernie's has a comfortable and interesting atmosphere. The restaurant has been there for something like 60 years, but no one knows how the name came to be - I though that was odd!
The ceiling of the restaurant, which is in the historic downtown area, is covered in the old tin panels. The tops of all the divider walls are covered with their collected bottles, and there are some very interesting ones. I'm afraid they put our collection to shame.
Great Falls is full of history and so we absorbed as much as we could.
The Lewis and Clark Interpretive center is very well done. Having spent so many years in Oregon we're very familiar with that end of the story, and this interpretive center filled in the beginning bits. The city apparently did one of those charity drives that involves decorating a large animal. . . a buffalo in this case. We saw several interesting ones around town but this one is the only one I could capture for a photo.
The center is built overlooking the river, and one can see a portion of the "great falls" that inspired the town's name.After "touring" for the day we were ready to settle in for the evening and get packed up for an early start in the morning.
Montana is going the way of many other northwest states and really developing a microbrew industry. We had to pick up a sampling of course, to work on while we packed!
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