While we were in Great Falls, we thought it appropriate to visit the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center.
(Click on pictures to enlarge.)
Some of the wildlife
"Here's comes Peter Cottontail"
Thomas Jefferson mandates L&C explore the Missouri River and figure out how it connected to the Pacific Ocean, all in the name of commerce.
A beautiful compass rose of inlaid granite, complete with pictographs that describe the
expedition.
Diorama of the men making the portage (aka schlepping their canoes and all belongings) up the hill/mountain to avoid going over the falls.
Who were Lewis and Clark?
If only we had been able to see a live mountain goat this close.
Thankfully we didn't get this close to a grizzly bear.
Two boats and one ship for the exploration.
The museum did a spectacular job with the displays, descriptions and artifacts!
The chain on the right side of the display was used to determine how many feet/lengths they traveled.
Hauling a dugout canoe up the side of the mountain in order to go around several waterfalls along the Missouri River (see farther down the blog).
Steamboat Island.
And some don't like our "No PeePee in the TeePee" rule, but as you can see,
Tipi etiquette goes back along way in time!
Every time we are in Portland, we regularly see road signs for The Dalles. Until today, I thought it was just another place in Oregon. Turns out it was a pretty important place in North American history.
Here's where we'll take a break and do a comparison between the Lewis&Clark expedition and the Jones&Moore Wild West trip:
Lewis&Clark (1803)
- Given a mandate from Thomas Jefferson to explore the continent.
- Had sketchy charts
- Heading into unknown territory
- Varied travel means (horse, covered wagon, boats, canoe, on foot)
- Limited tools (compass, sextant, etc.)
- Documentation was pen/ink/journals
- Scenes were captured by an artist
- Unprepared for cold weather/elements
Began in DC, traveled through 19 states and ended at the Pacific Ocean
4600 miles
Timeline: Two and a half years (with an additional six months to return home)
Jones&Moore (2012)
- Thought we'd maximize the investment we made in the motorhome and take it on a cross-country trip.
But after looking at the time and expense, decided to travel the 'old fashioned way'.
- Travel methods: planes, trains, automobiles, tour bus, and occasionally on foot
- Had GPS, 2 smart phones, multiple maps (state, city, neighborhood)
- Not uncharted territory, but new to us
- Documented via blog
- Captured images with Sony Cybershot camera
- Internet access almost all the time. (Felt handicapped when no signal or connection.)
- Planned for all types of weather
- Appreciated paved roads, road signs, street signs, rest stops, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and many other places familiar to us.
Began in Tampa
Traveled through 10 states, stayed in 17 cities
3,619 miles
Timeline: May 1-May 30
====================================
Rainbow Falls and Dam. Unfortunately, they didn't have the dam operating at full capacity and since it was cloudy, no rainbows.
"Butts Up"
Goslings
The Great Falls were about 10 miles away, and since we were in the city named after them, we had to find them!
The dark skies look more ominous when there's acres of open plains.
The last bullet on the sign reads, "Alcohol in kegs prohibited".
(But I guess you can bring multiple containers in coolers?)
Not sure why, but on this stretch of highway 87, there were a few military HumVees.
Frank is getting pretty good at spotting pronghorn antelopes.
Here, pronghorn are commingling with cows.
Another old building.
All of a sudden we see these windmills peeking above the horizon.
Was able to do some quick research and learned this a wind farm and these are turbines.
Invenergy's wind farm in Judith Gap, MT
More pronghorn antelope
Recently sheared sheep
We have really enjoyed our time so far in Montana, learning more American history and seeing the beautiful countryside.
Stay tuned...tomorrow we'll be exploring The Battle of Little Big Horn.
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