the surprising Helena

we followed the Boiling River out of Yellowstone - a short jaunt to Livingston, Montana, & an abrupt jolt back into the land of internet connections before we, again, took a pause during our four days in Glacier.  we stopped for breakfast at a joint that offered free wifi ~ wish i had a photo of the eggs, bacon, pancakes, and four electronic devices happily reconnecting with the world (or maybe it was the people who were happy).  i had a list of things/activities to look up, the boys wanted sports updates, and Mike needed to check in with his office.  we were well-content.  a quick gulp of modernity before we resumed deep breathing nature.

 good-bye Yellowstone!

Rooselvelt Arch (named for Teddy not Franklin)

 we were soon back into city streets, stoplights, and industry.

Mike asked me to take a photo of this great car,

driven by an old Montana cowboy.

back to the rolling hills & oil derricks,

traveling along the east side of the Rocky Mountains

all the way up to Glacier National Park.

photo by Mike

"Thar's Gold In Them Thar Hills" (photo by Mike)

i don't think they were talking about this,

but we were in search of binoculars

(which we had neglected to pack).

 didn't find any there,

so we got directions to an outdoors store in downtown Helena.

now, that's the ticket!

loved the rows and rows of boots!

we loved Helena!

beautiful downtown buildings, great weather, friendly people,

and a little bit of history, too.

~ i think i may love buildings as much as i love flowers ~

there were some wonderful ones in Helena!

Mike had read about a place near downtown called Reeder's Alley.  it is an old section of Helena that survived some devastating fires around the turn of the century, when most of the rest of the town burned.

everything was closed, but i wondered what this business was all about.

original cabin, from the gold rush!

we noticed quite a scene at a downtown taco place and returned, after our walk-about, to eat lunch.  happy discovery - it was their tenth anniversary!  free tacos for all!  (actually, bogo, but yay!)  yummy food, fun music, energetic people = great lunch experience.

i had a difficult time remembering how to pronounce Helena.  i kept wanting to put an accent on the second syllable instead of the first!  i am pleased to report that, by george!, i think i've got it.

the other word i kept having problems with was 'butte.'

we treated ourselves to some scrumptious homemade choc-o-lates

on our way out of town.

then we continued our journey, following the Rocky Mountains

all the way up to Glacier.