The drive across (half of) Montana takes a lifetime!

The visitor's center in Wibaux has a quote by the eponymous Mr. Wibaux (who left money in his will to have a statue of himself erected in the center of town) that I came to understand after our drive today. He said something like..." It takes as long to drive across Montana as it does to drive from New York City to Chicago."


So we got about half way today. And felt like zombies by the time we got there.

Our first stop in Montana was Makoshika State Park. Montana has tons of dinosaur fossils. The Hell Creek Formation in which many really well preserved remains have been found, runs through Makoshika. The terrain is badland-ish in part, and scrub pine foothills. There were fun hikes to be had, but the previous night's rain made all the paths (steep hills) slick. So we just took pictures of the amazing tabletop rock formations.

Next stop: Terry, Montana for lunch at the Dizzy Diner. The county sheriffs were there too, so we figured we'd found the right place. But really, Eastern Montana is pretty stark. Not a lot of economic activity and lots of run-down homes.

We went to the Crow Agency to see the battlefield of the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It was pouring rain as we arrived. We stopped at a gas station to "unfuel" and found the River Crow Trading Company. I found some beautiful beaded earrings, hand-made by a local Crow woman. The storm chose that moment to knock out all the power. So we paid cash for the earrings and got waved through at the monument.


Our final leg of the day got us to Big Timber. We found The Grand Hotel on Trip Advisor. Their website says, "Offering beautiful accommodations, fine dining and spirits to cattlemen, cowboys, sheepherders, miners, railroad men and travelers since 1890." How can you pass that by? We were exhausted and in serious need of getting out of the car. We could have gotten a room with a bathroom down the hall and a gourmet breakfast for $69. We splurged and spent $20 more to get our own bathroom. After lugging our too-big suitcases up the stairs, and washing our faces, we got ourselves down to dinner. The dining hall was full of people -- most locals, some fishermen and hunters. Here's what we got: 1) fried green tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella with a balsamic demi-glace; 2) fresh greens with house-made blue cheese vinaigrette; 3) Pacific salmon  with pomegranate/raspberry reduction sauce over mashed potatoes with steamed squash and beans; and 4) vanilla ice cream in a crepe with warm strawberry caramel sauce and whipped cream on top. And when we got back to our room and really looked at the bed, we knew we were in heaven. Ahhhhh!

Now on to the other half of Montana.