This is a typical casino in one of the small towns in Montana. The following couple of photos are from the main street of the town.
You generally have an animals attention when you stop no matter how far away you are.
This was an old forgotten cemetery we ran across on one of our drives.
A true 'head" stone near one of the graves.
There were several monuments to various people of the same family.
We ran across some people canoeing. We watched them go down the river & into the rapids. They would purposely tip themselves over and try to right themselves. It was very interesting to watch. But not enough that I would want to try it.
One of the many sets of bridges we saw as we drove the area.
Other full time RV'ers, Warren and Mari, Ca friends that spend summers in Missoula Montana at his parents.
One of the rivers that the salmon use to get back to the fishery they were born at. They come back here to spawn.
a pretty creek along the road.
This bridge has a natural pier that was used in the building of it in 1918. It was built at a cost of $100,000. Click to enlarge and you will see the rock used as the middle point under the bridge.
We went to Idaho one of the days for lunch. Our friends showed us this lodge that was on the way. It had many carvings in the building.
This was a side trip from our side trip to see the moose a ranger told us about.This man in the canoe was a little close and the moose was really watching him.
The warning not to get to close with the moose in the background at right.
The reason for the side trip from Montana to Idaho was to go to the Cedar Forest. Below was one of the trees that had long ago died.
These Cedar trees are really beautiful and huge.
Sky view from ground through the tops of the trees.
This was upstairs at a forester rangers cabin. He invited us to look around and told us were to see a moose.
Trains are an everyday occurrence at Warren's parents house. We were at a place that Warren was able to get a photo of the train as it passed.
While looking for a bear that got away from us Warren and I (Bil & Mari stayed in the car) ran across this train enthusiast down the road from them. This man has tracks and signals for his own use/lawn decor.
This is a 1923 tunnel that the trains run through near Warren's house.
Following are a few shots of some of the old buildings from Deer Lodge Montana that have been restored.
The house was restored by the granddaughter's of the owner. There was a quilt on the bed signed by the original owner and a doll the daughters played with,
Bil found a coffin and tried it on for size-he said "April fools."
The metal worker (live displays) made this gold item below. He also displayed his retirement plan, he is doing a 401 plan.
We visited the Deer Lodge historic Prison -in the midst of the horror of a prison we found some beauty through out the grounds.
The prison is much larger than this shows. We could not get a full photo of the prison.
My jailer with a big grin on his face.
Click to make the photo larger - you can see Bil looking through the gun port on the far right side of the photo. Even when the prisoners were watching a show in the theater, guards could watch and use guns if needed.
Bil found a buddy to share a bench with.
One of the prison look out towers.
The windows are so small and probably let little light into the cells.
There was a riot in the prison in 1959 and some of the damage can be seen below.
We have seen many phony palm trees all over the country, but these were the most colorful we have seen. They were on several of the streets near the freeway in Deer Lodge.
