Columbus, MT to Deer Lodge, MT

View from our campsite in Columbus, MT.  Near Columbus (Nye) is Stillwater Mine which is the only platinum & palladium mine in the U.S.

The drive between Columbus and Deer Lodge has many beautiful sites.

 

Just west of the Continental Divide is Butte, MT.  An obvious site around Butte is the Berkeley Pit, a former open pit copper mine. It is one mile long by half a mile wide with an approximate depth of 1,780 feet. The mine was opened in 1955 and operated by Anaconda Copper and later by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), until its closure in 1982.



 

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, MT

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is located on the Crow Indian Reservation south east of Billings, MT.  The battle occurred June 25-26, 1876.

Visitors Center

View from Visitor Center

Cheyenne Warrior Graves

Artwork at Indian Memorial

Many horses were killed during the battle.

Last Stand Hill - Lt Col Custer and approximately 41 men shoot their horses for breastworks and make a stand.  Approximately 10 men, including Custer, his brother Tom, and Lt William Cooke were killed.

A National Cemetery is also on the grounds.

Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO

Colorado Springs, CO is home to one of three Olympic Training Centers in the US. 

  

 

 

 

 

Flags from all the countries, 200+, represented at the Olympics line various walkways.

We toured the training center with one of the athletes, J Payne.  She is a power weight lifter.


Shooting Center

Weight Lifting Center

 

Weight and Fitness Training Facility

 

Swimming Center

 

Some fun pictures

 

 

 

LBJ National & State Park, TX

LBJ National Park & State Historic Site is located in the Texas hill country between Fredericksburg and Johnson City.  The National Park Service manages the Texas Whitehouse and the Texas Parks and Wildlife manages the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm. 

The Bluebonnets and other flowers were beautiful.

Sauer-Beckman Living History Farm

Life on the farmstead is presented as it was in 1918. Park interpreters wear period clothing, do the farm and household chores as they were done at that time, and also conduct tours for the visitors.  Johann and Christine Sauer, along with their four children, settled this land in 1869. Their family prospered and grew and, by 1885, several stone buildings were built near the original rock and log cabins. Eventually, the Sauers had 10 children. One of those, Augusta Sauer Lindig, served as midwife at the birth of President Johnson.  The Beckmann family acquired the property in 1900. A good cotton crop in 1915 allowed Emil and Emma Beckmann to build a new barn, to add a frame room onto the old rock structure, and to construct porches connecting to a lovely Victorian house covered with fashionable pressed tin. In 1966, Edna Beckmann Hightower sold the site to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Archeological surveying and restoration work was undertaken and the farm opened to the public in 1975. Since then, time has stood still and the farm remains forever a small piece of Texas as it was at the beginning of the 20th century.



 

 

 

Guadalupe River State Park, TX - Bluebonnets

Guadalupe River State Park is in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio, TX.  In spite of the very dry conditions, we do have some Bluebonnets in the park.