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Published: September 23rd 2007
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Posted by: Onaxthiel: Bozeman is only an umlaut and an S away from meaning “evil man” in German, or so Obfuscator tells me. I seem to recall hearing this before somewhere, perhaps back when I was taking German. One way or another, we didn't think the town had a very evil vibe, but the jokes about it kept us amused for the evening. There was, however, a weird smoke on the horizon of unknown origin in the morning. It made the drive right around town go from clear to low visibility in a matter of moments. The weather guy on the news the night before had told us that the temperatures would be in the 60s today, and that this was about 10 degrees cooler than normal for this time of year. If 70s is normal in Montana for September, than Obfuscator and I have been quite unlucky in this state so far. Once we were through the smoke, it looked like an easy drive to Missoula and then points north on our way to Glacier.
Fortunately, right outside of Bozeman is where my short attention span kicked in again. The Lewis and Clark Cavern State Park exit appeared suddenly
to our right and I felt compelled to take it. Particularly since Obfuscator displays practiced ambivalence whenever asked his opinion on things like detours most of the time. Unless something will really destroy our schedule or route, he is usually up for most any weird stop I care to make. Indulgence is a good trait in a traveling companion on a trip like this and besides, we both have a soft spot for caving. A few miles off the interstate we arrived at the park, and began an assent along mountain roads that even without caves at the end would have justified the detour. For our ten dollar tour fees, we were promised a two hour tour of caverns with a scenic walk out to the entrance, and we were not disappointed. Our guide moved at a pace that left most of our tour group well behind on the way to the hole. Luckily, after three days of recovery, we were in robust health and had a fun conversation with the former grade school teacher who would be leading us into this world of mineral deposits and low hanging ceilings. Inside, we met a few bats that were surprised by
The entrance to Lewis and Clark Caverns
Note the moss! And the helpful tourguide! our sudden intrusion into their sleeping area. Past them was one scenic vault after another, showing the varieties of deposits that nature had left over many millennium. Traversing from one cavern to another was often an adventure in itself, fitting between narrow pillars, under low ceilings, and at one point down a lovely and three-generations-of-tourists-polished stone slide. There are petrified bats, rocks that impersonate celebrities, and rocks that do shadow puppet shows if the guide changes their lighting angles. All and all a great stop for the whole family. Also, 27 year old army vets who are easily amused. On towards Helena, Montana, on a decision that we should try the eastern side of Glacier first. In Helena, we visited the state capitol. Unlike a previous state capitol that will go unmentioned, this one didn't look like an homage to Soviet ten year plans. It is a rather traditional style building, with legislative chambers that are small art galleries and statuary of notable
Montana politicians of the past. (Including the one congresswoman that voted against the second world war. This became the second time in her career she was voted out of office for voting against a war.) (Obfuscator notes:
We also discovered that Montana history is really like following a filthy trail of corruption and bribery. We contemplated asking someone how much for the whole structure.) So while we liked the Montana capitol more than North Dakota's, it should be recognized that the big sky country will be easily crushed when the monolithic Dakotan empire mobilizes and eats its satellite states. After Helena, we drove on to what we thought was a state park called Gate of the Mountains. It turns out that it's actually a private resort though, so we got a few nice shots of the mountains seemingly rising from the lake, and moved on. A decision needed to be made as to where we wanted to spend the night, and our options consisted of two smallish towns and Lewis and Clark national forest. The rain that began in the northern portion of our drive quickly settled the debate for us. In our first stop, we went to the (only) motel out on the edge of town and found its office to be locked with a number to call if we wanted them to open. We opted to drive on, mostly because we weren't that worried about
Helictites
Those funny little guys are helictites. They grow on the sides of caves sometimes, but are incredibly rare. This cave system has millions, making it quite extraordinary, apparently. the next town having rooms, and also because the motel had a bit of a slasher film look to it. Tourists check in but they never check out! This isn't a huge worry for us, as we are missing the teen cheerleader, star football player, and minority sidekick/ first victim required to complete our ensemble, but on the whole moving on just felt better. On the way out of town we spotted a very strange formation of clouds in the valley bellow us and in front of the mountains in the distance. Pictures were taken, but I am not sure if they turned out yet. We ended up pulling into the town of Choteau, a town with a few more options of places to stay and the first one we found exceeded our needs. For 55 dollars we were given a room that was better than the apartment I rented in college, fully furnished and with pots, pans, dishes, a hot plate, microwave, refrigerator, etc. Really far above what we had expected. Combined with one of the better wireless connections we have had, this room may have been our favorite indoor space to sleep since we left Minnesota. After checking
Funny platform thingies
I don't remember what these are called, but they defy gravity in bizarre ways. They're basically stalactites hanging from nothing. in and offloading some gear, we went out on the town. Unfortunately there wasn't much to go out on. The town was shut down by eight o'clock, except for one restaurant that was overrun by peewee football players and their families. We ended up cooking rice and beef in our room, which worked out quite well for us. Next: On to Glacier.
Lessons learned: Beef and rice works quite well together. Don't take the frontage roads around Helena, they never meet up with the highways. Keep warm clothes around for when you have to step out into the cold mountain air to take photos, wander the town, or just look at caves that appear near your route.
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