Yellowstone Trip - Day One - Regina to Billings

---

Maybe it's not the destination that matters. Maybe it's the journey.

Mapquest said that this would take 7 hours. But we found lots of things to see and side trips to take, so it took 12 hours.

Driving through Fortuna, SD, we came across an abandoned military radar tracking station. Steve remembers going there in about 1963, while he was in the air force. It was part of the high line, which is/was the most northern radar tracking in the US.

Wheat fields in Saskatchewan, changed into scrub and ranch land in South Dakota, which turned into corn fields in Montana as far as we could see. And hot! 95 degrees F! We saw a rock formation that looked like tables growing out the the side of the hill. And hay bales stacked up to look just like fresh baked loaves of bread.

We took a side trip to Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn. There are markers all over the hills, where they found the bodies of the soldiers and the Northern Plains Indians who defeated them. When they knew there was no chance, they tried to save their General. They circled their horses around the General's position on the hill, shot the horses to use as a shield, and kept shooting till they were all dead. They found a circle of horse and human remains around Custer's position.

Had a surprisingly wonderful meal at the Owl Cafe in Laurel Montana. Fresh salad of baby greens with a house raspberry vinegrette, perfectly done rare flat iron steak with mashed sweet potatoes and grilled local corn on the cob. A gigantic fresh baked chocolate chip cookie to take back to the hotel to nibble on while we sit at the computer. YUM! Best Western in Laurel is just 13 miles outside of Billings, clean, courteous, and half the price of the same thing in Billings.

---

Photos

Horizontal Hoodoos
I've seen hoodoos before, but not 'tables'!

Loaves of Hay
How do they do that?

Custer
The famous hill where General Custer and his soldiers were defeated.

Comments

[chrissy]

mmmmm...bread!
all this talk about bread and custard, think I'll make some bread pudding! Looks like fun keep the picture rollin.

[Dawn and Steve]

hi back
This is like a post card! Having a great time. Wish you were here. Love Mom