Once again we had some rainy weather but that didn't stop us. We did encounter something different on this rainy day. We had to stop to let this "gaggle of geese" walk by. We got a good chuckle as about a hundred of them waddled past us!
On this rainy day we made a visit to the Lewis and Clark Historic Trail Interpretive Center which is built right on the Missouri River. Upon encountering falls on the Missouri River that were more than 80 feet high, and with not one water fall but five falls covering 20 miles, Lewis and Clark had to portage their boats. These had to be very strong guys because they are hauling that boat straight up.
We were very impressed by this amazing purchase!
Once again we took advantage of the audio tour to learn about President Thomas Jefferson's plans for the expedition. In 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark headed up the expedition to find a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Mark is checking out the exhibit of wildlife found in this area.
I was reading the local paper and saw that the Montana Senior Olympics was going to take place in Great Falls while we were there. Sadly, it was too late for us to register. But, I quickly sent out an email to our Arizona Pickleball friends who live in Montana, Donna and Vance Christensen. Sure enough they were registered to compete in the pickleball tournament. This was the first year Montana included pickleball and they wanted to be supportive. We cheered on as Vance and his partner took gold in the Men's doubles. But, Vance and Donna were scheduled to play mixed doubles early the next morning so we vicariously cheered them on and they too took gold!
How could we not take the opportunity to take a boat ride on the Missouri River? So we took a trip down to "Gates of the Mountain." It was a small boat but they filled up fast and off we went.
You can see as you look downriver the mountains on either side form a "gate."
Our driver told us the sad story of the Mann Gulch Fire that took place here.
We got to see some Pre-historic Native American Rock Art
Not that big a deal when you have traveled as much as we have, but it is always fun when you see a cute little deer like this one come out to say "hello."
Our guide pointed out the unique shapes and lines of these mountains.
And, some are even curved - this is due to the centrifugal force on the Madison Limestone of the mountains
Once we saw all of these caves in the mountains, it was not surprise to us that this area has the highest density of bats in the U.S.
Okay, that's it for Great Falls - Part 1. Look forward to the next post for the interesting sites on the rest of our visit to Great Falls, MT.
No comments:
Post a Comment