Off to Bozeman

Left Missoula after a great visit.  Got to our fave restaurants, saw some sights, did a milonga, and just hung out.  The great weather didn't hurt.

Some driving geography.  We got onto Interstate 15 in southern Utah, the best north/south route through Utah, Idaho & into Montana.  I-15 crosses I-90 in Montana & continues north.  I-90 is the primary east/west interstate & traverses all of Montana.  Missoula, Butte, Bozeman & Billings are all on I-90.

Our first stop in Montana was Butte, six miles east of that I-15/90 intersection.  While in Butte, we read about State Route 1 that heads into the mountains but rejoins I-90 to continue to Missoula.  We did it going to Missoula.  I wrote about our stop in Philipsburg.  We decided to do that bypass again since our Bozeman check-in time was 3pm.

OK, now that you're bored stiff, here's a bit of Philipsburg.  A great shot of one of the restored buildings.

Sign in a chotchka shop.  Very contemporary.

Philipsburg is home to the Montana State Law Enforcement Museum.  It ended up in this little town cuz no one else wanted it.  It's one room with alot of law enforcement memorabilia.  Of course, Montana is rich with old west history.   As I read the history of the state, it turns out things got going in the West in the 1850's just before the Civil War and really took off during the war and on after.

Here is a display including an authentic "Wanted" poster of John Dillinger, this one hung in the office of one of the local sheriffs for many years.

No more police stuff.  After Philipsburg we drove through a canyon (in MT, there are lots of them) with snow melt gushing from a wall of rock.  Unfortunately, my acrophobia kept me from getting closer to the action.

This vid gives a better idea, although still not close enough to see where the water flow goes...down, way, way down. (To see vid on the web, click on the blog title.)

I just noticed, the video quality at full screen is terrible.  I've reset to 1080p.  Hope that improves it but not for this post.

After leaving this canyon, we approached Georgetown Lake, a quite large lake with lots of summer homes & cottages along the shore.  It is man-made in the 19th century to provide power to the mining operations.  We took a side road winding way back, then came upon this worthwhile why-we-love-Montana view.

Here's a vid from the same spot.

OK, this post closes out Missoula & the trip here.  Bozeman is coming.