Museum of the Rockies II

The upper level of the Museum has a Yellowstone-themed area for kids.  The creative critters below are part of the setting.  First 2 pix below are front and rear views of a life-sized buff.

This guy is obviously into music.  I can envision it on the cover of a Buffalo Springfield album.  For you younger folks, Buffalo Springfield was a rock group in the mid 60s, included Neil Young and Stephen Stills.

The ties that bind.

Meow.

Beats me.  Looks tired, though.

Museum of the Rockies

It's large and impressive.  Not humongous like the British Museum or the Louvre, but for a small city in Montana (Bozeman) it's outstanding.

The largest exhibit is Genghis Khan, vicious warlord, empire builder, statesman with democratic foresight and tolerance.

Triple crossbow with 10' arrow.  Not sure how this weapon was used, maybe line up 5 enemy soldiers and impale them?  Skewer and elephant?

Parts of the Great Yasa, laws set down by the Khan.  Although some of the penalties are severe, and I can't endorse the clothing policy, the tolerance for religious beliefs, etc is awesome.  Our politicians and religious zealots would do well to follow the Khan's advice.

The Khan had 4 sons that didn't get along at all.  They split up the empire, let it fall apart.

Computer Museum, Bozeman, MT

The wall mounted wooden phone on the left is the one I grew up with in rural Minnesota
My first paying job (75 cents an hour!) was operating the college PBX switchboard after business hours. It was like the one on the right, but smaller.  I also operated the PBX at a general hospital in Fargo, ND when I was 18, and was the graveyard admitting clerk, 11 PM to 7 AM.     

The Enigma was the devilishly clever coding device used by the Germans in WW II.  Alan Turing, a Brit, cracked the code and in doing so, shortened the war and saved thousands of lives.  Sad end for a hero: Turing was prosecuted for being gay and committed suicide.

Springhill Pavilion

My niece, Laura, got married here about 15 years ago.  I attended the wedding, wanted to show it to Trish.  It's a 1/2 hour drive north of Bozeman, MT.


The 'new addition' was built in 1907; the original structure dates back to the 1870s.

Inside the pavilion.  Scenes from The Horse Whisperer were filmed here.  It's heated by two wood stoves.  It was cold on wedding day, had my shoes off and feet against the stove for awhile - and a large glass of Moose Drool in my hand.

Artie on stage at the other end of the pavilion.  The guys (Bret (groom), Matt (Laura's brother) and a couple others did the Village People song, YMCA, on this stage.  The song had some special meaning to the newlyweds I think.

Chum, the 80ish owner, and his dog, Zeus.  Chum is a delightful guy, very welcoming, told us lots about area history - with a generous helping of BS thrown in.

Inside the men's 'restroom'.  It's a 2-holer, as is the ladies' facility.

Mountain Flying Museum

It's at the Missoula airport.  Underwhelming but still worth the visit.  This replica of the Red Baron's plane was based on a scale model; the builder was unable to locate the original plans.

I recall seeing pictures of this in some magazine, don't recall who made it or what it's called.

The venerable DC-3, military version C-47.  This one was refurbished and flown across the pond to celebrate the anniversary of D Day.

 I rode in these several times, first in the forest service en route to a fire in the Seven Devils Wilderness.  Indeed, it was a Johnson Flying Service plane and may have been this one.  Johnson was an aviation pioneer and pilot trainer, trained several thousand air force pilots.

C-47s were one of the workhorses in Vietnam, flew in them several times.

This is the front end of the plane above.

Missoula, MT

Young love with Griz on the University of Montana Campus.

Caras Park - as in carousel.

 Hiyo Silver!  Or: Trigger, Bucephalus, Man o' War, Secretariat, Buttermilk.

Cool rock sculpture of daredevil kayak dude that dared one too many in South America.

Smokejumper Tour

Missoula, MT has a smokejumper base that we toured yesterday.  Very impressive, real-deal, facility for training, outfitting, maintaining, etc.  The chap below is wearing the typical jumping outfit.

5% of smokejumpers are women.  They have to be as strong as their male counterparts, able to carry well above their own body weight for several miles.  Treat 'em with respect or get your butt kicked!

I've never been inclined to jump out of a perfectly good airplane for any reason whatsoever.  But - I would seriously considerate it if my jumping companion looked like the one below.  Typical on-the-job equipment is displayed here.

Chute packing.  Jumpers pack their own chutes so they're very careful, takes 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on level of expertise.  The woman on the left was our tour guide.

This is precisely how I feel about 'chuting'.

The Twin Otter plane is used for jumping.

The Sherpa aircraft is becoming the new favorite, retired military planes that have lots more space than the Otters.