LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD and DRIVING THROUGH MONTANA

Montana is vast and wide-open, with a lot of interesting sites.

Today I visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield (Custer's Last Stand). The area memorializes the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne in one of the Indian's last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. On June 25 and 26, 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, died fighting several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors.

(Click on photos to enlarge.) There are grave markers where the soldiers and Indians actually fell.

This is a beautiful memorial for the Indians who died.

This is the memorial for the U.S. Soldiers.
A marker for the horses who died.

This is the graveyard for the U.S. soldiers.

The stones indicate where they were found and

originally buried. The black one in the middle is Gen. Custer.

Besides the battlefield, this National Park site

is also a beautiful National Cemetery.

PICTOGRAPH CAVE STATE PARK (Billings, MT)
This is a National Historic Landmark. Approximately 30,000

artifacts ranging from stone tools, weapons, paintings and

instruments used, have been identified from the site.

These caves contain many ancient rock paintings (in red).

This is a row of rifles firing. And, to the left is a fish. This is a big-horned sheep (a very common drawing)

More rifles.

A close-up of the fish.

A bear (in black)

Oh, come on - use your imagination!!

Best part of the day - a sweet bunny kept me company

on the hike up to the caves!

These are just a few of the things I saw driving through Montana.

Beautiful mountains.

Entering the Indian reservation.

Long, long roads - with nothing in sight for miles!

A bunch of cattle who thought I was coming

to feed them!

This thing out in the middle of nowhere!

Better to drill here than the Gulf of Mexico!!!

I finally got to a town - folks in Montana like yard ornaments!

More open road!

This statue greets you when you enter the town of

Butte, Montana. It's called "Our Lady of the Rockies"

and she stands way up on a mountain-top.