Helena, MT

Captains Log June 6 - It was rather nippy this morning at 46 out!  Of course, leaving a window

open all night didn’t help.  We managed to get on the road by 9:30 this morning and we were only going about 90 miles to Helena, MT.  They had told us if our space was open we could set up.  Luckily it was vacated by the time we arrived so we could get set up and have lunch before heading out to Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Boat tour.

It was only about 10 miles from the campground and we arrived early enough to enjoy a snack of huckleberry ice cream with huckleberries in it.  Yum!  They were taking out 2 boats as there was quite a crowd.  We were glad as we chose the open air boat so I could get photos easier.  The tour was about 2 hours and we learned a lot about Lewis and Clark, rock formations, the name, the river
(Missouri), the founders of the boat cruises and lots more.  Our guide/driver was excellent.  We saw bald eagles nesting, small arches up in the rock walls, beetle kill areas, various rock/sediment layers and learned a lot of history about the area and the river.  It was a very worthwhile trip!  The pictures tell the story much better than I can.

We had dressed for cold weather but by the time we got back to the truck we had removed our outer layers

First Arch

 and it was rather warm out. 

We drove into Helena and wanted to see the Cathedral of Saint Helena.  It was closed at 1:00, so we didn’t see inside but we did manage a nice photo of the outside and it’s beautiful.  Near there was the first Governors House so we stopped to get a picture

The eagles nesting

there.  I should have taken a picture of the house across from it.  It was the Democrat House and there was a painted donkey, or maybe it was an Ass, it’s hard to tell them apart, on the front porch.  The grass hadn’t been mowed in ages either. Speaks poorly of the Democrats!

We stopped in front of the state Capitol building and there is a

Second Arch

statue in front of Teddy Roosevelt on his horse.  There was a huge outline of Montana cut out in the very front and lots of little wood pegs on it like a map perhaps.  Maybe by the end of summer the project will be done.  Will have to Google the capitol and see if there’s a photo later!

Time to find a dinner spot before our Walmart stop.  Most of the place in that area were closed so we found a Mexican place that

Third arch

was standing room only when we left.  The décor is gorgeous with carved and painted chairs and benches but the food was lacking.  Prices were great but not much flavor.  We both had leftovers!

Molly didn’t act too excited to see us!  She lives the life of Riley!! 

This is considered "the Gate" 

We watched one of our favorite TV shows, Bill did up the dishes and we relaxed and read.