Page 21 - Vacation Country Travel Guide

SPECIAL EVENTS: Rocky Mountain peoples, along with its changing
Chinese New Year - Mai Wah Society parade led by exhibits from around the world, the Martin Children’s
ceremonial dragon donated by the people of Taipei. Discovery Center and the Taylor Planetarium. The
St. Urho’s Day - March 16 Museum’s Living History Farm is an historically
St. Patrick’s Day - March 17 accurate working homestead, where costumed
Butte Freedom Festival - July 1-4 interpreters provide a rich understanding of life on
Montana Folk Festival - July a late-1800s Montana homestead through visitor
Evel Knievel Days - fourth weekend in July interaction, daily activities and ongoing programs.
An Ri Ra Irish Festival - second weekend in August The Museum of the Rockies is located at Kagy Blvd
and South Third. Call 406-994-DINO or visit the
Helena website at www.museumoftherockies.org.
Festivals in Bozeman include the Gallatin County
Location: On I-15, halfway between Glacier Fair in July, the Sweet Pea Festival in August and
National Park and Yellowstone, about 180 the Wild West Winterfest in February. Museums
miles each way. Population: 28,000. Visitor include the Gallatin County Pioneer Museum and the
Information: Helena Tourism Alliance, 105 American Computer Museum.
Reeders Alley, 59601; Phone: (406) 449-2107; Montana Grizzly Encounter is a rescue and
Website: www.helenamt.com education sanctuary founded in 2004 to provide a
spacious and natural home for rescued grizzlies and
From its beginnings in 1864 as a gold camp, to offer the public a place to come and learn about
Helena became the state capital and one of the richest grizzly bears as they watch the majestic animals up
cities in the US. By 1888, Helena was home to about close in a beautiful mountain setting. This is the
50 millionaires, more per capita than any city in loving home to celebrity bear “Brutus”.
the world. About $3.6 billion (in today’s dollars) of
gold was taken from Last Chance Gulch over a 20- Billings
year period. This large concentration of wealth was Location: On I-90 and I-94; 125 miles to
the basis for developing the city’s fine Victorian Yellowstone Park, 225 miles to Butte, 220 miles
neighborhoods and ambitious architecture, as well to Great Falls. Visitor Information: Billings
as a thriving red light district that didn’t die out until Chamber of Commerce, 815 27th Street South,
1973. Billings 59101; Phone: (406) 252-4016 or (800)
The city has a wealth of museums and historic 735-2635; Email: info@billingschamber.com
neighborhoods to explore, a cathedral, botanical Website: www.billingscvb.visitmt.com.
gardens and the lovely Gates of the Mountains area
of the Missouri River. Located in the Yellowstone River Valley, Billings
is Montana’s most populated city with well over
Bozeman 100,000 residents. Since the town’s history began in
1877, Billings has steadily become a major center for
Location: On I-90; 82 miles east of Butte, 142 culture and commerce.
miles west of Billings, 90 miles north of West Surrounded by six of Montana’s most spectacular
Yellowstone. Population: 30,750. Visitor mountain ranges and cut through by America’s longest
Information: Bozeman Chamber of Commerce, free flowing river, Billings lies an hour away from
2000 Commerce Way Bozeman, MT 59715; the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument,
Phone: (800) 228-4224; Email: info@ commemorating the moment when the exhausted 7
th
bozemanchamber.com; Website: www. Calvary collided with Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and
bozemanchamber.com over 3000 encamped and angry warriors.
The breathtaking sandstone rimrocks looming over
Bozeman is one of the most diverse and beautiful the town are traversed by Black Otter Trail, named
small towns in the Rocky Mountain West, blessed after a Crow chief who was buried there after his
with an eclectic mix of ranchers, artists, professors, death at the hands of a Sioux war party. At the east
ski enthusiasts and entrepreneurs drawn here by world end of Black Otter Trail, Sacrifice Cliff marks the
class recreation, Montana State University and a slice site of a Crow village where a returning young war
of old fashioned Americana. The town’s spectacular party found the population decimated by smallpox.
mountain setting makes it a popular ski destination Warriors blindfolded their ponies and rode them over
area and movie film location. the cliff to appease the gods and halt the epidemic.
Museum of the Rockies (MOR) at MSU showcases Before the white man, the Crow or the buffalo, the
a world renowned natural history collection with western Paleo-Indian hunted woolly mammoth and
one of the finest and most extensive dinosaur fossil documented the hunt with cave paintings over 4,500
collections in the US. Named “Montana’s most years ago, 7 miles southeast of Billings at Pictograph
entertaining museum” by Lonely Planet, MOR is Cave State Park.
perhaps best known for its paleontology program The drive southwest from Billings to Yellowstone
led by the scientific advisor on all the Jurassic Park Park over Beartooth Pass has been described as
movies, Dr. Jack Horner. A permanent exhibit of “The the most beautiful in the country. The impressive
Tyrant Kings” places MOR among only a handful of sandstone formation of Pompey’s Pillar lies 45
museums in the world to display a fossilized T. rex minutes east of Billings, where the only physical
skeleton. One of the most spectacular and complete evidence left by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on
specimens ever unearthed, Montana’s T. rex stands 12 its entire route can be found: Clark’s signature and
feet tall and 40 feet long. The exhibit also displays 1806 date carved into the base of the rock.
skulls that show the growth of T. rex, from juvenile Billings offers a nearly endless array of recreational
specimens to the largest ever discovered. and multi-cultural opportunities, with something
In 2016, MOR was the only venue west of the to suit every interest. Try a few of the nearby Blue
Mississippi to host an important exhibition of artifacts Ribbon sport fishing streams or check out the full
uncovered from wealthy villas buried beneath the slate at the Theater for the Performing Arts. Spend
eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD. The Museum is a delightful afternoon at Zoo Montana or visit the
also recognized for its permanent regional history impressive exhibitions of major Montana artists at the
exhibits, including Native American cultures and Yellowstone Art Museum.

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