Showers this morning (again for us - not from the sky), and we headed for the Little Bighorn National Battlefield in Montana. Since neither of us knew much about the battle, we learned quite a bit about both sides of the conflict (Lakota Sioux and the U.S. Cavalry). We saw the site of Custer’s Last Stand and heard an impassioned speech from a park ranger who is also a scholar on the subject (he also teaches at Temple University).
Here’s a picture of “Last Stand Hill,”:
Next stop was north of Billings, Montana at Pompey’s Pillar National Monument. It was a stop for William Clark on the return trip of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Located right next to the Yellowstone river, it is a Limestone formation that overlooks the surrounding landscape. We hiked to the top and saw the spot where William Clark carved his name into the rock.
After a stop for delicious Italian food (at Bruno's Italian Palace - their sauce tasted like mushroom stew; I think they have your recipe, Ma), we’re in Columbus, Montana now stocking up on food before we head into Yellowstone National Park. We’ll probably be out of WiFi range for the next few days, but expect a few days of updates soon!
I just finished a new book by Nathaniel Philbrick called The Last Stand. It was an excellent account that left me with a totally different understanding of what went on there. Highly recommend. I hope someday to visit and see for myself. Especially want to see the Little Big Horn River where the tribes were camped. It was a big buffalo year that brought many of the agency Indians back to the real life. Can't imagine there were 8 thousand lodges along that river at the time. Custer only saw the end of the camp where Sitting Bull was with his Hunkpapa Sioux. Hunkpapa means "the last in line".
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