A Rare Treat

With temperatures reaching only the low 50's and a 60% chance of rain in the forecast, we all jumped into Brock's truck for today's ride.  Our usual beautiful scenery was highlighted by spectacular cloud formations. 

When Brock and Leola first arrived at our current rv park in East Glacier Park Village, he happened to meet a guy who, during their short conversation, invited us to his buffalo ranch.  He has about 80 buffalo in two herds. Today was the perfect day to see them since he is getting ready to cut hay on the pastures and has the herd bunched up.  

This is the brown herd.

Iconic buffalo bull

White buffalo bull

Our host's pride and joy is his white buffalo herd.  He has 22 white buffalo not counting the calves.

He explained that the calves may be born brown, tan or white, but won't show their true color until they are 6 months old.

A three- ear-old

That white dot just above his hump is the #1 breeding bull.  He disdained to grace us with his presence.  The white bull in the pic above is temporarily in with the brown herd because he wasn't getting enough respect in the white group.  

Three-week-old

Three moms with three different age and color calves

Their winter coats sluff off in the summer.

We took our last pix and drove back through the brown herd.

We drove down the road in search of lunch, watching the mountains appear and disappear as the clouds shifted.

This little cafe served breakfast all day.  Three people had breakfast. Our host and I had the good sense to have buffalo burgers for lunch. 

After a nice lunch and pleasant conversation, we thanked our host for the wonderful opportunity to view buffalo close up and personal, then he went back to work and we drank in more scenery on our way home.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will be back on the bikes.

Louise and Duane

Browning

Twelve miles from East Glacier Park Village is the Council Seat of the Blackfeet Nation.   Did I mention that there are no bad views around here?   

Browning (spread across the horizon) is located at the conjunction of US 2 and US 89.  It is the hub of the Blackfeet Reservation.  As the largest community it is home to tribal offices and business, in addition to the houses.

US 2, Main Street

Residential section

Community college

 Are casinos mandatory on reservations?

In a row on the main street are the Heritage Center,

Closeup of the sculpture at the right

This nice display of metal art,

and the goal of our visit, the Museum of the Plains Indian.  I quote,

"The Museum of the Plains Indian displays richly varied arts of Northern Plains tribal peoples including the Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho, Assiniboine, Sioux, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Flathead, Chippewa, and Cree.  Their historic clothing, horse gear, weapons, household implements, baby carriers, and toys highlight the exhibits.  Founded in 1941, the Museum is administered by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, an agency of the US Department of the Interior that promotes the development of contemporary American Indians and Alaska Native arts."

Wood carving just above the entrance.

Our $5 entry fee allowed us to view all of the above-mentioned articles, a room of contemporary art (for sale), a gift shop with modern paintings and jewelry made the "old" way with natural paints, quills, and seed beads, and a room with the artists at work where we could observe and converse with the artists, and of course, order or buy their wares.

Around the main lobby was this mural on all four sides.

Horse tack featuring seed bead work and quill work.

I got that far with my picture taking when Leola mentioned that there were signs all around saying No Photographs.  Yikes!  I asked the guy at the front desk about it.  He said (apologetically) that the Indian Arts and Crafts Board got to make the rules.  He said that anyone can contact them at blackfeetindianmarket.com to buy authentic Blackfeet arts & crafts online.

The Museum was small but nicely done--well displayed and nicely lighted.  The price was right and the staff very friendly and informative.  We enjoyed our visit, walked down the block to the IGA then headed home.  

Tomorrow we have something special planned.

Louise and Duane

Independence Day

Oh! Beautiful! for spacious skies

for amber waves of grain

for purple mountains' majesty

above the fruited plains!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee

and crown thy good 

with brotherhood

from sea

to shining sea!

Louise and Duane

Best Laid Plans....

Our plan today was to have lunch with the neighbors, then go our own ways for the afternoon.  Brock and Leola were thinking of riding back to  the Two Medicine area for some flower photos.  We were planning on going to the same area for a hike.  After lunch we plopped ourselves into their cushy chairs for a bit of a chat.  4 1/2 hours later we decided that it was a bit late for anything but supper.

To work up an appetite Duane and I took a stroll around East Glacier Park Village (pop 363). Located at the conjunction of US 2 and State Rd. 49, the village was and still is a tourist stop on the way to or from Glacier National Park.  From the entrance to the  rv park we turned left, walked a block to the school, turned right for a block then left to the main street.

Directly across the street is a large Hong Kong Harry's fireworks trailer.  We have been seeing these in every town but this is the biggest one.  We hear the results of their sales every night.

View of the street from Hong Kong Harry's.  Except for the gas station around the bend and a couple of businesses on side streets, these are all of the business in this section of town.  The rest of the town is residential.

To the left is HKH's This tunnel leads to the other section of town, with two restaurants, a golf course, and lots of cabins and a lodge. That section, about 1/2 mile north, is where Luna's is located. We had stopped there for supper on Thursday, after our ride through Glacier N.P.   The huckleberry pie we got there was very good, but we didn't think it was worth $5.50 for a 1/8 th slice.

Next to the tunnel is this sculpture and history display.

Next to it is a little yellow building with historic details of the town, and the railroad and the early exploration of the National Park.  I wondered where Camp Disappointment was.  Now I know.

Next to that is the rr passenger depot, still in operation.

Directly across the street we found the elusive restaurant we sought yesterday.

 Turning left at the Grill we walked to the corner, then left.

We walked two blocks down this street then turned right,

and ended up one block from the rv park.

 This little church is one of three in the Village.  I took this pic from in front of our rig (zoomed in just a tad).  

Duane is enjoying this scenery.

We promise that tomorrow we will get out of our chairs and onto the bikes, heading north east.

Later,

Louise and Duane