Traveling

[Vrede too]

Santa Fe is a very nice town....

All in all, though, it's a good place.

Sometimes.

Indian Restaurant Destroyed with Racist, Trump 2020 Messages in New Mexico

[billy.pilgrim]

Santa Fe is a very nice town....

All in all, though, it's a good place.

Sometimes.

Indian Restaurant Destroyed with Racist, Trump 2020 Messages in New Mexico

What the fuck is wrong with these assholes?

[Vrede too]

What the fuck is wrong with these assholes?

Besides the obvious for hateful bigots, they're too stupid to know the difference between Indians and Arabs, and Sikhs and Muslims:
“I hate sand n****rs”

[neoplacebo]

What the fuck is wrong with these assholes?

Besides the obvious for hateful bigots, they're too stupid to know the difference between Indians and Arabs, and Sikhs and Muslims:
“I hate sand n****rs”

I wonder how many of them know Iran is not an Arab country? Or if any of them know that Israel has Arab citizens?

[O Really]

So we've departed Wyoming and arrived in Billings Montana. Not that impressed yet. We'll see.

[Vrede too]

So we've departed Wyoming and arrived in Billings Montana. Not that impressed yet. We'll see.

What did you expect? It's an oil, coal, sugar beet, cow and wheat Northern Plains city. I lived there one summer, commuted to a migrant worker clinic in Hardin, didn't think much of either.

[O Really]

So we've departed Wyoming and arrived in Billings Montana. Not that impressed yet. We'll see.

What did you expect? It's an oil, coal, sugar beet, cow and wheat Northern Plains city. I lived there one summer, commuted to a migrant worker clinic in Hardin, didn't think much of either.

Well, it was never intended to be a big deal destination, but if you look for "things to do near Billings Mt" there are some things that seem a bit of a reach, and several are actually out of town, like Chief Plenty Coups park, Pictograph Cave park, Pryor mountains, etc. And then, there's the really nice stretch of Yellowstone River running past town and apparently not one outfitter for kayaks/floats. The zoo is not very big, but has only local-ish animals and includes grizzlies, wolves, etc. It's too hot for much biking. We decided not to go to the Custer re-enactment, at least in part because Lady O gets cranky standing around in a big open field in 98 degree sunshine. She apparently had never seen the sun until after she graduated college. Anyway, we tend to make the best of what we have.

[Vrede too]

Well, it was never intended to be a big deal destination, but if you look for "things to do near Billings Mt" there are some things that seem a bit of a reach, and several are actually out of town, like Chief Plenty Coups park, Pictograph Cave park, Pryor mountains, etc. And then, there's the really nice stretch of Yellowstone River running past town and apparently not one outfitter for kayaks/floats. The zoo is not very big, but has only local-ish animals and includes grizzlies, wolves, etc. It's too hot for much biking. We decided not to go to the Custer re-enactment, at least in part because Lady O gets cranky standing around in a big open field in 98 degree sunshine. She apparently had never seen the sun until after she graduated college. Anyway, we tend to make the best of what we have.

"near" is the operative word in "near Billings Mt".
Red Lodge and the Beartooth Mountains are fantastic. That's where I would go for dayhikes or weekend excursions.
I never tried floating around Billings, but Laurel which is west/upstream is a heavy refinery town. Maybe pollution is the issue. Try looking for kayaks/floats west of there.
Yeah, there's zero shade for the Battlefield reenactment. Idk about the one in Hardin, but the pics also looked like zero shade.
Yep, no sun in Seattle.

[Ulysses]

Did you go to the Mammoth Site near Hot Springs, SD?
It was once a steep banked watering hole where a couple hundred mammoths and various others animals took too big of a sip.
You get to go down into this once water hole filled with excavated and partially excavated fossils of tigers, bears and mammoths.

We haven't been to that one, but the site at Thermopolis is a similar type - former watering hole. And in Casper, we did see "Dee" the Mammoth.

What's up with "Dee's" left tusk? Is it broken or sawed off? Or is it just the angle from which the photo was taken. I'm very worried about "Dee".

[O Really]

What's up with "Dee's" left tusk? Is it broken or sawed off? Or is it just the angle from which the photo was taken. I'm very worried about "Dee".

The Dee standing there is a mix of real fossil bone and some replication. The tusks are real, and the one was broken when they found it. (or at least the guy who dropped it said it was already broken ) The rest of the broken tusk is in front of him. Here they are putting Dee together:

[O Really]

Red Lodge and the Beartooth Mountains are fantastic. That's where I would go for dayhikes or weekend excursions.

A lot going in in Red Lodge...
https://www.redlodge.com/montana-calendar-of-events.asp

[Vrede too]

A lot going in in Red Lodge...
https://www.redlodge.com/montana-calendar-of-events.asp

It's a tourist town. I never did an event there as I was usually passing through on my way to or from the mountains, but the meals or beers I had there were nice. Plus, this was all 30 years ago.

[Ulysses]

What's up with "Dee's" left tusk? Is it broken or sawed off? Or is it just the angle from which the photo was taken. I'm very worried about "Dee".

The Dee standing there is a mix of real fossil bone and some replication. The tusks are real, and the one was broken when they found it. (or at least the guy who dropped it said it was already broken ) The rest of the broken tusk is in front of him. Here they are putting Dee together:

OIC... Silly me didn't see the rest of the tusk on the platform in front of the beast. Thanks for pointing it out!

This place looks like a possible destination. I have a '67 Chevy van that I'm thinking of taking on a long trip. Not sure it would make it that far, and back, though.

[O Really]

This place looks like a possible destination. I have a '67 Chevy van that I'm thinking of taking on a long trip. Not sure it would make it that far, and back, though.

Dee's museum is a fine one, but I don't know that I'd pick that as my first choice of dinosaur trips. For one thing, to get to where the dinosaurs are, your most direct route is across Nevada on the 80 - surely one of the longest most desolate deserted barren 400 miles you've ever been. Break down out there and it might take AAA a month just to find you - and that's if you had a cell signal to call them. If you wanted to make that trip, I'd suggest taking a flight to Denver, renting a car/van visiting Dinosaur Ridge and then drive up to Wyoming.

[O Really]

So if they closed all the bars and casinos in Billings, there wouldn't be much left but churches and oil industry mess. There are (for real) about 100 casinos (really game rooms), making one for each 1,000 residents. I don't know about Billings itself, but Montana is overall second in number of bars per capita, following closely only North Dakota. And there are a lot of anti-abortion signs urging us not to kill, down from the AR-15 sales signs, urging us to kill everyone.

I never knew anybody personally from Montana except for one girl I dated briefly in college. She was totally hot, from Billings, attended American University, and could drink any six guys under the table and then drive them all home.

[Vrede too]

So if they closed all the bars and casinos in Billings, there wouldn't be much left but churches and oil industry mess.

There are churches? Lots of MT places with bars but no churches, praise Jesus.

I never knew anybody personally from Montana....

[Ulysses]

This place looks like a possible destination. I have a '67 Chevy van that I'm thinking of taking on a long trip. Not sure it would make it that far, and back, though.

Dee's museum is a fine one, but I don't know that I'd pick that as my first choice of dinosaur trips. For one thing, to get to where the dinosaurs are, your most direct route is across Nevada on the 80 - surely one of the longest most desolate deserted barren 400 miles you've ever been. Break down out there and it might take AAA a month just to find you - and that's if you had a cell signal to call them. If you wanted to make that trip, I'd suggest taking a flight to Denver, renting a car/van visiting Dinosaur Ridge and then drive up to Wyoming.

Well, some years back I rode 80 across Nevada into Utah (SLC) on my motorcycle. It was OK. Yes, desolate, but there was plenty of traffic along the way. Another year I took a similar trip in my '79 mini pickup truck. That went well also, although it started to kind of wheeze up in the higher elevations of southern Utah. Not sure why, it recovered when I got down lower and posed no problems for the journey back (as far as I can recall). Might have been some of the Mormon gasoline, for all I know.

[O Really]

. Might have been some of the Mormon gasoline, for all I know.

Nope. Thinner air = less oxygen = loss of performance. About 2-3% per 1,000 feet altitude.

[Ulysses]

. Might have been some of the Mormon gasoline, for all I know.

Nope. Thinner air = less oxygen = loss of performance. About 2-3% per 1,000 feet altitude.

Yeah, but it didn't have that same problem going over the Sierra Nevada.

[O Really]

So today's excursion was to Chief Plenty Coups state park. https://fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/chief-plenty-coups/
This guy, who we'd never heard of, had a most incredible life. Born in 1848 as a "real" Indian living with his tribe (Crow) in tepees, by the time he died in 1932 he had been an honoured warrior, tribal leader, had met presidents, lived in a nice house and drove a car - sometimes in full headress.

Chief Plenty Coups was the last traditional chief of the Crow Nation because, after his death, it was agreed that no other Crow could match his many achievements. At the time of his birth into the Mountain Crow tribe, near Billings, Montana, the Crow Nation and many other major Native American tribes were enduring great hardships. They had contracted many unfamiliar diseases due to contact with white settlers; the bison herds were exterminated; and their land holdings were reduced by treaties designed to provide land for Western settlement and commercial opportunities for mining, timber and trappers. Tribal wars increased to compete for the remaining ancestral lands not taken by treaty.

As a young man, Plenty Coups began having visions. His vision that the bison herds would be destroyed, that cattle would cover the plains and that the wind would blow down all the trees, save one, guided his path in life. For him, this meant that the white man would take over the lands and that all the tribes—except the one that learned to work with the white man—would perish. He earned a lasting reputation as a warrior while still a young man. By the time he was 26, he had counted at least one each of the many coups (or acts of bravery) the Crows demanded of a war chief—striking the first enemy in battle, capturing a gun, taking a tethered horse from an enemy camp and leading a successful war party.

His eloquence, bravery and leadership skills led to his becoming chief of the Crow Tribe in 1876. He led General George Crook’s Native American scouts, perhaps keeping the soldiers from the fate suffered by Custer’s army that same year at Little Big Horn. Chief Plenty Coups was one of the first of his tribe to become a rancher and merchant and a role model for how to adapt to the changing times. He continued his active support of the United States, urging young men to join the United States Armed Forces in World War I.

Elected “Chief of Chiefs” by his peers, he represented all American Indians at the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery November 11, 1921 (see image below). As a gesture to help heal the wounds of the past, he donated part of his land to create a park where all people could live in harmony. After his death in 1932, the land became Chief Plenty Coups State Park with his home, his grave and a museum. (Photograph by De Lancey W. Gill, 1913. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, 3404-B-1.)