Looking Around Helena

We were in Helena, Montana, for six days. Most of our time has been spent doing family history research at the library and the Montana Historical Society Research Center. We did spend a little time looking around the downtown area.

There are some very attractive old buildings.

We saw some interesting details on those buildings.

The Walking Mall is an area downtown closed off to vehicle traffic and lined with small shops. It is called the Bullwhacker plaza. This statue of a bull whacker marks the entrance. Bull whackers were used on the mule trains that brought freight from the river boat landing on the Missouri River in Fort Benton to Helena.

A statue of a newspaper boy hawking the headline on his paper recalls the days when news of gold strikes spread through the press.

Anyone for an outdoor game of chess?

There are several attractive murals lining downtown walls.

We had two blasts from the past. When was the last time you saw one of these signs?

How did a car with this Denver boot get to Helena?

We've had a relaxing week here in Helena.

Grazing

I'm not talking about cattle grazing in a field. As applied to humans, I think it means eating small amounts over an extended period. Maybe grazing appetizers at a party or grazing in the refrigerator every time you go through the kitchen. In this case, however, I am talking about grazing all the sample stations in a Costco Warehouse.

If you belong to this membership store, you know they offer samples throughout the food section, especially Thursday through Saturday. During our stay in Helena we went grocery shopping on Saturday. Our first stop was at Costco. We really like their meat selection. As we wandered the store, looking for anything else we might pick up first, we sampled everything they offered except a power protein drink. We felt like we had attended a great cocktail party before dinner--without the cocktails, of course.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the flank steak we were looking for, so we left without purchasing anything and headed to a grocery store that didn't sell everything in such large quantities.