5th-Wheel Wanderings

Our four days in Great Falls, Montana, were filled with walks in Gibson Park and along the Missouri River and visits to two museums. Sometimes we get our 10,000 steps a day walking around our RV park. It is always nice when the towns we are visiting have developed walking and biking trails. We found trails in Butte and Great Falls that made our daily walks very enjoyable.

Paris Gibson helped found Great Falls and a park in downtown, near the Missouri River, is named in his honor. We walked there twice. There is a lake with lots of birds which attract people who feed the birds, which in turn attract more birds.

There is a beautiful garden, built by the CCC in the 1930s, in the park.

There was also a skateboard park nearby. I'm glad they hadn't been thought of when our two boys were growing up. If they had gone to one, I would have had a heart attack, I'm afraid.

The Great Falls History Museum had very well-done displays, mainly of artifacts from the early 20th Century. That means it included items from out childhood. We remembered some of the telephones on display.

As a teenager, John worked in a grocery store that kept customer accounts in a system like this.

We also visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. What a great museum. Here you can see a statue of the Newfoundland dog Seaman that traveled with the Corps of Discovery. You can see the Missouri River in the background.

Can you imagine canoeing up the Missouri wearing a uniform like this?

Portaging the dug-out canoes around the great falls they found here was arduous work.

I was amazed to find the Native Americans had sunglasses. They cut slits in shells to protect their eyes from the sun.

We love the art of Charles M. Russell. He lived and worked here and we visited his museum. Photos weren't allowed inside but here is a picture of the retaining wall around his home and studio. He used the skull outline in his signature.