Cheyenne to Billings and Home

Wrapping up our Land That We Love Tour with this post. On Saturday October 9th after we left Cheyenne we headed north on Interstate 25 with a cruise through Casper Wyoming ending up in Billings, Montana for the night.

It was a 455 mile drive. We filled up at Jerry’s Interstate Gas Station in Casper for $3.989. One of the highest priced gasoline on our trip. When we got to Billings we filled up the tank again at Costco for $3.149. On Sunday October 10th, on our last stretch to our home we bought gas again in Missoula at Costco for $3.299 and finally at our usual gasoline stop in Spokane, Washington at Costco for $3.489. Our drive from Billings to our home on Sunday was 609 miles. We originally planned to stop in Wallace, Idaho overnight on Sunday and drive the last stretch home on Monday the 11th of October but we were so ready to be home again we cancelled our night and headed straight home.

Here’s what we saw on our drive on Saturday October 9th.

Jackalope of Wyoming

After Casper I probably drove so photos ceased.

We arrived in Billings, filled up with gas at Costco, checked into Fairfield by Marriott for the night at $159.68. We freshened up and had one of the best dinners on our trip and I wrote a post about it here.

On Sunday early morning we packed up for the last leg of our journey home.

We made it home before dark and turned the heat back up and had a relaxing evening.

We are talking about where we should road trip next, Lord willing. Time will tell where and when. Thanks for following along with us. We do Love the USA and pray God will have mercy on our Homeland.

Montana Back Roads

On our Land That We Love Tour Day Two we left Helena, Montana on a back road connecting us to I-90.

These are statues.

We got to I-90 and before I could yell stop we passed Wheat Montana. We circled back because I was intrigued.

So happy we did. They had so many great products.

We were happy to find these mugs to use instead of the paper coffee cups that hotels are putting out these days. They were only $4.95. We patted ourselves on the back when we didn’t see any other mugs at the souvenir shops for under $12.00.

And did we mention the baked goods that they sell. Cinnamon rolls, bear claws, muffins, pastry twists, etc. They also sell sandwiches and other savories. The cinnamon roll was so good and it fueled us all the way to Wyoming for our next stop.

Before we left Helena we purchased gas at Costco for $3.199

Inside Cathedral of St. Helena

Continuing on our Land That We Love Tour here are the photos I took inside the Cathedral of St. Helena. This is a photo intensive post. Couldn’t leave out any of the photos I took. Dear and I had the cathedral to ourselves on this Tuesday afternoon.

The Cathedral of St. Helena was constructed at the turn of the century during the episcopate of Bishop John Carroll. It is an outstanding example of Geometric Gothic architecture, patterned after the Votive Church of the Sacred Heart in Vienna, Austria. Stained glass windows, white marble altars, statues carved of the purest Carrara marble, and genuine gold leaf decorates the sanctuary. The pews and woodwork are all done in hand carved oak. The magnificent lighting fixtures are of hand-forged bronze with a special lacquer finish. Outside, majestic twin spires rise 230 feet above the street.

In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Genesis 22:18

Abraham and Isaac

He is risen.

Jesus said to him: Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. John 21:15

All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

To read about some of the history of St. Helena Cathedral click here.

Cathedral of St. Helena

Before we left on our Land That We Love Tour I noticed there was a cathedral in Helena, Montana. After we toured the Capitol and had our meal in downtown Helena we used our phone google map to find the cathedral.

The outside today and I’ll share the amazing interior on another day. We were happy to find the front door of the cathedral open.

The Cathedral of St. Helena

Land That We Love Tour ~ Helena

We left our home on Tuesday September 21st for Day 1 of our Land That We Love Tour. We filled our tank with gas at the Costco in Spokane, Washington at $3.489 per gallon and made it all the way to Helena, Montana on that tank of gas. Our first stop was at Montana’s State Capitol Building. We parked in the rear of the building.

Wilbur Fisk Sanders (1834-1905) one of Montana’s first senators.

It was a very impressive interior with a lovely rotunda and grand staircase. This link speaks of all the art in the rotunda.

This link speaks to the art on and around the Grand Stairway.

Thomas Francis Meagher

Lady Liberty.

As you can see we had a warm sunny day. After our time at the Capitol we headed downtown to find a spot to have a meal. It was Tuesday so we enjoyed a Taco Tuesday meal at the Windbag Saloon and Grill. Helena was a pay for parking downtown. After our meal and before we checked into our hotel we found and toured the beautiful Cathedral of St. Helena. I’ll save that for another day.

Our night in Helena was our most expensive night on our whole tour in a Hampton Inn. The further east we traveled the less expensive comparable hotels were. We experienced the Covid all disposable product phenomena. No mugs for coffee in your rooms or at the ‘free’ breakfasts. Everything was paper disposable. Our disposable cups for coffee deteriorated and we decided that we needed to purchase some mugs of our own for the rest of the journey. One of the things we decided on was to take an inexpensive coffee maker, our own coffee beans and our grinder to make our own coffee each morning in the hotels. We are not fans of the small coffee makers and coffee pods, etc. hotels offer these days. We would do this again whenever we travel. These days hotels limit bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths to one per person but you can request more. No cleaning rooms if you stayed longer than a night. All of our stays were one-nighters except for our VRBO in North Carolina and our stay with my brother and his family in Dallas.

It’s been good to catch up with a lot of your blogs and see what is new. We have a lot of fall clean-up to accomplish on our property but it looks like we will not need to mow again until Spring.

Rex Hotel

On our last night of our Land That We Love Tour we had our favorite meal at the Buffalo Block Prime Steakhouse at the Rex in Billings, Montana. The barbecue we had in Kentucky was real good, too, but Buffalo Block won out with the ambiance.

We chose this spot to eat because the Historic Rex Hotel caught our eye. Dear’s dad’s name is Rex and he was born in Montana and we enjoyed paying homage to him while in the Treasure State of Montana. Montana is also known as Big Sky Country.

French Onion Soup

Bone in Chop crusted in all kinds of yumminess on top of garlic mashed potatoes.

Prime Rib Sandwich with horseradish, aujus, coleslaw and fries.

creme brûlée

Lemon Pound cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

If you are ever in Billings and want some upscale food at upscale prices this is the place.

I’ll be recapping our trip with lots of photos starting at the beginning soon.

Montana and Wyoming

We have moved further east on our ‘Land That We Love Tour‘. We took a back road out of Helena to get back to the I-90 interstate east to Wyoming.

This little church was in Montana.

Fall colors were pretty off the interstate as we approached our Wyoming destination.

We arrived in Sheridan for the night and right away Dear was in trouble.

Better put your hands up, Dear!

On our travels on Wednesday we listened to some more sermons in 1 Peter and some good music and also enjoyed periods of silence except for the tires on the pavement. We are pondering the attributes of God and these verses.

Isaiah 55:8-9

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Montana Land That We Love Tour

Our day one destination for ‘Land That We Love Tour’ was Helena, Montana. Helena is the state capital of the state of Montana. We stopped at the Capitol building and were able to walk about inside and out.

On a gentle slope surrounded by 10 acres of spacious lawns and other state buildings, Montana’s Capitol looks north over the beautiful Prickly Pear Valley. The building is constructed of sandstone and granite. A statue depicting Liberty sits atop the copper dome. A walk through the Capitol will allow you to view many beautiful paintings, including Charles M. Russell’s magnificent historical depiction of “Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross’ Hole” on September 5, 1805. The main section of the Capitol was completed in 1902. The two wings were completed in 1912.

Dedicated on July 4 1905, the Thomas Meagher Statue stands tall at the front of the Montana State Capitol Building, the largest and most distinctive sculpture on the grounds of the capitol campus.

More on Thomas Meagher’s interesting life can be read here.

The state Capitol building was opened for use on the Fourth of July, 1902. The story of the Capitol building really begins at the top, with the “Goddess of Liberty,” as she has been known for 100 years. It’s the statue that stands on the copper dome outside.

After our visit to the Capitol we had a meal in town and then found The Cathedral of St. Helena. I’ll share more from the inside of the beautiful Capitol building and St. Helena Cathedral later.

We traveled through Washington, Idaho and into Montana on Tuesday September 21st.

During much of our 5+ hour drive Tuesday we listened to sermons on 1 Peter by John MacArthur (Grace to You). We didn’t get past verse 2 after 3 sermons. That is what you call expository teaching. Tomorrow Wednesday we’ll be listening to these verses exposited.

1 Peter 1:1-5

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Today is Wednesday September 22nd and the first official day of Autumn/Fall. We will be traveling further on today.

Happy Fall Y’all.

2016 January-June in Mosaics…

January: Dear started a consulting job from home. We celebrated January birthdays. A business trip to San Francisco with reunions with old friends from my college days.

February: Our Lenten Rose bloomed early. We had a Superbowl party with a Chinese New Year theme with souvenirs I bought at San Francisco’s Chinatown. We also enjoyed a Valentines day lunch with a view in Bellevue.

March: We had a sister’s weekend. We celebrated my Medicare birthday in Bellingham with the Mennonite Girls and our hubbies. Dear and I had an overnight in Vancouver, B.C. to continue celebrating my birthday. Katie and Andrew celebrated their 5th anniversary!

Easter landed at the end of March and deserved it’s own mosaic. Our family was all together. Kulich baking, Seerney Paska, Easter egg hunts and Raclette all happened during Easter weekend.

April: We took a quick trip to Eastern Washington to work on some projects at Dan and Jamie’s. Late in the month I went along with Dear on a business trip to San Antonio, Texas. While there I drove to Austin to meet up with my brother’s family for a few hours.

May: Mother’s day with the kids on this side of the mountains. Dear and I took a road trip to Whatcom Falls and on the way home enjoyed stopping at a restaurant on Chuckanut Drive for lunch.

May: Two trips across the line to Canada to meet our play writer and later to meet a favorite blogger who gives so much encouragement to us Mennonite Girls, Rosella.

June: I flew down to be with family and enjoy my sister’s open house in her new digs.

June: A trip to Leavenworth where our family and our new daughter in law’s family enjoyed a weekend together eating and river rafting.

June: Father’s day brunch downtown Seattle with a photo op on Queen Anne Hill overlooking downtown Seattle.

June: We finished off June with a road trip to Yellowstone National Park and Cody Wyoming with stays in Montana coming and going. June really was packed full!

Six full months of blessings with people we love and trips to places we had never seen before. I’ll share July to December later. Dear’s consulting job ended in June and we began our time of wondering if we were unemployed or if we were retired.

How are you spending the last days of 2016? We are planning a little get together on New Year’s Eve after the Peach Bowl between our Washington Huskies and Alabama. We are the underdogs and will be cheering our Dawgs on to victory. Time will tell. Win or lose we will ring in the New Year with gratefulness to God for all He has done this year in our lives and the lives of our friends and family.

Monday Mural and Signs

Because we got in the car and traveled to places we’ve never been to before and because I saw some cool murals while on the trip I’m linking up to the Monday Mural Meme hosted by Oakland Daily Photo. And because we saw some cool signs along with these murals I’ll be linking later this week to signs, signs hosted by Lesley.

This mural is on the side of the former Seidel’s Saddlery across the street from the famous Irma Hotel named for Buffalo Bill Cody’s daughter Irma.

When we left Cody, Wyoming and traveled some country roads headed to Butte, Montana we passed another mural just before we traveled through Joliet, Montana.

Monday in the Seattle area is starting a bit gloomy with some drizzles. So far our Spring was more summer like than our summer is showing. Time will tell what the rest of the summer holds for us. How are things in your corner of the world? Since today is 7/11 are you going to go and claim your free Slurpee?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Montana