Breathtaking : Big Sky Country Montana

Saturday morning we left North Dakota for Montana. It is the 4th largest state in the USA, but only the 8th-least populous state. 1.1 mio people live on approximately 380.000 sq.km - compare to Germany: ca. 360.000 sq.km and over 84 mio. of population !!!

Again, perfect weather, though it has become a bit cooler in the mornings, but, still beautifully warm during the day. First stop on our 5 hours (320 mi/514 km) drive was in Miles City, famous for cattle and bucking horses.

In the old days, Texas drove cattle to Miles City to fatten them on nutricious grass and move them to train stations later to send them off to the slaughterhouses in Chicago. Nowadays famous is the Bucking Horse Sale - a major auction of rodeo stock in May. Stock contractors from all over the U.S. and Canada buy their rodeo broncs and bulls here. 

We stopped at Vintage and Rustics on Main Street, in one of several historic buildings. It's an antique store which we got to know two years ago. It has a wonderful old soda fountain, where we indulged in a chocolate malt and a pecannut roll - calories galore!

 

 

When we arrived to Billings in the afternoon, and had checked into the beautiful historic Northern Hotel, HarvestFest, a community fall festival  in downtown (right photo), was still in full swing and we checked it out. Soon afterwards we were picked up for dinner and had excellent "Steak Oscar" (steak topped with crab meat, artichokes and sauce béarnaise - photo below!) at Jake's. 

Next: the NILE ProRodeo (PRCA) in the local arena MetraPark. Here a few pics from the different rodeo competitions:

Merchandise - vendors at NILE Rodeo

Rodeo Queens

Team Roping

Saddle Bronc Riding

Bareback Riding

Steer Wrestling

Bull Riding

Sunday morning we attended the NILE Stock Show - a great opportunity for breeders  to show off (and sell) their very best animals in different shows. We saw several junior breed shows, where cattle, pigs and goats were shown, in their "Sunday Best", brushed and dry-blown, washed and shaved. Watched some Western riding events, too.

In the afternoon we drove up to Luther Sage (Yellowstone) Kelly's Interpretive Site and gravesite at Swords Rimrock Park. Fantastic city views (though vision was a bit impaired by the effects of wild fires in Wyoming), and, lots of information on Kelly's achievements as a Civil War veteran and Montana scout! 

 

 

 

Evening: Billings Brew Trail with 11 breweries (plus distilleries, a cider mill and a winery), many of them in walking distance from our hotel. We checked out a couple of them: Montana Brewing Company, Thirsty Street (great IPAs!), Uberbrew (had a bite to eat there, too) and Carter's Brewing ,,, and, called it a day afterwards.