Friday, June 29, 2012

TRAVELING THROUGH IDAHO TO BUTTE, MONTANA

Wednesday, June 27 -- We continue eastward this morning towards Yellowstone National Park. We will be rendezvousing with our daughter, Carrie, in Livingston, MT, on Thursday, for a long weekend touring Yellowstone.

It was a beautiful drive through Idaho. We had heard that Idaho is a beautiful state and it is true. What a gorgeous drive through the mountain valleys. We drove along a couple mountain streams the entire way. Wonderful.

mountain drive

We then entered Montana on I-90 and enjoyed this section of our drive, as well. Again, magnificent mountains and valleys.

We were up to 7,000 + feet.mountains

montana scenery

It was smooth sailing all the way to Butte, Montana. What a find! This old mining town has a rich history in Copper. The downtown is full of wonderful old buildings and homes. The hill overlooking the city is where all the deep vertical mine shafts are located and that area is just full of historical places to discover.

One of the biggest attractions in Butte is Our Lady of the Rockies. This 90 foot Statue sits on the Continental Divide. Donations of money, land, equipment and hundreds of volunteer hours over six years made this feat possible. The Statue was completed on December 20, 1985. Besides being 90 feet tall, the base is 3,500 feet above the city, and the base alone contains 4,000 tons of concrete. The head is 16 feet high by 10 feet wide. The rest of the statistics are amazing. Find out more about the immensity of Our Lady by clicking on Our Lady of the Rockies.

Now you ask, why didn't they get a better photo of it? MONEY. The only way to get up to Our Lady is to take a tour. Now you know the rest of the story.

Our Lady of the Rockiesour lady of the rockies

Once again, we've found an area that needs additional touring. I guess that's why it's impossible to see everything this great country has to offer. Add Butte, MT, to our list of places to return to some day.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!