Saturday, March 26, 2011

Road Trip - Our State Capital

A few weeks ago (Valentine's weekend) we went on a road trip to Helena (Yes I am a little behind) , which is the capital city of Montana (for those that didn't know this fact).  

We were having a serious bout of cabin fever after the long winter, and this just happened to be the first really nice, almost springlike, weekend we had had in a few months. 

Helena is about an hour and half drive, northwest of Bozeman.  The drive there was wonderful and a warm 55 degrees! Oh Yeah! It didn't last long though. 

We were on limited time so we didn't get to do a lot.  But one of the things we wanted to do was check out the Capital building.  I brought my handy dandy camera and took several pictures.







The statue atop the dome is called the "Goddess of Liberty".

The statue of a man on horseback in front of the capitol building depicts Cival War Union General Thomas Francis Meagher. He took over as Governor of Montana Territory in 1864. 

The capitol building is over 100 years old. 
It first opened in July, 1902

These next few "fun" pictures were taken at the Museum of Natural History.

Dear hubby and Sweet Abby Girl... Ahhhh! 

My dear hubby... too bad he has 4 arms!  Ha!

There's my Daisy Mae!

Daisy with Dear Hubby
I'm thinking Daisy wasn't enjoying it too much


Afterwards, we spent some time driving around Helena, seeing what it has to offer.  I was very happy to find a Shopko (Love that store) and a Chili's Restaurant where we stopped to have dinner (Love this place).  Helena is the closest town to find some of our favorite eating and shopping establishments.  The next closest is Billings and that is 2-1/2 hrs away.  It's the price we pay for living in a small town. 

It was a great escape from being stuck at home all winter.  It was nice to get out and see new things, and use my camera.  I am already looking forward to the next road trip. 




5 comments:

Valerie said...

Nice pictures. I love road trips. Glad you were able to venture out and have some fun!

Alicia said...

I can't wait for nice weather..Ughh! I'm glad you guys got out and did some traveling. We went last week to Moab for Gordon's marathon. It was a little warmer but windy. Thanks for the pictures of the sites, there awesome.

claire said...

Looks like it was a great day spent looking at wonderful historical things. The pictures are wonderful, what a beautiful capital building. Fun day for ALL of you.

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

That looks like a totally fun road trip! Love the 4 armed hubby picture.
I haven't been to Helena that I recall. I lived in Missoula when I was little for about 6 months.

Montana is a beautiful place.
Hopefully you are getting some sunshine and warmth by now.

Stephanie Faris said...

We always wait until summer to take trips, but this is proof we can all use a winter getaway too! Looks like fun. Thanks for taking us along.