Posted by: McQ on Thursday, June 05, 2008 I like this place. If you want small town America, come to Billings. I just completed my walking tour (and it didn't take long) and saw most of downtown north of the railroad tracks. The tracks, btw, aren't ancient reminders of a bygone era. They fire a train through the middle of downtown about every hour (hopefully, since the track is about a block away from the hotel, they'll cease and desist tonight). But, as is obvious, this is a working town. And, if you're from the effete east it is an interesting change of scenery. The landscape is beautiful - rimrock, bluffs and hills. As Loren said below in the comments for the "boondoggle" post, you land on a bluff and as you round the corner coming out of the airport you can see all of Billings. For an easterner, there's plenty enough "big sky" here. And it has a more than latent western flavor as well. Lots of cowboy hats and boots, indian crafts and jewelery and, most importantly, the Montana Brewing company (whose wares I intend to sample before I leave this burg). Commenter Blackwing1 suggested a driving tour to Red Lodge and then through Beartooth pass. Interestingly the guy I was sitting next too on the plane suggested the very same trip saying it was absolutely beautiful. Thanks for the suggestion guys, but the pass, which traditionally opens on Memorial Day, is still closed. They've had two avalanches in the last 10 days. The problem is they had record snow fall and 90 inches of snow remains in the Beartooth Mountains and too much of it remains to safely open the pass up. I'll have to do it next trip. Weird mind working alert - while walking I saw a little place called Sara's Mexican food, and wondered how authentic the food is. About that time I saw a young lady come out wearing an "Alaska" sweatshirt and carrying a take-out bag. I figured she'd probably be quite an authority on authentic Mex. Heh ... Oh, and Sarah's is right next to the Gunsmoke BBQ. Sounds yummy, no? Cordite flavored whatever. No telling what would be in the sauce. I was disappointed about one thing though. Here we are staying in nice hotel in Billings, but pretty much like other nice hotels and we're missing out on the possibility of a stay at the Dude Ranch Lodge a few blocks away. Shucks, as they say around here - alot. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TrackBacks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Return to Main Blog Page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comments For This Post | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previous Comments to this Post |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Add Your Comment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| Vicious Capitalism |
Buy Dale's Book!
|
