Day 10 - West Yellowstone to Little Big Horn to Billings

Today was the day Tim has been looking forward to all holiday. It was a cool morning when we packed our suitcases and other necessary items into our truck for our overnight trip. We stopped in Billings at Sonic for lunch (they have gourmet hot dogs that were, meh, the onion rings Tim had were meh, but Connor LOVED it!) then pressed on to Little Big Horn, the site of Custer's Last Stand.

When we got out of the truck, it was apparent that it was very, very hot out so I put on my hiking fanny pack with the two water bottle holders and prepared for the heat. We all put on our hats and sunscreen too. We walked up to the Visitor Center and there was an outdoor area where a ranger was talking about what happened at Little Big Horn. He was a fantastic speaker and it was very interesting. Tim spoke to him for a bit with questions about how far away things were and whatnot then we proceeded inside to the air conditioned Visitor Center. We viewed the displays of uniforms, firearms and such and then watched another video about what had happened that June 25 so long ago. We also visited the gift shop where Tim bought a DVD to watch about it as well.

For those of you who know me, I do not care much for history, I like looking ahead so this was not my idea of a good time. But I think I was a good sport about it. In the hot weather, with a hot wind, I hiked to the top of Last Stand Hill to view the memorial where they buried all the bodies in a mass grave.

the smaller white stones are where the army men fell on the day. Some just say "7th Calvary fell here"; many were not identified. There were also red granite stones for where the Native American's fell, they were few where the army were many.

There is also a beautiful circular monument with a wrought iron sculpture of Native Americans on horseback with names of all those who were warriors in the battle of Little Big Horn. It was their victory that brought about their eventual defeat in the Indian Wars.

As I stated previously, not my thing so I did not take many pictures, from the comfort of the air conditioned truck I took pictures of the military cemetary that is also on site. Servicemen from all branches and their families can be buried at Little Big Horn.

We then took the 5 mile drive along the road of where the battle started, how they think the troops moved and retreated and whatnot. Tim had to stop at every location and read every bit of information to soak it all in to gain understanding of what happened there so long ago. All because white men wanted to renege on their Reservation Treaty and take the Black Hills of Dakota for their own. Plain old greed, pure and simple... driven by politics into a war neither side really understood. Very sad really, what people do to each other.

Finally it was almost closing time by the time we left Little Big Horn, so we wheeled back to Billings, checked into our hotel and went shopping at Target!! Yay shopping!!! I bought Connor 1 pair of jeans and 2 pairs of shorts, Connor bought himself an Action Replay and Tim bought a 3D enhancement device for his iPhone (don't ask!). Then it was time for supper. We finally decided on Fuddruckers for the worlds best burgers. They tasted fantastic and glass upon glass of lemonade was consumed trying to rehydrate from the day. We then returned to the hotel, Connor went for a swim and when we returned, Tim had checked the weather and Little Big Horn had been 101 degrees F. For my fellow Canadians, that is 40 C. No wonder we were half baked!! Our hotel, Country Inns and Suites, is really great, the mattress feels good and we are looking forward to a good night's sleep.