Driving With Dixie – Final Day

Hi everyone. We made it! We have completed the Montana Dinosaur Trail! It was great. A quick glance back at our trip – two grandmas (young grandmas!) and three grandsons, one van and a lot of miles. We traveled from southeast Montana to northeast Montana, then followed US Hwy 2 from Glasgow, almost to the junction of US Hwy 2 and US Hwy 89. We worked our way south along the Rocky Mountain Front, then … Read more

Day Four – Driving With Dixie

Anolther lovely day on the Montana Dinosaur Trail with my sister and the three handsome grandsons! We left Shelby this morning and made it all the way to Bozeman with several adventures and awesome decisions to make in all the gift shops…what choices! The drive to Bynum started with not one cloud in the sky and the spectacular Bob Marshall Wilderness across our windshield. There were green fields and oil wells alongside cattle and horses and once in … Read more

Driving With Dixie – Candid Comments

We’ve been posting most of Dixie’s comments but every now and then one doesn’t make it. Her last email had some light hearted humor, just enough to let us know that things really are going well on this multi-generational vacation that has a lot of windshield time. Here’s Dixie’s closing thoughts at the end of yesterday’s email sent from Shelby, MT. Here are some photos. We are TIRED, happy, clean and shiny. And, ready for … Read more

Driving With Dixie – Day Three

From Fort Peck to Malta is a drive of only 1 1/2 hours. At the Great Plains Dinosaur Musem in Malta, Brentton and Jake thought that the Leonardo replica was very authentic looking. THey have seen the actual fossil of Leo many times and were impressed with the way it was being painted. Ayden loved the dig pit and the gift shop. He actually compared it to Toys R Us! The new ocean display with … Read more

Driving With Dixie – First Day

Here’s our first on-the-road blog from Dixie! Wow! What a trip! We started out from Billings about 8am and the five of us drove to Ekalaka arriving around 12:30pm. The Carter County Museum was CLOSED. Boy, did my heart go down to my belly. But, as we inspected further, it would reopen at 1pm and what a lovely surprise – the restaurant where we stopped for lunch was awesome!   We spent about 1 1/2 … Read more

Day Two – Driving With Dixie

Hello, we are in Malta, MT now, 730 miles into our trip! We had a great day yesterday even though we were very frustrated with our technology stuff. We saw Makoshika Dinosaur Museum in Glendive. The boys liked the way the displays were set up. They are noticing that displays are made differently in different museums. Jake enjoyed the forest habitat and the t-rex fighting off the stegosaurus.     In Garfield County the stygie … Read more

Driving With Dixie – The Prelude

In just a couple of days, two grandmas from northeastern Montana will take three grandkids on a tour of the Montana Dinosaur Trail. There are 15 attractions on the trail and we anticipate they will cover about 925 miles from Ekalaka to Bozeman. This doesn’t count getting the group to Ekalaka or getting back to northeastern Montana from Bozeman. Here’s Grandma Dixie and she has agreed to post daily blogs, also some photos of the group as they … Read more

Touring the Highwood Mountains

A few days ago I went with a group to do birdwatching in the Highwood Mountains. Our primary goal was to follow a bluebird trail and the gorgeous scenery was just icing on the cake! We did bring a bluebird expert along so he assisted in checking some of the existing bluebird boxes. OK, he did more than assist! One box needed to be replaced, probably due to a cow or other animal bumping in … Read more

A Decision Made Correctly

Over 200 years ago the Lewis & Clark Expedition traveled up the mighty Missouri River. When they approached the confluence of the Marias and Missouri Rivers, directions weren’t so clear. Some members of the expedition felt the Marias was the right river to take, others said the Missouri was the main river. A wrong decision would delay the group and use critical time.   Today it’s easy to view Decision Point from an overlook with walking … Read more

River History – The Upper Missouri River

Take a tip from the locals – a float trip on the Upper Missouri River should just be part of everyone’s summer.  Before you go, schedule a visit to the Bureau of Land Management’s Upper Missouri River Breaks Interpretive Center in Fort Benton. The BLM center is located right along the river bank and as you enter the front of the building you’ll see several rivers converging in the concrete. Gosh, a history lesson before you even enter … Read more