Will A Compelling Life Story Trump Vomiting Blood?

Cooke City Burger

Soon after you get to the top of the world on your way to Yellowstone Park via the BearTooth Highway you can stop at the Soda Butte Lodge in Cooke City and try the marvelous burger with bleu cheese and bacon at their Prospector Restaurant. Eat it slowly with some tasty micro-brew from nearby as you acclimatize yourself to the altitude.

"I'd be glad to pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."—J. Wellington Wimpy

For The Unnaturally Happy Among Us

A very funny 2 minute youtube commercial.

I laughed hard all two minutes, then I played it again and laughed just as hard and as long as I did the first time.

A Visit to the Bozone

Do they still call it that? Bozone? Maybe not as the town shows many signs of gentrification. On the way back from Yellowstone Park we stopped in Bozeman to check out the Museum of the Rockies and have some lunch. Like all respectable fossils found in Montana this one has a name: he is called Big Mike. Though he looks fairly strong and their liability insurance is fairly good, the authorities request that you not climb on him.

We haven't been here for awhile. The exhibits, especially the dinosaur parts have greatly improved. Entertaining for kids of all ages.

The T. Rex to the right probably has a name but I've forgotten it. Though dead for a long time, it is still the real thing rather than a plaster model.

I like the way they illustrate the finding and digging out of these remains. Fascinating. Plus the scientific reasoning with the information at hand. If only our present day global warming freaks would do the same.

To be entirely truthful we were hungry when we arrived in Bozeman, so the first place we went to was the Hotel Baxter because they used to have a pretty good restaurant there. That is now just a bar or pub I think they call it and there is a new place across the lobby called Ted's Montana Grill. A little on the pricey side but very good food including some buffalo items that were certainly blogworthy. I had a bison meat loaf that was excellent. We had some good soup and our grandsons all enjoyed themselves on various burgers.

Check out their menu to the right.

And their website for more information. I just had a quick read. I didn't realize it was a chain. This is the 57th. Very good food anyway. And of course I didn't realize it had anything to do with Ted Turner. Mea culpa.

Old Faithful Fans

Ready on the Left?


Ready on the Right?

Wait for it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About 1 hour and 15 minutes, then finally:

Glorious Old Faithful. Great stuff.

Day Trip from Billings MT: Up the Beartooth Highway

I think it was TV person Charles Kuralt who is usually given credit for calling attention to the Beartooth Highway in one of his CBS travel programs: "the most beautiful drive in America."

If any person takes the drive from Red Lodge to Cooke City he doesn't have to be a celebrity to be impressed. Our grandsons wondered along with us on this trip into Yellowstone Park last summer.

We have not been here for some years. Whatever the problem was in 2005 or so it apparently has been fixed. If it hadn't I'm sure Cooke City and Red Lodge would have dried up and blown away by now.

There is an interesting couple of articles on the highway here and here. That is grandson Zac Mazzuca above hanging on to the railing because of the wind.







The little creatures are fearless at this altitude, in contrast to us big folk. We get a little short-winded up here, and the hands tend to grip the wheel a little more firmly than usual.

The highest point in both Wyoming and Montana on this highway is very close to 11,000 ft!






In addition to mountains, more than you can count, there are some beautiful lakes as well. It is difficult to describe the beautiful blue-green color of these alpine lakes.

Though it is only 64 miles from Red Lodge to Cooke City, the curves and switchbacks and scenery mean that it takes at least a couple of hours to get there. And of course

A Hamburger Worth Talking About

This is worth talking about. A combination of Angus beef, about 85% lean I think with some tender and juicy beef brisket on top. You can have cheese added if you like. And of course pickles and onions too though if not sauteed forget about it for me. I'm not sure why there is that reddish discoloration around the periphery of the brisket. Lots of meats change colors over time without affecting the taste. I should know as we kids ate calves liver every Saturday night or sometimes Sunday morning because it tended to turn green (from the bilirubin of course) and thus couldn't be sold on Monday morning.

Did I mention that Dehler Park also features some pretty good micro brews? Well, they do, even for Legion games.

"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."—J. Wellington Wimpy

Montana Makes Wall Street Journal

This morning's op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal has an article by Andrew Biggs: Public Pensions Cook the Books.

The administrators of a couple of Montana pension plans want one-handed actuaries and are specifying how they want their books cooked, though I'm not sure whether that would be described as rare or well done.

Are our public servants becoming more confident or arrogant or what?

La Sorda Wisdom

I saw this sign at the entrance to the gentlemen's toilet at Dehler Park in Billings Montana on the 4th of July 2009. I suspect it might have wider application that just baseball players.

Vote Early and Vote Often as in Minnesota

Dr Sanity's blogging cartoon from Mr Ramirez for Wednesday, 1 July 2009: she should be at the top of everyone's blogroll.


ON THE ROAD AGAIN !
I'll be traveling all day today and back to regular blogging on Thursday or Friday.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to discuss the meaning of the well-known proverb: Birds of a feather, flock together.... when applied to today's politics.