Visiting Judith Gap and Cascade Montana

Early this morning we were on the road again.  From Spearfish, SD we drive north to Belle Fourche, then cut across a corner of Wyoming and then into Montana.  The sky is already bigger than any I have ever seen.

I am going to like Big Sky Country.  We enter at Alzada, MT.

We drive through Billings, head north on Hwy 3 and before Lewiston, MT we enter Judith Gap.  This town has a wind farm.

The wind turbines are on each side of the road, so we can see them clearly. The turbines begin spinning at 6 mph and shut off at 56 mph.  There are 90 wind turbines in this wind energy center.  Each turbine produces enough energy to power 350-400 homes.  In town, there is a park with one arm of a wind turbine on the ground.

It is big.  Each blade is 126 feet long and made of fiberglass and epoxy resin.

I feel tiny.  When the turbines are assembled, the top blade reaches about 400 feet in the air.  This blade on the ground incurred internal damage during construction and Invenergy donated it to the town of Judith Gap for this display.

Zeb and the humans stayed in Great Falls, MT a couple days.  Much of our time was spent on business in Cascade.  Cascade is about 20 minutes west of Great Falls.  I-15 from Great Falls to Cascade passes Square Butte.

This isolated butte was included in several paintings by cowboy artist Charles M. Russell, and it is now a famous Montana landmark.  And I saw it several times!  While mom’s friend was busy, we walked around town.  This is Sportsman’s Bar & Café where we had lunch.  Hamburgers and Reuben sandwiches.  Very good.  Makes me hungry remembering.   Cascade is rural Montana and people reuse buildings, they don’t tear them down to build another.

This former service station is now a beauty shop.

Cascade has a nice park with picnic tables, playground equipment

(I played there for awhile) and a large grassy area.  Looked perfect for family picnics and games.  On the edge of the park we saw a pumpkin patch.

Those pumpkin plants wander all over the area.  They will be bright orange for Halloween. Some may be pies and some carved for jack-o-lanterns.

This will be my first Halloween.  I will give you the duck perspective later.

The Missouri River flows through Cascade.  This is the river followed by Lewis and Clark, the explorers in the early 1800s.  The river is very peaceful in good weather.

This view from a bridge also shows a small island in the river.  Cascade was great town with friendly people.  I like Cascade, Montana.