The title pretty much says it all… After another night in Lafayette, Louisiana, we started the long drive back to Montana. On the first day we drove for 13 hours and ended up in Wichita, Kansas, having crossed 4 states. That was our longest day, at around 750 miles (1200km). We wanted to get as close to Denver as we could so we could spend the evening of the next day hanging out with Brett’s sister and her family again. From there it was up to Billings to spend another night with at Brett’s mum’s and then a short day in to Helena. In total, driving from Helena to Lafayette to Helena, we drove around 5,200 miles (8,370km) in 18 days. Seeing as some days we didn’t drive at all the average of 290 miles (465km) per day is pretty impressive.
Going through Brett’s stuff has pretty much been what’s taken up the rest of the time until today. Actually, it’s not finished yet, though Brett flew out this afternoon. He’s off to work in the Black Sea for about 4-5 weeks, which unfortunately means I’m packing up my stuff in Australia on my own. Still, it’s cool that he got some work; a little inflow to the bank account never goes astray. I’ve been trying to fit in some of those last minute things that we didn’t think were going to make it (like you know, a massive carpet and a collection of coffee table books).
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photos to come
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Leaving Helena, we first stopped in Bozeman, about an hour away, to meet up with an old college friend of Brett’s. From there we headed further east to Billings, Montana’s largest city with a population of about 106,000. We spent an evening hanging out with Brett’s mum and stepdad, chatting and, (in Brett’s case) eating the biggest steak I’ve ever seen! It was nice to catch up as we haven’t seen them since the wedding. The next morning we headed on to Yellowstone National Park, where we spent two nights near the west entrance. It was an animal spotting safari, with elk, bison, bears, antelope, foxes and chipmunks!
Unfortunately we didn’t see any moose but a few close encounters with other animals made up for that. A bear sow and two cubs were wandering alongside the road at one point, unfazed by the slow moving line of cars that eased past. The closest you can get to a wild bear while still in the safety of your car! And the same with a bison, though I have to say that when he turned to look at us, I enthusiastically encouraged Brett to go go go! They’re big animals, weighing anywhere between 400 to 1,000kg for a fully grown adult. Not something you want ramming your car, especially if you happen to have your window down trying to max out your wide angle lens to get a full body shot!
We drove all over the park in our time there, enjoying the geothermal attractions as well as the wildlife. The park is centred on the Yellowstone caldera, North America’s largest super volcano and still an active hotspot. The last eruption was around 640,000 years ago but the caldera is being closely monitored for rising of the land, indicative of the pressure within the magma chamber underneath. There are also 1,000-2,000 earthquakes a year, though most of them are minor.
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It’s been a busy week and a half since Brett and Erica arrived – so busy that I’ve let myself be a bit late on the blog updating – tsk tsk! Anyway, we’ve been showing Erica some of the sights of hopping Helena, done some shopping, caught up with the extended Voegele clan, visited Glacier National Park and visited the town where Brett went to college.
For the record, in case someone doesn’t know enough about Helena to read the sarcasm in my description of Helena, it’s a relatively small city (pop. 30,000). At least to a couple of gals from Sydney. But it has its own charms; it’s been nice to show Erica around and for me to have a bit more time to explore. We checked out the old fire tower, the museum and the beautiful old church which makes you realise how important Helena was during the era when gold was plentiful here. Back in the day Helena had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the US. The church was funded by a couple of them and the materials were appropriately luxurious, with the stunning stained glass windows being ordered from Munich. To this day the Zettler firm claims that the windows created for the church are the most impressive they’ve ever made, and today’s craftsmen can no longer replicate their quality or depth of colour.
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My weekend in Vienna was nice, if short, and it was nice to explore the city with Gulzar and Karl. We spent most of our time exploring the old part of town, wandering streets, popping into churches and eating ice-cream. At one stage we were sitting in a park near a church, in free beach chairs, when I realised that it was the church that the one in Helena, Montana, was based. Yesterday I drove past the copy, built from 1908 to 1924, from materials which were apparently brought all the way from Europe. Not as speedily as I made the trip of course, they came by ship then steamboat then horse cart. The original stained glass windows were made in Munich.
Back in Vienna the sun was shining so I avoided museums and we spent our time wandering instead. Sunday morning was spent exploring Schönbrunn Palace, which was owned by the Hapsburg royal family from 1569 until 1918. The grounds were originally only used to breed game and fowl for hunting but later the impressive buildings were constructed, and in 1752 the world’s oldest existent zoo was founded. In 1683 the Turkish Ottoman Empire clashed with the House of Hapsburg and got as far as Vienna before being defeated. The Hapsburgs controlled a pretty incredible amount of land all over the world, mainly through selective marriages and inbreeding that eventually led to various genetic disorders. Looking at Charles II of Spain’s family tree there are all sorts of linkages that just shouldn’t be there, including far too many examples of men marrying their nieces.
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