July 14th and 15th ~ Helena, Montana (Sorry, but we have had no Internet for several days, and I am WAY behind)
Cathedral of St. Helena
“Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. It was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and was established in 1864. Over $3.6 billion of gold was extracted in the city limits over a duration of two decades, making it one of the wealthiest cities in the United States by the late nineteenth century. By 1888, about 50 millionaires lived in Helena, more per capita than in any city in the world.” ~ Wikipedia
The Montana State Capitol Building
Montana Capitol Building
There is a 1-hour tour that covers the art, architecture and history of the building presented by the Montana Historical Society.
St. Helena Cathedral
“The Cathedral of Saint Helena is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, Montana. Modeled by architect A.O. Von Herbulis after the Votivkirche in Vienna, Austria, the construction began on the Cathedral in 1908, and held its first mass in November 1914. The Cathedral sustained significant damage during the 1935 Helena earthquake, which required extensive renovations. The Cathedral was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.” ~ Wikipedia
The exterior is beautiful, designed after the Votivkirche in Vienna, but it is the interior that is especially impressive complete with 46 of the 59 stained glass windows being made in Bavaria. We arrived right at the tail end of a wedding as they wrapped up doing their formal photos.
The Montana Historical Society Museum
“Oh Cowboys Roping a Steer” by C.M. Russell, Oil, ca 1892
This Veterans and Pioneers Memorial building houses the museum. It is noted for having a collection of works by Western-artist Charles M. Russell in many media. There are also displays of Native American, early settlers and mining memorabilia, as well as frontier weapons and mounted wildlife.
Ewam Garden of One Thousand Buddhas
Garden of One Thousand Buddhas
Departing from Helena the next morning on our way to Glacier, we attempted a stop to see the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas.
Well, this stop had not been well researched, in fact I knew little about it other than it was a good location to break up the day and the pictures I had seen of the garden looked pretty.
It did not end well.
First of all, the road to the place is narrow, and not well suited for an RV. On arrival we found that one of the gates was closed, which left us no place to pull through or turn around. We chose to pass on by, but the road we were on further narrowed and became a dirt path. We were finally forced to disconnect our tow car to be able to maneuver and get to where we wanted.
By the time we did pull into the parking lot, the sky was very black and a huge storm was fast approaching. I made a mad dash, spent five minutes on a quick swing through the garden, snapped a couple quick pictures, we rehooked up “Jethro” and made a beeline for the main road.
Main temple
Small sample of the many, many buddha statues
Oh, well – can’t really say I was impressed by this stop, but perhaps our not-so-fun experience and the rotten weather gave me an unfair impression.
Next Stop: Glacier National Park
GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful that it is relatively easy to disconnect and then reconnect up our tow vehicle.
A Note From Abroad 
Well welcome back, I thought you were just having such an incredible time that the posts would come when they came. No rush playing catchup, just enjoy the adventure. We’ll hear about it later when you can.
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What Terry said.
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It is good to be back 🙂
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We are having a fantastic time! I’m hoping to get at least a few days worth typed up and pictures loaded this evening while I have Internet though. It is frustrating to me when I get too far behind as it becomes harder to remember what we saw and did. Thankfully the pictures help jog the memory.
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Just jot it down roughly, I always carry a small journal to remind me of what I did and how I thought about it. Then later, it reminds me and I expand on it.
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I have a small notebook, and use it to log some data, but I’m not disciplined enough to keep it up. This blog seems to work more like a diary for me when we travel.
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Try Evernote. I use it to jot down sites and info as we pass, then write up the blog later. When you are online you can copy it straight into wordpress, hey presto, job done. Apart from comments on the photos… I can appreciate the time you put in!
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I will have to take a look at/for Evernote. Is it an app?
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I forgot to mention, Evernote is a free app, works offline, and syncs between devices, although you may need to upgrade to a paid version of you want more than 2 devices
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HaHa, sorry, I replied and asked too soon. Thanks for the clarification 🙂
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OMG that church is glorious! The trip to the Buddhas not so much, but they sure look good.
Alison
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The church had some European flair to it, and yeah, the Buddhas were a let down.
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Oh well, not every day can be perfect! We’ve had a few that didn’t work out as planned too.
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Loved the pictures of St. Helena Cathedral! It is breathtaking. The museum looked interesting. The Native American artifact with the little American Flag was particularly interesting to me. Do you recall what that was? I guess I’m surprised that the Native American’s would have embraced “America” at that time, since we treated them so badly. I’m glad that you were able to manipulate the road to the “garden.” I can see why that wasn’t a highlight. All of the Buddha’s looked the same, so I’m not sure what the point is. Of course, I’m not a Buddhist. Maybe, if I were, it would be more impressive. 😉
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That was called a beaded flag bag. Sorry, I don’t know the story on it. Perhaps it was made as an item to sell or trade.
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Thanks. It probably was. I was just surprised to see it. Wouldn’t it be cool to find something like that at an antique store or yard sale? But, then again, I probably wouldn’t know what it was. LOL
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