Montana

Headed out of Idaho and into Montana today. Big Sky Country!

At the Idaho/Montana border in the town of Kellogg, Idaho is Miners Hat Realty. Guess if I was looking for real estate, I would head for the miner's hat. No Tony the Tiger in Kellogg, however. They're great!

On the other side of the Idaho/Montana border in Haugen, Montana, is the World Famous 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar. It is now actually the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar. It's the largest collection of its kind. The silver dollars have been left by people from all over the world. Some 2,500 are embedded in the bar top, and the remainder are mounted about the room, on the ceiling, walls, everywhere. I hung out with these labradoodles there. Ruby and Ella are still cuter.

The Big Stack can be seen miles before you arrive in Anaconda, Montana. At 585 feet tall, it was once the country's tallest smokestack - the Washington Monument could fit inside it. It used to benevolently belch lead and arsenic over residents (finished smelting in 1980).


Big Atlas Bar in Columbus, Montana, opened in 1916. Its walls are covered with taxidermy; some even sit in the booths. It is affectionately known as the "Dead Animal Zoo." Being me, I again narrowly escaped permanent status there.



Tried an interesting beer, by Harvest Moon Brewery of Belt, Montana. Not sure what the appeal of the name "Pig's Ass Porter" would be, however.