whooping it up...

...in the west and now heading east from mountains and glaciers to The Plains and even a penguin.

First stop The Museum of the Plains Indians in Browning where Ernie Heavy Runner a Blackfeet tribal member and educator is at hand as at guide through the intricacies of the Plains Indians culture, art and ways...and have a bit of a natter about his adventures in Sydney in the late 1950s!
A theme continued (not Sydney!) at the Charles M Russell Museum in Great Falls here
I didn't know it at the time that when as a young teenager I was absolutely bonkers about all things horsey, cowboy and Western the prints of paintings of cowboys and Indians were painted by him. I had the action man (no Barbies for this girl) equivalent of a cowboy and his horse all geared up for riding the plains of Midland's England (saddles, bridle, saddlebags etc etc) and with the guidance of one of CMR's paintings got out the Airfix paints and painted not only him and his saddlery but the horse as well!
A treat indeed to visit the beautiful museum built on the site where his log cabin studio and home still stands.

Lunch at a Tracy's a Great Falls diner (twirling stools at the counter and booths with personal jukeboxes...extra) and a memory lane tweak for M who as a child knew this very diner very well...to the point of having a particular twirling stool!

And so to the furthest point east  on 'The Loop' and Fort Benton hugging the banks of the Missouri and the oldest continuously inhabited  settlement in Montana. Originally established as a fur post in 1846 it became  the most important transportation centre in the Northwest. Steamboats docked at the levee and goods were transported all over the US and Canada.
When the railways replaced the rivers as transporters of goods, the town declined as did the Grand Union Hotel (extra).
Costing a colossal $200,000 to build and furnish in 1882, the fortunes of the hotel were dealt several blows with the arrival of the railroad, World Wars and the Depression. Now restored to her former glory The Grand Union is  home for the final night of 'The Loop'...and for me the delight of a suite overlooking the Missouri.

And the penguin??
Well CutBank MT claims the fame of being the coldest spot in the nation and what better symbol than a penguin! (extra)