PORCH PONDERINGS

Ekalaka

I finally got to go on a road trip. I went to a SE Montana tourism meeting Wednesday. But it was in Ekalaka, MT. Yes, that is the name. Far SE Montana. Almost to the ND/SD line. So I enlisted a friend to take me. We left Tuesday, stayed a night in Terry, MT. That little town is only 2 hours away. Ekalaka is 4 hours away. My meeting on Wednesday started at 10 AM. So you can see perhaps the wisdom in being closer a day before.

Terry and Ekalaka are both small, Terry perhaps a population of 800, Ekalaka a population of 500. But each have motels.

So I guess this BLOG entry will be a tourist blab. The Kempton Hotel in Terry, MT is the oldest continuing hotel in Montana. Pretty cool. Terry is also the home of the Evelyn Cameron Gallery, a wonderful woman who came to Montana from England, a photographer of early Montana prairie life. Excellent.

Then on to Ekalaka. It is named after a Native American woman, and Ekalaka has the first county museum in the state. Carter County Museum is one of two federal repositories for fossils in Montana. The other is the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. Excellent place to see actual fossil of dinosaurs. It's one of the stops on the Montana Dino Trail.

Last night in Ekalaka we stayed for a presentation by a native American, Shawn Backbone. He is a member of the Crow nation and talked at Medicine Rocks State Park. Medicine Rocks is a Dark Sky Sanctuary. So Shawn started his presentation at 9 PM. His nephew played the native flute as he spoke to a crowd of perhaps 30 - 35 people that had gathered. For an hour he spoke of the native's connection to the land, to the seasons, his view of life as a Crow tribal member. As he spoke, the flute played, the full moon appeared, then disappeared behind clouds. Suddenly flashes of lightning could be seen behind him, illuminating him for a second as the dark settled in. The clouds dissipated a bit, stars began to appear. All the time Shawn had cedar chips smoldering in a small iron pot, the smoke permeated the space. This was to signify his connection to the earth.

On the short drive back to our motel, you could see the lightning in the distance, a male mule deer pn the side of the road. We talked about how spiritual the whole event was. Medicine Rocks - a giant jumble of sandstone castles in the middle of the flat prairie. Etched names from hundreds of years still present. Shawn's talk. The flute's ethereal sound. Ah.....

Then we woke refreshed, had breakfast at the little cafe and on the road home we stopped in Miles City. Stopped at Vintage a Rustics, owned by a member of the SE Montana board. Did some shopping, my friend scoped out the place where she used to live. Then a few hours later we're back to reality.

I perhaps stated this before. I felt like I was under house arrest for a year. This trip was such a wonder. I came home with joy in my heart.

Here are some links of the places we visited:

https://kemptonhotel.co
https://cartercountymuseum.org/shop
https://fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/medicine-rocks
https://vintageandrustics.com

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