I had a relaxing breakfast this morning, sharing the table at the hotel lobby with a delightful senior lady who discussed everything from travel to politics to child-rearing in such a humorous, delightfully wise manner that by the end of the conversation, I sincerely hoped that I would someday be like her. 

I spent the rest of the morning in the Museum of the Rockies, gawking like a second grader at all the dinosaurs and enjoying the film in the planetarium.  I was amazed at how many dinosaur skeletons are preserved beneath the soil in Montana, and read with delight the story of a woman who accompanied her husband fishing and sat down right next to two Tyrannosaurus Rex bones!   She took them to the museum, and caused quite a stir!! 

After lunch, I drove to Prairie Dog state park.  I spotted my first prairie dog about 3 seconds after entering the park.  They were everywhere!  I was their sole visitor at the time, and they called warnings to one another and flicked their little tails and scurried to the nearest den, staying outside it to watch me with as much curiosity as I watched them.  I took a large number of photos, and stayed so long that the little creatures finally decided I was harmless and went back to their normal pursuits.  I know they can be pests and the holes they make are dangerous to horses and other large animals -- but they are still awfully cute!! 

I hurried on to Billings, passing the town of Laurel on the way.  Since this was once the home of Calamity Jane, I took a side trip down Main Street, trying to imagine the town as it must have looked to Calamity Jane back in the 1890s.  During my research in the Montana Historical Society  Archives, I read an interview with an old timer who just barely remembered what his parents had told him about Calamity Jane.  Apparently, she lived in a small cabin on top of a small plateau with only one way up or down.  She kept this way blocked and successfully put a herd of horses to graze on top of the plateau.  They were small, sturdy mustangs by the description, and they never fell off the plateau, so they must have been pretty smart.  Calamity was a bit of a wreck by that stage in her life.  She dressed and acted like a man, so she was rejected by the womenfolk of Laurel, and when she drank, she grew unpredictable and landed herself in the slammer.  But when a woman fell ill or had a baby, she was right there to help her, and her nursing skills were tremendous.  Calamity Jane was a woman of contradictions. 

When I reached Billings, I found my parents had arrived safely.  I talked their ears off about all my Montana adventures over dinner, and pulled out all my fossils purchased at the rock shop in Byntin to show them after supper -- just like when I was a little girl!  My, it was nice to see them!  They were pretty wiped after their long plane ride, so we cut the evening short and had an early night.