Sophijawea

We spent time at the 1300-student Helena High School, discussing their lack of bad weather days (despite the ice+snow on the ground) and big-city problems and securing HHS Bengals gear.  They were ready to recruit Sophia for their 9th grade class on the spot, but she's too much of a Badger for that.
Drove south through Butte, MT, an historic mining community with thousands of building from the turn of the last century.  With the frosting of snow and gratuitous Christmas decorations along the streets, took on a very Dickens Londony atmosphere.  Could imagine some of my geology friends and family spending a lot of time around here!
Then off for one of my target destinations, the Big Hole Battlefield, where the fleeing Nez Perce were surprised in their village and attacked at dawn from an elevated and wooded vantage point.  Despite significant loss of women and kids (shot before they could exit their tipis), the warriors regrouped and assaulted the Army positions, inflicting heavy casualties and again providing time for the clan to pack up and pull out.
Made it 39 miles out MT-43 before the white-out conditions sent me scurrying back to plowed roads.  Dang it!

With undaunted courage, we continued south and made the westerly turn towards Lemhi Pass, this time on a county road that doesn't show up on any websites for road conditions.  Dropped it into 4WD and headed up.  Crunched and slipped and clumb our way up to the ID/MT line where the sun was shining and looked west into the Columbian basin.
While she was navigating, not sure Soph speaks any Shoshoni; while I was driving, not sure I would have had Jefferson's confidence for such an endeavor; and while she's along for the ride, not sure Kali would ever want to be Seaman, the Newfoundland!  But we made it, with a similar sense of satisfaction and accomplishment as the real explorers.

Slid our way down the ID side into Salmon where we visited the Sacajawea memorial site and then enjoyed dinner at Bertram's with Jim Foster, long-time hunting companion and a real outdoor writer.

Bertram's brew their own tasty IPA and also serves a nice prime rib on Fridays with very horsey sauce.  No fruit pies, but their punkin pie earns 3.5 stars just for the extra spices they add.
Stayed at the Stage Coach Inn with the Salmon River literally just outside our window.