We left Choteau reluctantly.  We bought sandwiches at a deli across the street from the museum and then headed west.

Gorgeous country.

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Banjo Man wants to return and see Egg Mountain, where dinosaur eggs have been found. He wants to return to Choteau and spend more time in the museum. He wants to spend the night in Fort Benton and go to all of the museums again. He wants to eat in the Grand Union hotel’s dining room.

I want to go to the Log Cabin Cafe and eat pie.

Priorities.

Doesn’t he look like he is modeling Montana Travel Wear?

Our next stop: St. Ignatius and points north. We found the incredible Ninepipes Museum in Charlo, but they closed two hours earlier than we thought, so we had to rush through it.

It was so incredible we know we have to go back when there is lots more time to absorb everything. Their gift shop was huge, but once again I couldn’t shop while wearing a mask even though there were earrings that called out to me.

I bought a greeting card. When I got it home I realized it was not a plain note card with Indian women sitting on a hill but instead was a sister-to-sister happy birthday card.

Sigh.

We also went to the oldest Trading Post in Montana. See for yourself:

We stopped at one more gift shop before returning to Highway 200 and–ta da!–I bought a pair of warm “I Love Montana” socks.

Then we headed west, towards home. Two and a half hours later we were back at the lake. It had been such a great trip, with more wonderful things to see than we had thought possible.

We packed a lot into four days!