August 3rd. Two items on the agenda for today, the only question was which order to do them in ?

The eventual decision was to head to the nearby waterpark first. We had a lazy morning while the boys plummeted down various slides on and off of inflatables. I dread to think how high they must have climbed if you could put all the stairs they climbed that morning on top of each other. I used to have energy like that - where did it go ?

The second item on the agenda for the day was a drive down to the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. Its not too far from Billings, just over an hours drive south east. I was not too sure what to expect of this visit and as is so often the case on these holidays, it was not at all like I expected and I enjoyed it much more than I hoped I would.

The first really big surprise for me was that there is a national cemetery on the site with military soldiers and sailors killed in action or veterans and their spouses that served in the U.S. Military during the Indian Wars, Spanish American War, World War One, World War Two, Korean War, and Vietnam. In my ignorance I did not know of any such places except Arlington.

The next decision was should I walk up to last stand hill or to listen to the Ranger talk before walking up to last stand hill. I chose to listen to the Ranger - good choice ! The Ranger was a professor of history from somewhere in Texas if memory serves, he worked at the battlefield every summer. He was passionate and knowledgable about his subject and he took me back to the time of the battle by following the fate of a number of participants in the fight from both sides. It was spellbinding and fortunately I have most of it on video to watch again. A magical experience.

Knowing so much detail about what happened and why made the short walk up to last stand hill so much more enoyable. I stood there and could imagine the scene. This is a place I will go back to ( without impatient children !) and spend a few days fully following the ebb and flow of events on the ground. I am beginning to develop a real interest in early American History.

We headed back to Billings with the boys intent on going back to the water park (we had day long tickets) however, when we got there, the weather had turned and the park was closed. What a good decision it had been to do the waterpark in the morning rather then the afternoon.