Butte continued

I do this every year.    I don't feel like blogging, although I can't say it's because I'm too busy or not wanting to sit in front of the computer.  I do plenty of that.

While in Butte, we had time to do some touristy things.  Everything required long walks in the hot, hot sun and up and down hills.  I don't know if it was the weather, the altitude or my general fitness level (or likely, all three), but I was really tired out by the walking. The girls and Yvon tend to have a destination in mind and head in a straight line for it (if we knew the straight line!), while they would leave me behind to dunk into doorways and see things like this:

If there were "For Rent" or "For Sale" signs, I had to read them and dream a little about living in those beautiful suites.   

Then I would stop to take pictures of some of the buildings, like this:

This one is for sale!

I'd finally look up and see the rest of the family WAY up the street, stopping to let me catch up.  I couldn't help it if there was so much to see, could I? 

We spent a bit of time touring the "Copper King Mansion".   It was gorgeous.

 Everything inside was hand carved, or stained glass or had intricate details.  You could spend a lot of time looking at everything, but the tour guide moved us along fairly quickly. 

The ultimate shower - with multiple shower heads and holes placed all along every pipe for a full-body spray.  Cool!

The current owners are big collectors, so there are collections and artifacts everywhere you looked.

This is a communion wafer iron.  Knippijes, anyone?

An optometrists set of lenses

I've since read that W.A. Clark was a pretty lousy man, but his house was beautiful so I won't hold it against him.

Then it was on to the Montana Folk Festival, the main reason we were in town.  Two days of music, all different styles from all over the world.  The music was great and there were often spaces under the tents to shield ourselves from the sun.

Hordes of people, surrounded by beautiful downtown buildings

This polka family band was such fun.  The ability to dance and fiddle amazes me.

 It was hard to fit all of it in that we wanted to hear, so sometimes we split up into two groups of two and followed the girls to the groups that interested them most.  For me, I could have listened to the gospel group all day.  Unfortunately they didn't want to sing all day for me, and I was forced to listen to some awesome accordian and fiddle music, Vietnamese music, stringed instruments from everywhere, swing and stuff that I can't categorize.    
 

The crowds at the main stage, as seen from the shady cool interior of a coal mining building.

High above the main stage, an original copper mining tower

We drank Arizona iced tea by the gallon once we discovered that they sold it in gallon jugs. 

Cold drinks were distracting

 

My favourite group - the Birmingham Sunlights.  It was like a Sunday sermon if you listened to their lyrics.

It was hard to fit all of it in that we wanted to hear, so sometimes we split up into two groups of two and followed the girls to the groups that interested them most.  For me, I could have listened to the gospel group all day.  Unfortunately they didn't want to sing all day for me, and I was forced to listen to some awesome accordian and fiddle music, Vietnamese music, stringed instruments from everywhere, swing and stuff that I can't categorize.    

I don't like to be away from home long in the summer because there is so much to do right at home, but I'll come to Butte again.  Anyone want to join us next time?  July 12-14.