Big Sky Blog

KULR-8 in Billings is reporting that Vice President Dick Cheney was in Billings today on his way to the Big Horn River to fish for trout.

Wyoming native Cheney knows where the best fishing is, Montana!

Randy’s Billings Free Press continues to improve — he’s done a great job with it. He’s got a great layout/design, fresh content, images, tags, the whole thing. If you live in Billings - or will be visiting - you owe it to yourself to both read the Billings Free Press AND add it to your blogroll (or bookmarks).

July 30, 1969

[Billings native] Dave McNally, ace southpaw for the Baltimore Orioles, wins his seventeenth consecutive game by defeating the Kansas City Royals 4-2 in Kansas City. McNally ties the American League record set by Johnny Allen of the Cleveland Indians during the 1937 season. The streak ends on August 3, largely due to Twins pinch hitter Rich Reese’s grand slam home run. McNally’s record will last until the 1999 season, when Roger Clemons establishes a new American League record of twenty consecutive wins.

From Montana Dateline by Ellis Roberts Parry.

Today’s edition of The Billings Gazette has some good stories today which are worth reading.

The first is a story about the Japanese community in 20th century Harlowton and the second is of the last Japanese native in Harlowton. The story of Henry Muneta is especially poignant since he is the father-in-law of a Big Sky blogger.

I’ll let you figure out who the blogger is.

The next story is a nice one about the Billings Bluegrass music club which has weekly jam sessions at a local Hardee’s. The Gazette also has a nice photo album to go with the story.

I wonder if the Long Time Lonesome Dogs ever play at Hardee’s?

Attention, residents of the Magic City! There is a new community blog devoted to all things BILLINGS called the Billings Free Press.

This is a blog dedicated to the greatest city in Montana. Some would say the only city in Montana but I’m not one of them…I’ll be the first to admit that Billings may not be perfect but it IS the best city in the best state in the greatest country in the world. A little jingoism never hurts. Does it?

Nope - nothing wrong with civic pride! The Billings Free Press is just getting started, with entries about movies filmed in/around Billings and Pictograph State Park. The creator of the site is none other than SFO Randy, one of the true grey-beard veterans of the Big Sky Blogosphere. If you’re interested in contributing, check out the About Page. Keep an eye on this new blog — I predict very good things!

The Billings Gazette has a great article about day trips around Billings which you can enjoy and get there on one tank of gas.

The Montana Wilderness Society has a site listing more than 100 hikes around the state. Other suggestions in the article of things to do and/or visit are the Bair Family Museum, Bighorn Canyon, Yellowtail Dam, the Spa Hot Springs in White Sulphur Springs, dinosaurs in Harlowtown, a powwow in Ashland, birding in Red Lodge and Miles City, fishing, prairie dogs, the Rosebud and Little Big Horn Battlefields, the Madison Buffalo Jump, Chief Plenty Coups State Park and Museum (a vastly underrated museum IMHO), Crow Fair, driving through Sunlight Basin, and exploring the Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark.

Check out the Gazette article for the details and if you folks know of any “one tank of gas trips” in your area let us know the what and where of those gems.

Sorry, Randy, but this just can’t wait to be posted — this is urgent, because it’s so deliciously humourous, and partially accurate.

SIX THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT MONTANA