Leaving Missoula we discovered that our hotel was right across the street from “beer Mecca”.

Next time we do this route we’ll plan an extra day in Missoula.

Down the road we decided to take a quick stop at Pompey’s Pillar National Monument.

The Native Americans called it “the place where the mountain lion lies”

and carved pictographs in its sides. White men came along and added their own carvings.  The most famous of these was Captain William Clark who visited the site in 1806 on his way back from the Pacific Coast.  While Lewis and half of the expedition returned down the Missouri River, Clark and a team headed south along what is now the Idaho/Montana border, joined the Yellowstone river and followed it to rejoin Lewis at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri.  It was Clark who named the formation Pompy’s Tower in honor of Sacagawea’s son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, whom he had nicknamed “Pomp.”  The name was later changed to Pompey’s Pillar by a more alliterative editor.

From the top of the formation you get a great view of Montana’s Big Sky.

Tuesday’s destination: Miles City – that’s right, we drove all day and we’re STILL in Montana.  It’s a BIG state.