Butte, Montana

We left Idaho Tuesday morning and drove across the Rockies into Montana.  Although Wyoming and Colorado had some snow last week, it didn't look like any had fallen in Montana except on the tops of some of the highest mountains.  But it was cold.  The low had been 17 Monday night in Butte and the high Tuesday wasn't expected to go much above 50.

Into the Big Sky Country of Montana

Snow capped the tops of several mountains

One more beautiful view of the country to add to the growing list

We checked into our hotel and made our way to the Mother Lode Theatre in downtown Butte.  The Mother Lode is a beautifully restored theater that originally opened in 1923 and it has a pretty illustrious history.  Charlie Chaplin made his American debut there and Harry Houdini played there several times.

The Mother Lode Theatre in downtown Butte, Montana

Butte is an interesting city.  The city had a population of around 100,000 back in the boom days of mining around the turn of the century but now it has dwindled to around 33,000.  But among the other businesses that keep people employed in Butte the city has become a tourist destination because of  that mining history, plus there are several historic buildings downtown, including the theater.

Just behind our hotel is the Continental Divide and sitting on the ridge is a 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary called Our Lady of the Rockies.  The folks at the theater told me the story of its construction and it's an interesting tale.  The statue was erected in the 1970's by the people of Butte and the full story of how it was built and how it affected the spirit of the people of Butte is well worth the time to read, but rather than take the space here I'll just refer you to this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Rockies

After a delicious dinner provided by the folks at the theater we performed for a crowd of over 840 folks who - judging by their response - really enjoyed the show.

The Mother Lode Theatre is an incredibly beautiful old theater

After the show we headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night.  We leave earlier than usual tomorrow (8 AM) for an eight-hour trip to Gillette, Wyoming for our next show.  We're really covering a lot of ground these days as we make our way back east.  Hard to believe on Saturday we'll be in Georgia!