Haircuts and History

On Sunday, Amy somehow talked Hailey into a haircut.

Talking Hailey into a haircut is like talking a crocodile into giving you his tooth.

Permission to play games on Amy's phone may have helped seal the deal.

 

Makayla agreed to play on the ipad just to be fair.

 



 Knowing how long it may be before Hailey agreed to another trim, Amy snipped off several inches.

Hopefully, this will help make morning blowouts quicker.

 

 

After it was over, Hailey's hair was still 12 inches longer than mine has ever been.

We declared today "Learn About History Day". We started out at Yellowstone County Museum, located at the airport. It's a small museum, inside a log cabin.

 

There are a variety of eclectic displays, including this beaver and beaver hat.

We also examined an old camp stove set-up

 

and a branding iron explanation, along with a video of an actual branding.



 

 

 Much of the museum is dedicated to American Indian artifacts.



 

 

There is quite a selection of shoes.



We'll take those in a size 3.

We also saw some pretty purses we'd like to borrow for the weekend.

Makayla likes the cradleboard display.

Hailey did NOT like the ingenious dog-propelled baby buggy. She was concerned for the overworked dog ("Is that why he's dead?")

The assorted toys are cool.

We passed a display of Liver Eatin' Johnson's rifles.  In a hundred years, I expect to see a display in a museum somewhere of Ice Cream Eatin' David's scoopers, or Weird Meat Eatin' Bob's knives and forks.

 

We aren't sure if this guy is sleeping, in a coma, or changing his oil. He didn't respond when we yelled at him.

 

 Trying out a saddle.

Makayla is NOT eating Hailey's hands here- she's terrified of the Indian and trying to hide.

 

I was so sure this conjoined calf would be chosen as the girl's favorite display.

It was for my kids.

Nope. Hailey and Makayla were gobsmacked by this diorama of Sacrifice Cliff.

Roadsideamerica.com describes it as "Sacrifice Cliff (or was it Skeleton Cliff?) is the place where in 1833 (or was it 1837?) a group of 16 (or was it 40?) Crow Indians rode their blindfolded horses over the side to satisfy the spirits and stop the smallpox epidemic killing most of the tribe."



 

I spent a good half hour answering questions like "Where are the girl Indians?" "Did their moms cry?" "Why didn't the horses climb back up?" "Why didn't they just go to the doctor?" 

 I finally talked them into leaving by promising to go home and read up on the whole story.

 

Next we visited Boothill Cemetery. This is the burial site of the citizens of Coulson, MT. Coulson is what Billings was called until 1855 or so. It earned the name "Boothill" because so many deaths were violent, happening to individuals who still had their boots on.

 

I don't believe Makayla was exactly grasping the idea of who was buried here.

She was rather unhappy when I couldn't identify which grave site was Pocahontas's or Jesus's. She simply did not want to hear they were buried elsewhere.

 

This butte across from the cemetery is one of the many rumored locations of Sacrifice Cliff.

I always like to end my time with Hailey and Makayla by spending some time running off excess energy before returning them to Amy. Hailey climbed to the top of an eight foot retaining wall and tried to scare me to death by scampering along the top. It pretty much worked.

 

There's Makayla, putting the nail in my coffin.