More Than 10 Random Facts About My Childhood + 10 Random Facts About Montana

The last time I was in Montana, I was only 11 years old. I stayed with my grandmother one summer, who still lives there, and my older brother. After my grandfather had passed away years before, my grandmother sold the farm and moved down the road to this little white house that I remember. I remember being introduced to trains (one ran right past the house), gardening-freshest pea pods,strawberries, and corn if you could get to them before the grasshoppers did, painting white fences, kittens (never forgave my mom and grandmother for selling my beloved Petunia "barn-kitten" five years earlier, so I think out of guilt my grandmother broke down and bought me a new kitten-a tabby), soap operas (my grandmother watched them religiously every afternoon), country living, A-tracks, a Slip-n-Slide, the card game solitaire, dirt roads, and pellet/Beebee guns (thanks to my brother)! Well more than 20 years later Andrew, Taylor and I have the opportunity to visit Montana once again-a different part that I've never been to...Southwest Montana!

Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states.

Montana is nicknamed the Treasure State.

The density of the state is six people per square mile.

Montana's rivers and streams provide water for three oceans and three of the North American continent's major river basins.

The first inhabitants of Montana were the Plains Indians.

Montana's name comes from the Spanish word mountain.

In Montana the elk, deer and antelope populations outnumber the humans.

Butte is the 5th largest city in Montana with 32,282 people.

Butte is the center of the area that once supplied half of the U.S. copper.

Glacier National Park has 60 glaciers and 200 lakes.

Here's to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

The Curtis-Wellings/Murray Family Reunion/Vacation!