Flat Johnny in Montana
/Hello Otters! Ms. Brooke and Ms. Maddie here! Thank you so much for letting us show Flat Johnny where we have been living the past few months! We spent the majority of the time with him on our college campus in Helena, Montana, but don’t you worry, we took him on a fair share of adventures and can’t wait to share them with you!
When we got back from winter break, we immediately took Flat Johnny to see the oldest building on campus, St.Charles Hall! It was built in 1909 and is the center of all campus! Dorms, offices, and classrooms are all in this building! It is built on a hill and can be seen all throughout Helena!
Helena is the capital of Montana, so one day, we decided to take Flat Johnny to see the capitol building! As you can see, there are many flags flying. One is the United States flag, another is the Montana state flag, and some others are tribal flags! There are currently seven different federally recognized Indigenous (Native American) tribes in Montana. These include the Blackfeet Nation, the Crow Tribe, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, and the Fort Belknap Indian Community. It was very cool to see them all represented here!
We also tried taking Flat Johnny to see the Montana’s Historical Society Museum, but it was closed for renovations. However, we still got to see some cool art and pieces of history outside! Herd Bull was created by a Sioux artist who wanted to represent the importance of Indigenous ways of life! We also got to see a replica of the Liberty Bell (a symbol of American independence), there were only 53 of these made in France in 1950!
One night, we got over 8 inches of fresh snow, and it was -6॰F! We decided to take Flat Johnny sledding! It was very fun and he went down the steep hill very fast!
We took Flat Johnny on a hike up Mt. Helena! It was super cold and we definitely should have brought him some ice cleats (special shoes to walk on the ice and snow), but we made it up to the lookout! As you can see, Helena is surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains. It makes sense why the town’s nickname is “The Queen of the Rockies”. We loved getting to show him all of Helena from the top of a mountain!
You said that you were wondering what the state animal of Montana is? Well, turns out it’s the grizzly bear! Because it is winter, they are all hibernating right now, so even on our hikes we were unable to see one. However, we were able to find a couple of grizzlies around town!
Hockey is a big sport here in Helena, so we took Flat Johnny to see a game! The Helena Bighorns are a Junior A hockey team in Helena! They won the game and are the division’s champions!
Our final adventure with Flat Johnny was taking him to Glacier National Park! This park is beautiful and highly visited during the summer, however, we got the opportunity to visit in the winter! We took Flat Johnny snowshoeing with our wonderful Park Ranger Guides Carl and Lindsey!
Anyway, thanks Otters for letting us take Flat Johnny on our adventures with us! We loved being able to show him around our town and school!
Love,
Ms.Brooke and Ms.Maddie