Freeze a jolly good fellow: the world's largest penguin of Cut Bank, Montana

As we were heading east through Montana on a road trip in 2006, we passed through the small town of Cut Bank and encountered one of those spontaneous roadside attractions that make these kinds of trips well worth the ride: something that claims to be the world's largest something or other, in this case, a penguin.
According to howstuffworks.com, to commemorate its hometown's status as the coldest town in the United States, the town of Cut Bank constructed this concrete penguin in 1989. It looks much older, though, more like it was built in the 1930s. At 27 feet tall and a solid five tons, it beckons to passersby from its spot in front of the Glacier Gateway Inn, a furniture-shop-turned-motel. The penguin talks (when its speaker works), bleating out the slogan, "Welcome to Cut Bank, the Coldest Spot in the Nation!". We were unaware this was a multimedia display, however, so we did not hear the narration, but it was impressive just the same. If big penguins are your thing, Cut Bank awaits you. For more fascinating facts about Cut Bank, you can read about it in black and white here: http://www.answers.com/topic/cut-bank-montana?cat=travel

The lighter side of Little Big Horn and other Montana delights

You wouldn't think there'd be anything funny at Little Big Horn, but check out these names on the memorial wall... Plenty Lice? Chased By owls?

Little Big Horn is in southern Montana and it's location of the famous Indian battle. I always liked hearing about this battle as a kid because the Indians won for a change, and Custer, that pompous twit, got his just desserts. Unfortunately, this would be the last hurrah for the native peoples and the American west. Coming in from the west, the landscape is rolling hills and scraggly prairie. Wide, wide spaces with nothing on them except the occasional abandoned shack and grazing horses and cows. The sky really is big here in this state, just like they say. It's a roadside attraction in and of itself. People really say "howdy" here, too. I love that, when cliches earnestly come true before your eyes. One odd thing about Montana is the number of billboards addressing the meth abuse problem. I didn't even know they had a meth abuse problem, but apparently its so big they have to put up grotesquely graphic billboards (I should have a shot a picture of one, but never did). We passed a "facility" on the highway (a brand new concrete cinder block prison, actually) with a spray painted sign outside calling it the "Meth Motel". Gallows humor for sure. "Club Meth" would have been a little more clever, but I'm not going to quibble with the locals. We get to Little Big Horn and its a somber field with nondescript rolling hills, not the big canyons they had in the movies. Lots of markers where battling union soldiers and Indians met their untimely demise. One thing I wasn't expecting, though, was some unintentional levity in the form of some of the Indian names memorialized in stone: "Guts", "Chased By Owls" and my personal favorite "Plenty Lice". This really isn't the place for humor but I can't help it... funny is funny.

Sublimely mundane Montana

I try to appreciate every little thing on a roadtrip from the most spectacular scenery down to the most banal little detail. It's good to take a minute every so often to appreciate the mundane and melancholy places that the rest of the world seems to be passing by that are all part of the glorious eccentric roadside experience. Montana has more than its share of jaw-droppingly exquisite sights. Why, the sky alone is a tourist attraction. But in between the feast-for-the-eyes are a few enchantingly dull scenes. At least I think so, anyway.

Mundane Roadside Photo of the Day

Montana rest area (click to enlarge)

Greetings from Montana: a roadtrip slide show

If you don't see any pictures, click on the X in the upper right corner

A Glacier National Park slideshow

If you don't see any pictures, click on the X in the upper right corner