Barack in Butte

Thursday after work Kelly and I packed up the car and the kids and headed to Butte. We were hoping to see Barack Obama in the 4th of July parade.

After an adventurous trip to Butte (flat tire, car change, storm) we made it and checked into the War Bonnet Hotel in Butte at about 10 PM (too late for Brittney to go swimming). So we called it a night.

The next morning, Independence Day, we all got up only to learn that Barack was not going to be in the parade, due to security reasons. Even though we were disappointed, we had breakfast, got everyone ready, checked out and went to watch the parade anyway.

Though it was long, it was a pretty good parade. Senator Max Baucus and Governor Brian Schweitzer lead the parade off. There were some great floats and lots of politicians!

After the parade we looked around Butte, and went to the Berkley Pit. The Berkley Pit is an open pit mine that ceased operation in 1982 and has been filling up with water every since.

Still a little disappointed we didn't get to see Barack (we couldn't get tickets to the picnic he hosted at Montana Tech), it was decided we would go up to Montana Tech and see how close we could get without tickets. We learned that he was at the World Museum of Mining so we headed that way. Of course we couldn't get very close but we did get to where Highway Patrol had the road block and we parked there.

After about 30 minutes at the exit to the museum (and Kelly checking with the trooper to make sure we were OK where we were), Kelly and Brittney spotted a small group of people leaving the museum, walking across the tennis court about 50 yards away. Sure enough it was Barack and what I would assume was a group of Secret Service agents. Everyone that was waiting in the area we were in jumped out of their cars and I took a couple of pictures. Here is the best one:

Here is the picture enlarged (it is a bit grainy)

Even though we didn't get to see him in the parade, or very close, it wasn't a bad trip at all and we got to see Barack.