Brief trip to Helena

Earlier this week, I took a short trip up to Montana's capitol city, Helena, for lunch with a friend. It's a beautiful two hour drive, first through the northern Shields River valley, then winding through the mountains of the Helena National Forest and along the beautiful Canyon Ferry Lake.

Helena is a cute town surrounded by mountains and some sprawl along the valley. The main street - Last Chance Gulch - has tons of great little shops and restaurants and office buildings.

After lunch I headed over the offices of the Montana Abolition Coalition to see my friend Katie, an organizer with AbCo who also works with the Montana Catholic Conference. Katie took me on a great tour of the capitol building, giving me the behind-the-scenes recap of what happened when the state's legislature considered the repeal legislation in the spring. The legislation passed the state Senate but then died in a House committee by just a single vote.
                                
The highlight of the tour was the over-the-top sign in Governor Brian Schweitzer's office in the Capitol. A few months ago, the Governor literally branded his veto on legislation he described as really baaaad ideas (some were).

After just a brief visit, I can add helena to the list of places I'd love to live. But at a population of 60,000, that might be a little too big for my britches.