The underground

  Going underground is one way to beat the summer heat. So a side trip to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, located between Butte and Bozeman, just off I-90, was a pleasure on many fronts.
  Not only did we see spectacular and colorful stalagtites and stalagmites and helictites, but we saw flying bats.
  The 2-mile-long tour takes you down through the limestone cavern, where seeping water carrying minerals has formed these strange formations over the millennia.

 
  And unlike some caverns - you know who you are - this one does not inundate the visitor with rules and regulations and make you feel like a prisoner. You can take pictures, and even use a flash in the areas where there are no bats. You crawl and slide through the cavern, oftentimes touching the formations out of necessity.
  All in all, a very cool experience.