On the road with state wrestling: Butte

Thanks to the wonderful sacrifice by Hagadone Corporation, I was allowed to go to Butte, MT for the Class A State Wrestling tournament this Saturday. What happened was I woke up at 5:30 a.m. on Friday, drove down to Hamilton, MT (Not a large town) for the Class B/C Championships and then after they concluded their first day, I drove all the way to Butte for Class A on Saturday. Here's what I learned about the wonderful city of Butte.

1. There is nothing between Missoula and Butte sans for one or two scary truck stops. Make sure you bring your survival gear when you drive between these two cities.

2. Getting on and off the freeway is actually kind of tough. Poor signage. I blame Obama.

3. Butte, MT is home to the niciest Super 8 Motel I've ever stayed at. Granted, the only other Super 8 I stayed at was in Yakima, Wash. (ugh) but I have this strange feeling that Super 8 gets a bad rep and is actually a pretty good hotel chain. Rooms were clean, people were nice, continental breakfast was awesome and cable had more channels than my home DISH. Plus it was within walking distance of Taco Bell. I actually did the math of what it would cost a month to just live in a Super 8 Motel. I don't think I can afford $2,100 a month.

4. There's the Virgin Mary up on the hill. Very Catholic and very awesome. Our Lady of the Rockies.

5. Driving through town, Butte has definitely got some character. All these old, historic buildings are super cool, espicially when they're put side by side with modern buildings. The Town Pump (Gas Station in Montana) corporate headquarters was also a treat seeing. Namely I was curious if I could go into their headquarters and ask for an energy drink and some jerky.

6. The roads are terrible, I'm sure the potholes are deeper than Berkely Pit.

7. The Butte Civic Center is the coolest sports arena I've been in. It looks like Slap Shot was shot in there. It's one of those old barns that is minimalistic, but still sooo awesome. I want to watch a hockey game in there because I feel I could spit on the hockey players. Here's a photo of the place, now just imagine four wrestling mats instead of a basketball court and you got the Civic Center. Wonderful venue, and it makes me wonder why we always have to tear down these old buildings for new sports arenas.

8. Pork Chop John's is apparently world renowned. Went there with the Valley Journal's Jeremy Weber, we were not impressed despite recommendations from everyone. Its a dry pork chop in two buns. Whoop de doo.

9. If you leave your Carhartt jacket on a chair in Starbucks, nobody will take it. Even if it has an expensive video camera in the pocket. In Spokane, a homeless man would have taken it and rolled around in some poo before one was able to get back and retrieve it.

10. Can someone tell my why every town except Ronan, St. Ignatius, Charlo and Polson, like putting a letter on a hill somewhere? Butte has an "M", Missoula has an "M", Arlee has an "A". Come on Lake County towns! I feel like our cities are not pulling their weight.