Wednesday, 6/4/14 and Thursday, 6/5/14

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

We were off work today, so at 9:00 a.m. we headed to Bozeman to stock up on groceries.  The snow is still on the mountains, and today we saw some deer, antelope, and cowboys working a herd of cows. 

 We stopped at a nice Safeway grocery store.  It was well stocked and reasonably priced so we bought a few things and then went to eat pizza for lunch.  (In case you haven’t noticed, that is one of our favorite foods.)  We then headed to Wal-Mart and in the parking lot encountered an RV and van advertising the Urban Cowboy, Mikel Knight.  One of Mikel’s minions came over to introduce himself and tell us about Mikel.  He sings country rap and is supposedly up and coming in Nashville.   We looked up the definition of country rap since we have never heard of that genre of music and this is what we found:  Country rap is a subgenre of popular music blending country music with hip hop music-style rapping, also known as “hick-hop.”   

We returned home at 4:30 p.m., unloaded our groceries, and then took a walk to the library to return some DVD’s and borrow some more.  We walked back through town stopping in the shops and chatting with people we know.  After stopping at the post office we returned home and made evening plans with the inn mates.   We all attended the local “Bale of Hay” saloon employee night and we were provided with free food and drinks.  We played Cornhole on the patio and met some new friends.  There are four girls in town from Ukraine.  They are working here on a J-1 visa like the foreign kids we met last year in Alaska, and we finally convinced them to join in the fun.  Chuck and Daniel were declared the best Cornhole players of the evening. 

 

Thursday, June 5, 2014

We had another day off today and played tourist around town.  First order of the day was going to the home of a local lady, Janet Allestad, who plans two Victorian balls each summer to raise money for the Virginia City Preservation Alliance.  We are going to the ball on June 21^st, and she offered to outfit us with some of her 1800’s clothes.  She lives in an old converted horse barn that was built in the 1800’s, and she has old clothes spread around everywhere.  Anytime she goes out of her house, she wears the old clothes and sometimes spends time in the Gypsy Arcade greeting tourists. 

Chuck was outfitted first with a white shirt and vest, and Janet said she would go down to the local theatre costume room later to look for some pants.   Then it was Cindy’s turn.  She had fun trying on about eight different dresses and modeling for Chuck.  After deciding on the one that fit the best, Janet accessorized the outfit with a crinoline, long gloves, and hair clip.  We hauled the clothing home and hung it in one of the extra vacant rooms.   

Next we went to check out a local bed and breakfast because my mother and six friends are coming to visit Virginia City in July.  The house is beautiful, and after conferring with the group, we reserved the whole house for their visit. 

We then visited a local museum which is housed under the library.  We saw a perfectly preserved birthday cake that is over 100 years old.  The cake was made for a relative of some of our friends who will be visiting in July, and they are looking forward to seeing the exhibit.  Also on display at the museum is the club foot of one of the road agents hung by the vigilantes.  It still has a black nail hanging off the end of a toe.  There was a large Chinese population here in the 1800’s, and there are several items on display from that ethnic group. 

The antique fire truck tour around town and to Boot Hill was next, followed by a stage coach ride part way up the mountain to where there is a monument erected at the site of the first gold strike in Alder Gulch.  We did these things for free as the proprietors want us to be able to tell the tourists about their businesses. 

 Next stop was the train depot where we visited with Jaimi and Daniel who were sitting outside waiting on some business.  The train pulled in while we were there, so Cindy made a round trip to Nevada City and back since she had not ridden the train yet.  There were no paying customers, so Joni (the conductor) took the opportunity to train Cindy on how to manually flip the switches on the track.   

Jaimi and Daniel are the only two inn mates in residence right now as the other two have gone home on their days off.  Daniel was hankering for some Chinese food and said he saw a Chinese restaurant in Twin Bridges when they went through there last week, so we all piled in the Mustang and took off.  Twin Bridges is a very small place, and there was no Chinese restaurant to be seen when we got there.  We gave Daniel a hard time about taking us on a wild goose chase and then we headed on to Dillon where Jaimi and Connor attend college.  We found a Chinese restaurant in Dillon and it was average fare, but it satisfied Daniel’s cravings and he even ordered a meal to take home for later.  After eating, we took a tour around Dillon and saw University of Montana, Western.  The original brick building was built in the late 1800’s, and the whole campus was lovely and situated in a park like setting.  Jaimi said there are about 2500 students at Western.      

We drove approximately 110 miles round trip tonight just to eat supper, but the scenery was beautiful and we saw lots of deer grazing in the meadows on the way home.