Inn Mates and Gates of the Mountains, Monday, 8/4/14 through Wednesday, 8/6/14

Monday, August 4, 2014

It rained off and on all day, so the temperature was pleasant.  Chuck was the train engineer today, and Jaimi was the conductor. 

Cindy worked at the Nevada City museum, and it was a slow day.  A young couple came in right at closing time, and they spoke hardly any English.  Cindy played Charades with them and tried to explain the pass covering gold and garnet panning, the train ride, and entrance into the museum.  She is not too sure they understood, but there was much laughter among the three of them. 

We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and the inn mates were waiting on supper.  Jaimi and Libby peeled potatoes last night and Cindy made crock pot potato soup which we cooked all day.  Jaimi made grilled cheese sandwiches tonight to go along with our soup. 

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Chuck was the train engineer today and Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot, so she got to see him every hour.  The weather was very pleasant in the seventies and we had a steady stream of tourists, but it was not overwhelming. 

We got off work at 6:30 p.m., and Daniel was cooking supper for us when we got home.  He and Connor fished for trout all summer long, and Daniel had put enough in the freezer to share with all of us.  Cindy made a potato casserole last night, and Daniel baked it today.  He also seasoned the fish and baked it in the oven, and it was ready when we got home.  Cindy fried hushpuppies to go with the meal, and Connor did not know what they were.  (He thought hushpuppies were shoes.)  Daniel served three kinds of trout – rainbow, brown, and brook.  It was all very tasty, and we could not tell the difference between the different varieties of trout.  We have never eaten trout before, but we thought it was good even if it was full of tiny bones.  It did not have a real fishy taste. 

After supper we all put on our inn mate shirts and sat on the front porch waiting for someone to walk by and take our picture.  The kids will be leaving soon, and we wanted a memento of our time together at the Bonanza Inn.  We didn’t wait long before the group of visiting archaeologists walked by and we snagged one of them for the photo shoot.  Many of them took pictures of us with their own cameras as they were very entertained by our attire.

Bonanza Inn Mates

Connor, Elise, Cindy, Chuck, Daniel

Libby, Jaimi

Bonanza Inn Mates

Baked Trout

 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

It was our day off and we got up at 4:00 a.m. because Chuck made an appointment at the Ford place in Helena at 7:30 a.m.  (Cindy was not too thrilled with the appointment time.)  Our new truck is great, but the heated/cooled seat function has never worked so we hoped they could fix it today.  At 9:30 a.m. we were informed that they would have to order a part and we will be required to return to Helena next week.   

We left Helena Ford and went to get haircuts at the salon where Connor’s mother works.  At 11:30 a.m. we headed twenty miles north of Helena and took a Gates of the Mountains boat tour on the Missouri River.  The boat tour follows a portion of the Lewis and Clark exploratory route.  When you enter the canyon area of the river, there is an optical illusion of the rock pillars opening and closing as if they were water gates.  This was a two hour tour, and it was interesting but nothing spectacular.  We saw a few eagles and ospreys, but that positive was negated by the continual screaming of a baby.   

We drove back to Helena and stopped to mail a package to our granddaughter, Zoe, who will be three years old on Saturday.  We then went to eat supper at Panda Express.  They were training a new girl to cook, and we were sorely disappointed with the quality of our food today. 

We are off work again tomorrow, so we drove to Bozeman and checked into a hotel at 6:30 p.m.  We are looking forward to one night of somewhat luxurious accommodations instead of the Bonanza Inn.  Chuck is also looking forward to watching some television. 

Rhinocerous Rock Formation