We left Whistler's Gulch campground in Cody, Wyoming today. We're heading towards Glacier Park in Montana and from there to Canada. We were going to go all of the way to the Shelby, Montana area, but we looked in some of our literature and we all decided we wanted to see Virginia City, Montana and and Nevada City. They are both old gold rush towns which were established in the 1800's. We stopped at Three Forks and spent the night in a Campground, can't remember the name???
Saturday, July 26, 2008
We drove to Virginia City, Montana from the campground. We took so many pictures it was hard to decide which ones to post. I just closed my eyes and picked the ones I thought were best. Teeheehee
View of the Mountains surrounding Virginia City, MontanaView of Virginia City from Boot Hill
Old original building in Virginia City, Montana
Merrell, Donna, Carolee & Chuck at tour bus in Virginia City, Montana
Old Log Cellar building in Virginia City, Montana
When we arrived in Virginia City, the first thing we did was take a tour on an old fire engine. Well, actually, that is the second thing we did. The first was locate a BATHROOM!!! :>)
The tour took us through oldest parts of the town and to Boot Hill, which is the cemetery where they buried "road agents". In other words, robbers and thieves. Virginia City is one of the few historical towns which are owned by a state. The town (or a major part of it) was originally purchased and restoration started by a private family. When they died, their heirs could not keep it, so the State of Montana now owns it. You can tell by the pictures that it's a very old town
and the buildings have been kept pretty authentic. They actually have not been restored. Just maintained. The only thing that takes away from it is all of the cars parked on the street. I personally think it takes away from the authenticity to see cars parked in front of the old buildings.
Boot Hill Cemetery headstones of "Road Agents" in Virginia City, Montana
Neat Old Wagon in Virginia City, MT
House with sod roof in Virginia City, MontanaWe spent most of our time in Virginia City. We drove on to Nevada City, which is only a couple of miles up the road. It is much smaller than Virginia City, so we just took a few pictures and left.
Donkey and miner in Nevada City, Montana
We took another route back to the campground and saw some more beautiful countryside.
We saw the most amazing river. It was wide and shallow (at least it looked shallow because it was full of people just floating down the river on tubes and rafts) and such a beautiful shade of blue. It matched the beautiful blue Montana sky
.Mountains and river going from Virginia City Montana to Bozeman, Montana
Sunday, July 27, 2008
We left Three Forks campground heading to Shelby, Montana. We're staying at the Lewis and Clark campground. Once again we took lots of pictures and it will be hard to pick which ones to post. Talk about wide open spaces!!! I can't even imagine how the pioneers felt. We drove for miles and miles seeing nothing but wheat fields. Occasionally we would see mountain ranges in the far distance. Then suddenly, we would be back in the mountains for a few miles and then just as suddenly, it would be flat land again. We saw a lot of trains and train tracks in the one area we drove through. Lots of bales of hay and straw and lots of grain elevators. We would drive for miles in between houses. seeing more fields and an occasional herd of cattle. We're only about 30 miles from the Canadian border and about 58 miles from Glacier National Park.
Monday, July 28, 2008
We decided to hang around the campground today and catch up on some chores. Carolee and Chuck did laundry again and I cleaned "house". She has also been working on new curtains for the motorhome. She finished the bedroom ones today. We have material for new ones in the kitchen and living room. It looks so much nicer having some "color". The bedroom curtains are two toned. The valance is red checks and the curtains are multicolored, red, blue and green are the main colors. I LOVE them.
Merrell changed oil in the generator and did a few things that he thought needed to be done before we cross the border. We are going to Glacier Park tomorrow and then heading to Canada on Wednesday. After we cross the border, we will only have Internet service, no cell phone service except for emergencies. Supposedly our AT&T laptop connect card will work there and we will be able to send and receive email. We will probably be in Canada at least a week before crossing into Alaska. Can't wait. It's hard to believe that Canada and Alaska could be any more beautiful than what we have already seen, but we have been told that it is. We'll see.
For some reason, I couldn't upload the photos that I wanted to post. Will try again in a day or so.
Catch ya later.
As you can see, I finally got the pictures uploaded. We're in Canada, Merrell is ddriving around Calgary and I'm uploading photos. Technology is wonderful, isn't it? LOL
