Foto Story Friday #64 -- Camping-- Virgina City, MT

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

The next day we tried to visit ghost towns in the area. We found that things have changed since I was younger and that the 2 ghost towns near the Caverns have become very touristy.
We visited Virgina City, MT which was once considered for the state capital, but Helena won out and Virgina City died out. Today there are shops and several old places in different stages of restoration.
A pair of long undies hang behind the glass at an old shop. It was difficult to get good pictures through the glass, but I gave it a go!
This is the door to the print shop/ newspaper.
As we were heading off to see more of the town, I noticed that the glass was broken in one of the windows at the print shop. So this is my attempt at a creative shot.
There is a museum/store that was quite interesting. This baby buggy was on display there.
In the basement was a wagon, when I looked for a good angle on the wagon, I saw this comb chained to the undercarriage. Guess it is hard to loose when It's chained down, huh?!
Farther down the boardwalk was a candy shop. We all enjoyed a stick of the sweet stuff while watching the taffy being pulled.
This old prospector came over and visited with us for awhile. Robby was handed his walking stick to hold while he chatted. Em walked up and petted his burros.
We made a stop at the court house which is still in operation.
Inside the front doors we found this beautiful grand staircase.
Kids will be kids --- Hosanna, my niece, and Cody HAD to slide down the rail! Cody was very quick and kept running into Hosanna! (Technically, Hosanna is NOT a kid!)
As we walked down the other side of the street, we happened upon this old Ford.
The side of this building caught my eye.
Don't you just want ice cream now?
Outside of a shop was this sign..... I like the colors and the old look it has.
A glassed off old general store. Many of the building looked like the people had just walked away.... they are windows to the past.
Cans of food still stacked on the shelves..... They have added plastic fruit to complete the picture.

I just loved this display of the Easy Walking boot.... I don't think that would have been 'easy walking' though, I would love to have a pair!
A little boy's outfit.
An old barn in need of much repair housed a buggy, wagon and this sleigh.
Standing at the train depot/ snack shop we turned in time to see this couple ride by in period clothing. There is a shop here that sells period clothing...... too expensive to just buy for dressing up though! The train will take you a short distance to Nevada City the other ghost town. We opted to drive, had a quick lunch under the trees and went to the music hall.
This thing was LOUD! Many of the music machines are coin operated
Cody dropped a few and Em danced her heart out!
We didn't go through the open-air museum in Nevada City since we had spent quite a chunk of change to see the caverns.
We had a nice time camping and checking out the area.
Join me next week for the first day of school!

Foto Story Friday #63 -- Camping --Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

So we went camping last Wednesday to Saturday. We met my sister and her family in the middle of Montana at the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park.
We arrived first and picked out two spaces right next to each other, got our tents up and then it rained.
The color has been boosted as the rainbow was fading fast. It was very cool though because it went in two directions and met right there on that hilltop!
Sun rays after the quick downpour.It's not camping with out a fire!
The sun sets over the mountains! It is a very pretty area. The campground has a nice playset that the kids spent several hours on.
Cooking dogs, what else do you eat while camping?!
Then next morning after a hearty breakfast, we set off hiking up to the visitor center. The map said a 1.9 mile strenuous hike so the twins hitched a ride in the car with Troy. Somewhere along the way we made a turn..... map said there was a shortcut. Turned out to be a long cut, but it was a pretty hike.
Finally we arrived about 20 mins after Cody and Hosanna who were ahead of us and didn't make the turn.
Waiting for our turn to tour the caverns. After a 3/4 mile hike uphill we finally arrived and got to check out the cavern. I took SO many pictures.... i tried to narrow it down to my favorites:
My niece and I think this looks like a melting ice cream cone.
Troy and Scott pause for a quick "Iwas here" photo.
It was amazing. It had been many years since I was here and I had forgotten so much.
There are a ton of steps and many places where it would help if you were 4 foot tall! But we all made it through!
Around every corner and past every low ceiling was an amazing sight.
some looked so smooth you had the urge to reach out and run you fingers over it..... but to do that, would stop all growth of the formation where your fingers touched.

found on the steps.
Thought this was a cool formation.

At one point in the tour our guide asked for questions and Em raised her hand politely and asked: "Do you have any potties? Cause I NEED to go potty." He told her she was going to have to hold it. Everyone laughed, I was as usual bringing up the rear and missed most of it. Since we had the youngest kids in the group I figured it was her. She did fine and made it back to the potty no problem.
Turned around and saw this.
As we were heading to the exit, I looked down at the steps and saw that they are being taken back by the caverns. This is a place you must see if you come to Montana.

Foto Story Friday #62 --- Short term pet

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

A while back we went branding.... like June. Scott was given a freshly caught horny toad lizard and well after creating a home/cage for him out of a cut-down water bottle and some grass, he was set on the back of the truck for safe keeping. When he went back to check on him, he's fallen off the truck and gotten free. Scott was SO sad because he was sure the oldest son of the people we were branding with had eaten him. Yeah the teen had been teasing Scott, and poor Scott thought he was serious.! Well, his dad felt bad about the teasing and promised he's catch him..... true to his word, he stopped by with a present for Scotty:
I was ever so thankful to him for keeping his promise..... NOT! This lizard was much larger and Scott wasn't quite as sure about it.
It is very difficult to keep a lizard warm without a heat lamp or heat rodck, so we improvised for the night and put him in the room with the water heater for the house heat system. He must have stayed warm enough, cause he was still kicking in the morning. We could not keep him.... I didn't even know what he should eat! So we wrapped him gently in a towel and set off for Makoshika State Park on a walk.
I kept telling both Scoot and EmmaLece that we couldn't keep him and he would be much happier in the park with the other lizards.
I thought they understood, but they didn't! We set him down and said good-bye and they both CRIED! I was a bit surprised, we'd had him for less than a day! But ya know Scott did name him: Leafy.
We then set him up on the side of the hill said good-bye again and
Walked home to a chorus of sniffles and whimpers! Who could have thoughtthey would become attached in such a short time span?! Just today EmmaLece was telling me how she missed Leafy!

Foto Story Friday # 61-- the end of our 1900+ trip

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

(A lot of pictures this time, cause I wanted to finish up our trip.) Monday morning we packed up the truck and headed to Provo. We were supposed to be headed straight home, but decided to make a change of plans. Heather really need to see a chiropractor and family recommended one south, so once again we took the long way around! We made a stop at IKEA, interesting place. We picked up birthday gifts for the twins and had lunch. Guess what, you can see the
Oquirrh Mountain temple from there. I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy, but look closely .... there in the center far off in the distance, it's there. (need a better zoom-- if you enlarge it, you can see it! ) Then we headed over towards the Draper Temple to see all the houses that were never finished.
An abandoned castle at the top of the hill. I like the looks of it in black and white ... gives it a creepy quality..... like an old black n white horror film. I would have loved to taken a peek around, but I didn't think my driving companions would have gone for it..... something about laws, whatever! The house across the street also not finished was just recently reduced to 3 million! A steal, I'll take two!
Just down the hill from the castle is this beautiful temple in Draper UT. Too bad this truck was parked in the way.
We HAD to stop at Cabela's for the experience, ya know! It was mine and Heather's first time in a one, there is a lot to experience. The lamp posts in the parking lot.
I was doing my best to capture every temple I could from the freeway! Here is the Bountiful Utah Temple.
Idaho Falls Temple.
We spent the night in Rexburg with David's sister. After dinner we drove up to the Rexburg Idaho Temple and I got out to snap a few shots. I chose this one because I like how the flag is flying off to the side. It was very windy, as you can tell.
We went for a walk after returning from dinner/picture taking and saw this view from behind... set on a hill ......
Next morning we planned on a long day of driving with a few sights in between. First stop was Jackson Hole, WY.
The entrance to the park in the center of town. It is a tourist town for sure. We decided to have lunch in the park.
This cute little guy was running along the boardwalk.
You can rent a ride in the stagecoach for a bit of Old West feel.
I'm pretty sure it is required to take a picture in front of the antlers when visiting Jackson Hole, WY! (taken by Troy)
Jackson Hole Airport.... in the middle of nowhere a huge jet was taking off! I had no idea that big planes landed here!
The Grand Tetons of Wyoming are truly amazing! I took tons of pictures of these majestic mountains. We headed north to Yellowstone. Troy had never been there so we made a "quick" trip through and saw a few highlights. Only there was construction and it took forever to get through.... several stops along the roadside.
Fast moving rivers flow through Yellowstone National Park. They are quite difficult to capture while driving, though!
Old Faithful is the absolute must see when in Yellowstone. We went in and got and ice cream/frozen yogurt, sat on the porch in the rocking chairs and waited for the show. I love to stand back and watch the people and that is the reason I chose this photos to share.
This shot is not clear, but I just had to take it, it seemed SO perfect. He looked so content just him, the pole and the river.
Raging waters. We did see a couple of buffalo and some big game animals. But we didn't stop like the others who were holding up traffic, errr, I mean, enjoying the park and it's many beauties. Really some people don't think, we saw a woman walking up to a buffalo lying in the grass just off the road..... ummm, yeah that is a huge bison and it is wild!
Mammoth is a cool feature and must also be seen. course we didn't stop, we were trying to get home. It was still quite the drive to the edge of Eastern MT from Gardiner. Once we got out of the park, the traffic was backed up for blocks in that little town..... like we spent an hour stopped-- creeping forward. Finally we got up to the pilot car and the notice of construction for the next 25 miles..... yup had to follow the car the whole way at a whopping top speed of 25 mph! yeah so we ended up staying in Billings and getting home on Wednesday!
Thanks for enduring our couples vacation, next week we take the kids on a camping trip!