Day Eight: Goodbye Montana

We left Montana today with heavy hearts, and hopeful plans for our next visit. On our way out of the state, we stopped at one of our favorite places, the Yesterday's Cafe in Dell, MT. It is an old one-room schoolhouse that has been converted into a cafe with fabulous home cooking. After an early lunch, we headed for Idaho.

The amazing view as we were driving out of Montana. It gets harder and harder for me to leave!

I wanted to stop in Rexburg, ID on our way to Idaho falls to see the Teton Flood Museum. I was born on the day the Teton Dam broke. Although I was not in Idaho at the time, I had family that were living in Rexburg and were greatly affected by the flood. I have been really interested in learning about the flood for the last several months, and was excited to stop at the museum. Mom and Dad had been there before, but it was my first time. We watched a short movie about the dam breaking, with actual video footage from that day. It was really interesting and sad to hear the first hand accounts. I was disappointed to see that only a small corner of the museum actually holds any flood information/memorabilia. Mom said they used to have a lot more stuff, so I'm not sure why it's so small now. At any rate, it was interesting to see, and not a wasted trip.

Me standing outside the museum.

After seeing the museum, we left for Idaho Falls. Mom hastily decided she wanted to stop at Yellowstone's Bear World. (I mean hastily, too! I was at the turn-off when she decided she wanted to go.) We had stopped there last year on our way home from Montana, and it was fun to be so near the bears, even though you have to stay in your car with the windows rolled up. (Unless you take the curator's tour and get to feed the bears from the top of a tall truck.)

Some of the bears waiting for food to be thrown to them. Check out the bear on the far right standing up straight.

It has been a really fun trip, and I hate to see it end! One more day...

Day Seven: Deer Lodge

On Thursday, we left Missoula and headed to Dillon to start our journey home. About halfway between Missoula and Dillon, we stopped in Deer Lodge to tour the Old Montana Prison. We had stopped there once before when I was eleven or twelve, but didn't tour the prison. I had forgotten all about it, until I was listening to the Ghost Investigators of Utah on the radio last Halloween. They were telling experiences they have had, and playing EVPs. It was really creepy! Then they started talking about one of the scariest EVPs they've had and it was from the Old Montana Prison in Deer Lodge. Well, right then and there I decided that we would be taking that tour on this trip.

The prison was built mostly by inmate labor, and was opened for "business" in July of 1871. Believe it or not, it was in operation until 1979. Wild, huh?






This is one of the corner turrets where the guards stood watch.















This is the main cell house, built in 1912.









There are many areas of the prison compound that are reportedly haunted. One of the areas is around the cell of "Turkey Pete". He was convicted of murder, and lost it while he was in prison. The guards indulged his ideas, because it was easier that way, and he didn't cause any trouble for them. He had checks printed up at the prison, and he "purchased" the prison. He even wrote checks to the guards and staff to pay their wages!



This is a picture I took of Turkey Pete's cell. I can't explain the bluish haze in the lower left section. It was not showing on the screen when I took the picture.











The EVP I heard on the radio was from "The Hole", which was solitary confinement. I can't remember it exactly now, but it was a really scary voice saying something like "get out".




This is outside one of the solitary confinement cells in "The Hole". Notice the white glow at the top of the door. There was nothing in there to reflect the light, so I'm not sure where it came from...you decide!








The last part of our self-guided tour was the W.A. Clark Theater. It was built in 1919, and was gutted by fire in 1975. The fire was set deliberately, presumably to cover up evidence of a murder in there, but no charges were ever filed. The "haunting" story about this building is that sometimes guests smell the acrid odor of smoke and charred wood so overwhelming that their eyes water and they have to leave the building. This is odd considering the fire was over 30 years ago. I was in the theater by myself and when I was in the center of the room, I definitely caught a smoke/fire smell. It wasn't super strong, but it was noticeable.



This is me standing outside the theater. (In case you can't tell, I'm the little white dot in the center of the picture.)

Day Six: Missoula & Hamilton

Wednesday, we ventured 47 miles south of Missoula to the town of Hamilton, MT. I had watched a show on the History Channel (Yes, V! A history show on the History Channel.) about the Copper King Wars. Years ago my family toured the Copper King Mansion in Butte that was the home of William A. Clark, and when I found out that you could tour the home of another Copper King, Marcus Daly, I wanted to check it out.

This is the view from the front drive as you arrive at the house.

The house started out as a ranch house, then it was remodeled to a Victorian Style, and after Marcus Daly's death in 1900, his wife remodeled the home again to the current Georgian Revival style. Believe it or not, this was their summer home. They also owned a Brownstone in New York City. The Daly Mansion is huge and includes 25 bedrooms. After the death of Mrs. Daly in 1941, all of the furniture in the house was auctioned to pay the inheritance taxes. The house then sat empty and boarded up for forty years. Some of the original furniture has been returned to the museum, but most of it has not been. Pictures aren't allowed inside the mansion, which made me sad. I wanted to take some pictures of how badly damaged the house had become in the time it sat empty. The restoration project is ongoing, and will take many, many more years. It's heartbreaking that such a beautiful home sat empty for so long!

The tour was interesting, but I was hoping to find out more about the history of the family. Instead, our tour guide was obsessed with the furniture. In each room, she briefly mentioned to whom the room belonged, and then talked about how most/all of the furnishings in the room were not original, but were from the time period. I guess I'll have to do some research on my own.

Me sitting on a staircase behind the house.

The grounds are immaculate and beautiful and I enjoyed walking around the yard. We walked out to "The Plunge" which was a very fancy (for the period) swimming pool. It no longer holds water, but they keep the planters filled with fresh flowers, just like it was while the family lived there.

The Plunge...The pillars for the planters were built into the pool. The far building was four separate changing rooms.

Despite my disappointment at not learning more of Marcus Daly's history, I enjoyed the tour, and would definitely recommend it if you're ever in the area!

Day Five: Missoula Continued

Missoula again today. I was really lazy today and didn't even finish getting ready until 2:00pm. Mom and I grabbed a quick lunch and headed out to the Smokejumper Visitor Center. It was really fascinating, but the tour moved quickly and we were touring the facility while some of the Smokejumpers were there working on things, so I didn't want to take pictures and bother them. (They didn't look very pleased about the whole picture thing.) To my dismay, the only picture I got was of me outside the Visitor Center. But here it is for you to enjoy!

After the Smokejumper tour, we went to a bookstore called "Bird's Nest Books". They are a bookstore/book exchange that carries rare and out of print books. I found a book about the Vigilantes of Montana, and a book about the gold rush in Alder Gulch which is the area of Nevada City and Virginia City. I can't wait to start reading them.

We'll be off to some new adventures again tomorrow. I'll try to take more entertaining pictures.

Day Four: Missoula

We made it to Missoula on Monday. We were going to stop in Deer Lodge on our way to tour the historic Deer Lodge Prison (historic and very haunted), but I wasn't feeling very well, so we decided to hit it on our way back. We got to the hotel. checked in, and took a nap. After that, we were still feeling lazy, so we just went to the mall (yes, Mandy, there are lots of malls in Montana!) and shopped for a bit.



I decided that I was hungry, but by that time, most everything was closed so I ended up with chicken nuggets and a frosty from Wendy's. Pretty silly, huh? I go on vacation and eat the same type of dinner I have at home.

Day Three: Ennis

This morning, Mom and I attended the Ennis Branch with Aunt Susan and Shad's family. It was a different experience for me to be having church in mini building. It has a very small chapel, a couple of small rooms, a kitchen, and offices, and that's about it. The size of the building didn't matter, though, because the Spirit worked just the same. The meetings were great and reminded me of some amazing experiences I had a few years ago that I don't think about very often.



The Ennis LDS church building. Just to give you a little perspective, the flowering bushes toward the left are lilac bushes that are about my height, so about 5 feet tall. Isn't it a cute building?


After church, we went to Susan's house to eat lunch and visit. We had a FABULOUS lunch, and we had so much fun catching up with the family, that I forgot to take any pictures while we were there! So, if you ever make it to Ennis, Montana, stop by the Ennis Trading Post and say hi to my family. ;)

After dinner we headed up to Butte to stay the night, and tomorrow morning we'll head to Missoula. More later!

Day Two: Virginia City

Saturday morning, Mom and I left Idaho Falls, and headed for Ennis, MT. We made a quick stop there at the Ennis Trading Post that my cousin, Shad, owns. I mean it when I say quick. We stopped just long enough to surprise my Aunt Susan, who didn't know we were coming, then we headed over to Virginia City and Nevada City. Virginia City and Nevada City are ghost towns from the Gold Rush days. They are about half a mile apart, and are very different from each other. Nevada City is mostly empty buildings with some artifacts from that era. Virginia City has been restored more, and is a cute little town with lots of history and character. We had lunch in Nevada City at the Star Bakery. They have my favorite french fries. Then we headed back to Virginia City so that I could take a two hour horseback ride.






This was my horseback tour guide, Dalen. I found out later that he is in the LDS branch my family attends in Ennis, and my cousin, Shad, taught him in Young Mens.

Dalen adjusting my stirrups for the ride. This was the biggest horse I've ever ridden, but he was really sweet. It was so fun to be doing one of my favorite things in one of my favorite places! (Check out my cute pink boots...I don't get to wear them very often.)

After my ride, Mom and I went to see a show at the old Opera House. The Virginia City Players do a show, and then at the end, they do some funny vaudeville acts. I always end up laughing so hard that I cry! After the show, Mom and I went on the Ghost Walk. We walked through town in the dark listening to some of the history of the town, combined with ghostly experiences that people have had in the town. It was really fun, and I only got scared twice. We were standing outside the buildings listening to the stories about them for most of the tour, but we got to go into two of the buildings. The first was the Bonanza House. It was an infirmary, but is now used as a boarding house for the people who work in the town during the summer. As we were standing in the dark hallway listening to ghost stories about the building, someone below the floor banged on it right under my feet. I must have jumped a mile! The second time I got scared was in the Hangman's Office. It was just really creepy to be standing inside an old building, in the dark, listening to the ghostly experiences that people have had in that building, all while looking up at the beam used to hang several outlaws. You can still see the "rope burns" on the beam from the hangings.

It was a busy day, and I was exhausted when we got back to the hotel in Ennis, but it was a GREAT day, and will probably be one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

Road Trip!!!

My much anticipated, unbelievably needed vacation has begun. Mom and I left for our yearly Montana trip today. We went as far as Idaho Falls, and we will continue on first thing in the morning. We will be headed to Ennis, Montana and Virginia City, Montana tomorrow. Can't wait! I'll try to post pictures and stories most days, but some days I won't have Internet access. I'll miss all of you. See you soon!

Kittens!!!

I promised in my last post that I would explain more about the kittens, so here goes:

Last October, we found four cute, furry little kittens keeping warm under our deck. Their mom was occasionally around, and they came and went. We didn't pay a whole lot of attention to them, except to enjoy the fact that there were no mice around the house all winter. YEA!!! Two of the four kittens eventually disappeared, and I tell myself that they have been adopted into loving homes. The other two kittens, and Mom still come around sometimes, so we have named them. I named the mom Elphaba, from Wicked, because she can be so mean. Heidi named the tabby cat Groban, after Josh Groban, and the third cat has a crazy name. She is a grey cat that was born with only three legs and a stump. My friends Heather and Jaclyn saw her first and called her Tripod. My roommate Jalizabeth called her Hobbles, and Heidi called her Stumpy, so I combined the three and we call her Stumpoddles.

Last week I came home to the news that there were two new kittens living under our deck. Then Heidi saw a third, and last Thursday, I came home to find five cute little kittens playing in our backyard. They have become a hot neighborhood attraction. Today, Heidi and I were outside enjoying the silliness of little kittens. The neighbors came over with their little boy, and Heidi's sister, Emily, and her husband Jacob came to see the kittens, too. I'm not sure who made the discovery, because I was inside for a minute, but I came back outside to the news that not only does Elphie have the five little kittens hanging out under our deck, but Stumpoddles apparently has two younger, smaller kittens that she is living with way under the deck.

So, we have seven kittens, three cats, two humans, and a partridge in a pear tree at our house. Okay, so there's no partridge or pear tree, and there had better not be any more cats either!!!!

Does anyone out there want a kitten or two? Let me know! I'll post pictures later.

A Very Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday, and although it was a quiet one, it was a very good one! I started my day with text messages from my niece and nephew and phone calls from my sisters, and by finding a box of Krispy Kremes and a magic wand on my office chair. Then my friend, Kim, took me for a delicious lunch, I lounged on the couch watching my favorite show (So You Think You Can Dance), Heidi took me out for frozen hot chocolate, and then Cassity came over to play with our kittens (more on the kittens later!). Intermingled with all of that, I received phone calls, text messages and e-mails from family and friends. There's no birthday present better than knowing you are loved! Thank you all!!!

To continue the celebration, tonight Heidi took me out for dinner and the best chocolate cake ever from Magelby's Fresh, and we watched an episode of one of our favorite shows, and then we watched "27 Dresses". It was a really cute movie, and a fun way to celebrate my birthday. I have the best roommate ever!!!

I would definitely say that "twenty-twelve" has been a good year so far! Can't wait for the family party tomorrow!!!