Sept 16 – We slept in and had a relaxing morning. We didn’t head out until just before lunch. We met Dane’s brother, Todd, and his wife, Shauna, for lunch at a saloon. The food was good, and I enjoyed meeting them. Originally from Plymouth, England, Shauna moved to Camden, SC, in 1990 to train and race horses. They are both well-traveled, and it was fun to hear about some of their experiences.
We then visited Virginia City, an Old West town founded after one of the richest gold strikes in the Rockies. It served as Montana’s capital for 10 years. As we walked around, we toured a beautiful Episcopal Church and saw an interesting way to water plants using an upside-down bottle. We also toured the town in a vintage fire engine and learned about the area’s history before heading to Nevada City, a ghost town about a mile away. This is not a real ghost town but a historical museum. They moved historic Gold Rush buildings from all over Montana. It is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but we explored the outskirts. It looks like it has an operating hotel and old miners’ cabins (with modern conveniences) that they rent when it is open.
We rode our bicycles around the neighborhood to check off Montana! It was windy, and we were not excited to ride, but we really enjoyed it once we got out there. Cycling is often like that. I discovered my cell phone has an action-cam photo option, so we played with it some. It makes us look like we are going very fast. We were not. I think I will stick with regular panning in the future. Oh, and I included a photo of a house in the neighborhood that we rode past. They had two kites tied to their house, and you can see that, because it was so windy, they were flying on their own.
Since we have a nice kitchen, we picked up roasted chicken and salads from the grocery store, which is within walking distance of our house. We enjoyed a healthy, quick, easy dinner. We’re also boiling eggs to keep in our cooler for snacks over the next few days.
We booked a room in Alta, WY, for the upcoming two nights. It is 37 miles from Jackson Hole, but rooms there were hard to come by and/or overpriced. We plan to travel through Yellowstone and Grand Teton on the way there. It is 15 miles from Victor, ID. The Grand Teton NP and Victor, ID both have incredible paved rail trails. We really, really hope the weather works out. It looks very iffy. We have our rain gear and will make the best of it.
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