Bannack Ghost Town

Here are the photos from the Ghost Town......

The Masonic Lodge and Schoolhouse

Cool Staircase in the Meade Hotel

The stove in the Meade Hotel

The Methodist Church built in 1877

The pews of the Methodist Church

The Gallows and Cemetary are on the hill

The Bessette House.  This is where they quarantined residents with influenza, scarlet fever, diptheria and whooping cough.  Some folks believe the house is haunted, and it is known as the "crying baby house".

The Meade Hotel

This house was furnished.  Love the old furniture and appliances.

A Victor Vacuum and washer

Love this wallpaper!  Vintage to say the least!

Dillon Montana and Bannack State Park

We arrived on Saturday and are staying at the Southside RV Park.  The park is clean, tidy and the owners are very friendly.  The weather here is still iffy, with nice sunny days in the low 60's to chilly chilly windy and snowy.  Seems the high winds are following us along with unseasonably cold.  Yesterday we had winds in the mid 30's with gusts in the 50's-60's.  Come on Spring, lets get going!

The Snake River

This is flat land Montana, Farming everywhere you look

The mountains rise out the flats

What would Montana be without beef?  Everyone has a herd.

Mowgli's favorite spot to travel  

On Sunday we drove 26 miles to Bannack State Park, the best preserved Ghost Town there is.  There are 50 buildings and you can venture into any that are not locked.  The town of Bannack was formed in 1862 when gold was discovered in Grasshopper Creek.  Soon the population exploded to 3000+ by 1863.  When the gold ran out, the town died.  Typical of gold towns, there were feuds, murders and prostitution.  The girls came and went and new arrivals garnered quite a bit of attention.  Hurdy Gurdy girls were entertainers and provided comfort and companionship for $.50 to$1.00 a dance. 

Skinners Saloon had a beautiful carved bar and a barbers chair.  This was the gathering place for Sheriff Henry Plummer and his road agents.    

Many a mug was skid down this bar I would guess

a barbers chair in Skinners Saloon

There were also civilized activities like ice skating,baseball and fancy balls.  The Mason's recognized the need for a school house so they built their lodge and a one room schoolhouse in one building.  The desks looked really uncomfortable!

The Merry Go Round in front of the School House

I would hate to have to sit in these all day long!

The Mason's meeting room

The Gallows were outside of town.  These were permanent structures and were ordered by Sheriff Henry Plummer to hang a convicted murderer.  The Sheriff himself was later hanged from these same Gallows.  The jails were built so the prisoners could see the Gallows from the barred windows.  The prisoners were chained to the floor to keep from escaping.  No one wanted the job of guarding a prisoner since that meant they couldn't be out mining for gold.  The jail was the first one to be built in Montana territory.  

The view of the Gallows from the jail

Prisoners were attached to these 

The Jails

I took so many pictures of the buildings, peeling layers of wallpaper and linoleum on the floors, I will post them in a separate post.  Too many for one post!  To learn more the direct link to the Bannack State Park website is Bannack.org/.

We'll be spending a few more days here as there is lots to see!  

Record Cold (for us) in Jackson, WY

Sunday morning was grey skies and cold.  The forecast said snow and it did.  We relaxed all day while the snow flurried about, melting as soon as it the ground.

Gidget watching the snow

The temps are dropping, instead of climbing for Spring.  The morning low was 11.  No problems for the Beast though.  the only issues were we were cold and the water pump froze up. 

On Monday the skies were blue, beyond any blue I have seen.  The sun shine felt great!  Don;t let the sun fool you though, it as still in the 30's all day.  Feeling a little cabin fever, we packed up the puppies and took a ride to the Tetons.  

Jackson, Wyoming

Jackson, Jackson Hole or the Tetons, it is all the same place.  

Jackson, WY is just south of Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.  We are camped in Jackson Hole Campground.  It is outside of Jackson and on the way to the Teton Village ski area.  We are in between the ski season and the summer tourist season, so lots of venues are closed.  Speaking of closed, our campground is also closed.  It seems when we made the reservations we were talking to someone from one of the owners other campgrounds which is open.  When we arrived bleary eyed and tired yesterday, the woman at the office came out to greet us with "Hello, do you need something?"  We said yes, we are checking in and she asked if we had reservations and have we already paid.  She told us they are not open, but would find a spot with power.  There is no water, but the beast is like a camel and we have plenty in our tanks.  So far its been real quiet.  We can turn the tv up as loud as we like and no one is there to complain.  

The local restaurants do a buy one entree and get the second for $2.00 with the $2.00 going to a different local organization each week.   We enjoyed cheese grits, ribs, spinach, salads and a pitcher of Grand Teton double vision Doppelbock beer at Roadhouse Q, next to our private campground.  All were yummy! Doppelbock was brewed there and hit me fast!  Gotta love retirement!

 

The Geese are everywhere here.  We also saw a beaver in this pond.  

Elk Reserve 

Yes, those little dots are actually big elk.   After a visit to the Elk Reserve, we walked the two doggies along the Snake River.  It was low, but running pretty fast.  We had to hurry back as it was starting to snow and get colder.  We got home just in time for some wind and lots of snow, but it has stopped now.  Expecting more snow this evening and overnight with tomorrows high of 33 and the low of 11.  Sure do wish Spring would hurry and get here.  We'll be exploring this area for about a week, then heading farther north, depending on weather of course!

Things to do in Salt Lake City While you wait

While waiting for the hydraulic lines for the slide outs to be completed and the weather to improve, you can kill time in Salt Lake City by filling your days with odds and ends...

First up is a Grizzlies Hockey Game.  The Grizzlies were in the first round of the playoffs.  We splurged and got front ice side seats.  We had a great time, but the Grizzlies did lose in overtime.  The food was good and the beer better.

The Mormon Temple is a popular spot, especially in the Spring.  The grounds are meticulous, (think Disneyland clean) and there are lots of young missionaries there to guide you if you wish.  You can also do self guided, with the only building not open to the public is the Temple itself.  The Temple took 40 years to build from 1853 to 1893.  

  There is a family history library where you can access family records and trace your roots.  The conference center holds over 21,000 and has a four acre rooftop garden with waterfalls.  It is a beautiful place to see.  

Assembly Hall built in 1882

The Tabernacle is open to the public daily for Organ Recitals.  The Organ has 11,623 pipes and was built in the 1860s and rebuilt in the 1940s.  It was quite impressive, however about 3 songs too long for me.  I began to daydream....Hubby took a snooze.  Guess we are not into Organ music....

There are Tulips everywhere in Salt Lake City, The Temple grounds were no exception....

 

The Capital of Utah

The flags were at half staff for the Boston Marathon Victims.

The view from the Capital south down State Street.

The capital dome is made of copper, the main entry is onyx.  It is beautiful.

When you do most everything, you can visit the Chocolate Factory.  Sea Salt Caramels were yummy!

Ok, When your done with all that, you can always re wallpaper the bath area.....

Next you can dress up the dogs...

Charleston looks thrilled!!!

I know this is a long post, but had a set back with the new computer and took me awhile to figure it all out.  Besides, you can see how busy we've been goofing off.  The temps have not improved farther North, but the repairs are all done and we are itching to get on the road!  Saturday we head North to the Tetons and Jackson, WY.  More on that tomorrow.