We got on the road and headed towards a place called Virginia City. That, along with nearby Nevada City, were classified as ghost towns. Jess was pretty interested in visiting ghost towns so I thought this might be fun. We originally planned on doing that before Yellowstone but after staying in SD an extra day, we decided against it. With a day opening up because we left Billings early, I decided to give a try since it was only an hour past Bozeman.
The drive out there was beautiful - the mountains are bigger and there are wide open valleys. We also crossed the Madison River and that had some fantastic scenery. Unfortunately, once we got to Virginia City it went downhill. Now, most of the tourists are gone and half the shops are closed. Even if it was busy, however, it still would have been just ok. There was a free museum that was like someone's basement full of junk. Between an old wagon, some period dress and old printing presses, there were modern items like a CareBear with a Carolina Panthers logo. When we went upstairs, there was more junk along with a little shop. Jess started to get creeped out and it didn't help when the old guy running the place was talking about wanting to get to a bigger town but he "was in too deep now." We quickly got in the car and drove to Nevada City, which is a collection of original old buildings from the mining town plus other old buildings from around Montana in various states of repair. It was neat to look at for a minute but there wasn't much to do. We headed back to Bozeman to get dinner and find our hotel since we'd like to hit the road early tomorrow for our first day at Yellowstone.
Approaching our hotel, I saw a wonderful sign: there was an Old Chicago nearby! Yes, this is a chain pizza restaurant but everyone knows I love chains and pizza. There used to be one in Wake Forest that we went to all the time - even though I typically don't like deep dish pizza, I love theirs for some reason. As time went on, Old Chicago was better to go to because there were no crowds, even on a Friday night. Of course, that was a bad since they ended up closing shortly thereafter. This chain is mostly in the Midwest and West so I haven't had it in at least 6 years. I looked up where they were before we left for the trip and I knew we'd cross paths with a couple but as the trip went on, I completely forgot about it. Driving out of Billings today (going in a direction we hadn't gone before), we saw a sign about a mile from our hotel. I was so crestfallen for the next hour, I don't even remember driving. So when we pulled up to our hotel and saw the sign for it, it was sweet redemption. We did have it for dinner and it was delicious, though I think I built it up too much in my head (or it slightly changed since 2008).
Bozeman is a neat town. It's very pretty here and they have everything in terms of stores and places to eat. We went down their Main St. and it was pretty lively. All in all, if you ever go to Montana, skip Billings and go to Bozeman - you won't regret it.
Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone National Park and are staying at the Old Faithful Inn. We don't know if we'll have internet or cell coverage so there may not be any posts until Saturday. It should be fun, since as they say in Billings, "any day you're not in Billings is a good day." Note: No says this, though they should.
The drive out there was beautiful - the mountains are bigger and there are wide open valleys. We also crossed the Madison River and that had some fantastic scenery. Unfortunately, once we got to Virginia City it went downhill. Now, most of the tourists are gone and half the shops are closed. Even if it was busy, however, it still would have been just ok. There was a free museum that was like someone's basement full of junk. Between an old wagon, some period dress and old printing presses, there were modern items like a CareBear with a Carolina Panthers logo. When we went upstairs, there was more junk along with a little shop. Jess started to get creeped out and it didn't help when the old guy running the place was talking about wanting to get to a bigger town but he "was in too deep now." We quickly got in the car and drove to Nevada City, which is a collection of original old buildings from the mining town plus other old buildings from around Montana in various states of repair. It was neat to look at for a minute but there wasn't much to do. We headed back to Bozeman to get dinner and find our hotel since we'd like to hit the road early tomorrow for our first day at Yellowstone.
Madison River
Virginia City
Approaching our hotel, I saw a wonderful sign: there was an Old Chicago nearby! Yes, this is a chain pizza restaurant but everyone knows I love chains and pizza. There used to be one in Wake Forest that we went to all the time - even though I typically don't like deep dish pizza, I love theirs for some reason. As time went on, Old Chicago was better to go to because there were no crowds, even on a Friday night. Of course, that was a bad since they ended up closing shortly thereafter. This chain is mostly in the Midwest and West so I haven't had it in at least 6 years. I looked up where they were before we left for the trip and I knew we'd cross paths with a couple but as the trip went on, I completely forgot about it. Driving out of Billings today (going in a direction we hadn't gone before), we saw a sign about a mile from our hotel. I was so crestfallen for the next hour, I don't even remember driving. So when we pulled up to our hotel and saw the sign for it, it was sweet redemption. We did have it for dinner and it was delicious, though I think I built it up too much in my head (or it slightly changed since 2008).
Bozeman is a neat town. It's very pretty here and they have everything in terms of stores and places to eat. We went down their Main St. and it was pretty lively. All in all, if you ever go to Montana, skip Billings and go to Bozeman - you won't regret it.
Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone National Park and are staying at the Old Faithful Inn. We don't know if we'll have internet or cell coverage so there may not be any posts until Saturday. It should be fun, since as they say in Billings, "any day you're not in Billings is a good day." Note: No says this, though they should.
