Livingston to Butte - Montana Day 3

Virginia City along the Bozeman Trail

The wind in Livingston had finally died down that morning, and we were ready for an early start. Long day ahead with some primary targets for Kathy's ghost towning, down the Bozeman trail. Along with the mining ruins along the way, we land in Virginia City. This is a really cool town for those of us who like the old shops, various tours and antiques. Lots to do here, including a train ride over to Nevada City, Stage Coach tours, an old fire engine turned into a touring ride, shopping and plenty of history. In fact, it's a National Historic Landmark District with 200 historic buildings. If your not into just the ruins, but want a good small town, old west feel, Virginia City should be on your list of stops.

After wrapping up there we head just a few short miles to Nevada City, which includes a walking tour of the recreated mining town. I think some of the buildings are originals, but others have been brought in. It was an alright stop, but not as fun or large as Virginia City. We grabbed a bite to eat while there at a small restaurant that appeared to cater to the 'California lifestyle' (in other words, no grease or fat, and what I call weeds for lettuce...Hey, if that's your thing great, you'll love it).

Next on the list of must see's was Bannack. Along the way we got a little lost (gotta learn that Tom Tom doesn't always know best), but after stumbling onto a couple more ghost towns and taking a leisurely ride down many dirt roads out of Garnett, we finally made it just in time for a good Montana thunder boomer. We just paid our entry fee and were walking in when the rain started, so we camped out in the old hotel. Very convenient that they let you in all the buildings, and the hotel was a great place to spend some time. I think Kathy got a vibe that a spirit still lingered there, but all I got was the since of history in this incredible mining town. After the rain we ventured through the rest of the buildings, and Kathy decided to jaunt off by herself up to the Cemetery. She was on the grand search for Henry Plummer, the local sheriff who wound up in his own jail and then hanged by the gallows he created. You would think that she would remember that ol Plummer's grave wasn't even there, especially since she wrote about it on Legends Of America, but it didn't hit her until after spending quality time looking.

By now it's getting late, and we have a long way to go to get to Butte for the night. We had also decided to take the Wind River Scenic Byway, which included another ghost town on the way. The rain had moved out of the area, but the storm was pretty powerful. Saw several tree's snapped at the base along the roadside, before finding our turn to Coolidge. A four mile detour on some dirt road, which happened to be blocked half way in by a nice plump pine tree. Lucky we had our high clearance SUV, as Kathy was insistent on getting to her out of the way backwoods treasure.

Within about a 1/2 mile of the town, you're hiking the rest of the way in. This wouldn't have been so bad, if it weren't for the fact that the mosquitoes were also on a mission. By the time we reached the town I looked like something out of a cartoon. Hands and arms waving frantically, constantly moving to avoid large hordes of the blood sucking bastards gathering, and generally getting a miserable experience (note to self: Deep Woods Off). This ghost town did have some treasures though. Several buildings still intact, and a school that apparently found it self in a fast flowing stream. Only the top remains, with the water flowing underneath. Don't see that everyday. We made our way just over half way through the town when I finally had enough.."I'm done, going back to the car before these vampires suck me dry". Kathy being Kathy wasn't even phased by them, and the look of "go ahead you wimp, snivel on back" didn't help.


I cussed a while on my way, then realized I had just left my wife alone, deep in the woods, as the sun continued to go down, traipsing through god knows what miles from anywhere. OK OK, DAMN IT! "Thought you were going back to the car?" Kathy's inquisitive, yet comical smile could be seen clearly while I was still 30 feet away. "If I keep moving they don't overcome me as much" I said, trying to convince myself as I rubbed the back of my neck which felt like a brail Stephen King novel. Fortunately she was wrapping up, and after what seemed to be a long journey back to the rental, we were on our way to Butte. Thank goodness the local ranger had moved the tree before our return down the mountain, and it was smooth sailing to wrap up our 12 hour day of history.

Next on the blog, Butte to Marysville and Albert, Mad Man or Mountain Man.

Cody to Livingston - The Yellowstone Experience - Day 2

We got up from our comfortable stay at the Holiday Inn in Cody Wyoming early Monday. There had been brief discussion the night before about staying in Cody two nights, but after looking at our plans again there was just too much to see in a short period of time. So we geeked a bit, then set out to see Cody, home of Buffalo Bill Cody, a true American Showman.

Sheridan Avenue is dotted with bears. Blue ones, yellow ones, red ones...bears in all poses, carved out of wood and colorfully painted, then strategically placed along the sidewalks for visitors to enjoy. It was much like the horses of Amarillo, or the bulls of Chicago, and it added that extra touch to an already fun town. Kathy and I took the time to soak up the business district, winding up at the Irma Hotel. Built by Buffalo Bill in 1902, the Hotel is still active, and served up one hell of a breakfast buffet. Very beautifully kept, the hotel gives you a great feel for the old west. It's also said to be haunted. Kathy took great photos, and the one posted here of the bar is one of several. Only thing unique about this one is the fact there isn't an Orb in the picture before or after...just this one ;).


After breakfast it was on to the Buffalo Bill Historic Center, what I consider the crown jewel of Cody. This complex of museums was incredible. A full history of the legendary buffalo hunter, how he became such an internationally known showman, and how his famous show finally ended in the early 1900's. There's also the Whitney Art Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, and the Draper Museum of Natural History, which goes over Human interaction with Yellowstone National Park. If you're planning a visit to Cody, plan on at least two or three hours at the Historic Center. Lot's to see and this complex gets five stars in my book.



From the Historic center, we headed out Yellowstone Avenue, taking our next stop at the Museum of the Old West at Old Trail Town. This was an 'alright' stop, with several old west buildings lining a walking tour street. It's a good place to pause before heading up the road to our ultimate destination of the day, Yellowstone National Park.

Along the highway leading in there are signs warning you of Grizzly country ahead. If you plan on spending a lot of time in Yellowstone, or the area around it, you really should read up on what to do if you encounter one of these incredible creatures. Especially if you plan on camping out or hiking in the backwoods. Kathy and I were hoping to get a glimpse of one, but being late July, we think they had already migrated to higher elevations. In fact, we just happened to see a documentary on Yellowstone the night before at the hotel in Cody. It indicated that the bears moved above the tree lines in the highest elevations to feed off moths by late July, and that the best time to see them in the more accessible areas of the park were Spring and early Summer.

Wildlife still on our minds though, and we had camera's ready just in case. Poor Kathy, all we wound up with was the ass of a buffalo, a deer (we think), and some muskrats. Of course, we had an agenda to get to a hotel in Livingston Montana by that night, so we couldn't spend the quality time needed in Yellowstone to really experience the animals there. But we did experience the beauty, including of course Old Faithful. You really can't put the incredible awe of Yellowstone in words of a blog, so instead I'll just let you see for yourself with these pics.





Kathy and I don't do well with large crowds, so when we pulled into the parking lot of Old Faithful we had to prepare ourselves a bit. Definitely a main attraction, with at least a thousand people all heading toward the famous geyser. Since it goes off every 90 minutes, the crowds come in waves. We just happened to get there about 40 minutes from the next blow. I had our new video camera in hand and was ready at the switch. After making our way through the crowd we found a spot front and center, sitting on the edge of a platform in front of the seating with a clear view of the main attraction. I learned pretty quick that Old Faithful isn't always on time, and there were several false starts, which had me starting and stopping the damn camera at least 15 times. Of course, that meant when the real show started, I missed at least 7 seconds of the beginning thinking it was just another false start. Should've just put the camera on a tri-pod and let er roll.

After Old Faithfuls show of force, we migrated with the crowd to the historic Old Faithful Inn. From what I could see, this was an incredible hotel with gorgeous architecture, but it wasn't really enjoyable with the hundreds of others fighting their way through the lobby. Is there an off season for this place?

It was clouding up by the time we left Old Faithful, and sure enough it poured on us as we made our way out the North entrance to the park. We finally got ahead of the storm by the time we landed in Livingston at the Best Western there. Wind howling at what seemed like 50 to 60 mph, we bedded down for the night, fighting sporadic internet and wishing we had more time to play in Yellowstone. No time for regrets though...it's back to ghost towns and onward toward Butte. Tuesday would be our longest and most adventurous day yet. I'll post that story soon.

Travel Hell to Ghost Town Heaven-Wyoming Day 1.5

The Smoking Lounge to Dollar Rental...

We made our flight out of Denver at about 1:30pm Saturday. It's a pretty short flight to Jackson Hole Wyoming but we were already worn out by the delays that morning when we got there. This is an interesting airport, one of the few that still bring out the mobile stairwells to the plane for de-boarding. Obviously could only handle two major flights at a time, as a Delta jet arrived the same time we did and it turned pretty hectic inside the airport.

After battling the crowd and waiting for the Dollar Rental bus to show up, we headed into Jackson Hole to get our SUV. Dollar Rental was a small building in the middle of town, and evidentially had the best rates, since there were at least 20 other people trying to get cars. Kathy went ahead and took care of business while I stood outside with the bags. Looking through the window I knew it wouldn't be a good experience as Kathy's face was already getting red. The gal that was waiting on her kept getting interrupted by other employees for various reasons. By the time Kathy finally came out she was fuming. "Do we have a rental?" I asked, not seeing any keys or contract in her hand. "How the hell should I know, the gal just stopped mid stream and started helping someone else!"

About that time, one of the other employees in charge of getting the vehicles to their drivers walked by. Seeing several people standing around us, all looking at Kathy's now glowing radioactive face with smoke rolling off the top of her ears, he took charge to get the situation under control. Moments later he was guiding us to an SUV and the manager was hurriedly coming out with contract in hand. As he handed the contract to Kathy he made his first critical mistake...."Everything OK?" Now, Kathy controls her self fine, but is pretty good about letting you know just how bad your customer service sucks when it's called for. "Twenty three times, I counted em...Twenty three times your customer service rep was interrupted while helping me, and not by other customers...by employees who apparently haven't a clue about what they are doing!!!!". That's about the time the manager made his second mistake. "But everything is OK now?"

This is when everything in my mind goes into slow motion....Kathy moving in for the kill while I turn to look at the manager, who doesn't realize the true danger he is in. Making sure I get his attention, and then give him the look only another man would understand....you know, the look that says 'Stop talking now...back up and slowly move away from the vehicle...do not attempt any further communication or risk the wrath that you have called upon yourself for asking such a stupid question to begin with'.

Jackson Hole to Dubois

We would have loved to make it all the way to Lander that day, but we were both completely beat. Saw some great scenery at the edge of the Grand Tetons as we traveled along highway 191 up to Moran, then down 287. Wound up stopping at Dubois, home of the Giant Jackalope. A nice little old western tourist stop that I'm sure we would have enjoyed, if we had the energy. Stopped at the Super 8 and settled in for a nice peaceful rest, determined to change the course of our adventure with a fresh start Sunday morning.




Dubois to Cody...

Got an early start on the day, knowing we had a long one ahead of us. Our primary objective were the ghost towns around Lander Wyoming. The drive was beautiful, following the Wind river, stopping to see Fort Washakie and the grave site of Sacagawea, the famous Indian guide to Lewis and Clark. Passing through Lander, then down highway 28 through Red Canyon, we reach the historic mining district of Atlantic City and South Pass. Cool views and a driving tour of Atlantic City, but not a town trying to get tourists to stop and stay for a while. It was still home to about 57 residents and while they want you to see their history, I got the impression they wanted you to see it from the highway. Most all the points of interest were on the paved road, and no stores open on Sunday. There is a small saloon though that looks like it does good business during the week.


Onward toward South Pass we come upon an abandoned mine on the side of a mountain. This is what Kathy lives for, those out of the way hidden treasures not frequented by the public. After finding a road leading up to the mine we get a real treat with several buildings still in tact and most of the mine still standing. You could tell it had been active up until at least the 1940's, and we would later get confirmation of that as we moved closer to South Pass and ran into a bigger Mine that was being restored for public touring. The history of the area indicated that the gold mining was finally played out and totally abandoned by the 1950's.


Just a step or two down the road is South Pass. This mining gem is a State Historic Site, and many of the buildings have been restored. Small fee to take the walking tour and worth it. We really enjoyed ourselves learning about the stage stop along the Oregon Trail, the people that used to live there and how the town went from 2,000 residents to no one. Today about seven people live there, but there are plenty of visitors to stop by and give it life again.

After South Pass we head back up toward Lander, almost ready to call it a day, but not before Kathy finds another ghost town, this one not restored, but maintained for visitors. It's a short hike off a dirt road to Hamilton City, with several buildings in various states of being reclaimed by Mother Earth. You'll note that it's on signs and maps as Miners Delight, and it's a good stop for enthusiasts like us.

Finally ready to head down the road, we made it back through Lander on highway 789 up to Riverton, then highway 26 through Boysen State Park, with plenty of photo opportunities sure to please any nature lover. Catching highway 20 in Shoshoni, then highway 120 in Thermopolis, along the way some incredible Wyoming scenery to help light our way and tickle our minds with anticipation of our next exploration, Cody and Yellow Stone National Park.


Next blog adventure: Cody Wyoming's Crown Jewel and Mother Earths incredible forces in Yellowstone.

In t er ne t pl ea s e

Help, we are somewhere in Montana and need more internet. Have so much to write about , but not getting it done. ...someone reboot this damn router!


Livingston, Best Western 7/22/08

Wyoming's a long way from DIA

I can see the rockies in the distance. There's still snow on some of the peaks, but the view isn't that spectacular from this vantage point. In the fore ground, United Airlines has a plane at about every terminal, with B37 right in front of me. The fact that I'm posting a blog from the Smoking Lounge in Denver International Airport should tell you that something has gone awry in our travel plans today.

This mornings flight from KC to Jackson Hole Wyoming through Denver was supposed to be an early one. Kathy had saved a couple hundred bucks booking the 6:20am departure, but I think next time we'll kick in the extra to sleep in. Being excited about our upcoming adventure to Wyoming, Montana and parts of Idaho, I was up until almost 11 last night in anticipation. Then for what ever reason I was up and at'em at 2:30 this morning. Still had some packing to do, and needed some time to geek and get caffeinated anyway.

We finally got out the door and to the airport by 5:15, but we were greated with a very long, and slow moving line at the United counter. Don't know for sure what happened, but anyone with a connecting flight through Denver were being guided away from the check in kiosks and forced to wait. Bottom line, we didn't get out of KC until 7:45 this morning, and of course missed our connecting flight.

So, here we are connected to the fabulous wi-fi at DIA, drinking our tea and pop and hording a corner of the Smoking Lounge near an electrical outlet. Gonna be here until 1:30 this afternoon, so plenty of time to count the number of Southwest flights continually taking off while United planes still perch at the gates in front of us.

This changes our itinerary for the day a bit. Not a lot of time to spend in Jackson Hole on the front end, and we are going to try to push for Lander Wyoming by tonight. The Grand Tetons are on the way, so don't know for sure we'll make it. Lots of Ghost Towns on the agenda for Sunday in the Lander area, before we head up toward Cody. This is definitely going to be an adventure filled 10 days...but we have to get out of the Smoking Lounge first.

There's Treasure in Them There Hills

A good friend of mine pointed out this week that it's been a while since I posted a blog. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, but this summer is quickly sneaking by us at Legends of America, and I better catch up before it leaves me behind.

Readers of Legends of America are also busy dealing with the latest economics, politics and general mayhem 2008 is bringing, so the web site is starting to see a bit of a change in traffic. Primarily focused on travel to those out of the way places in the Old West and Route 66, the web site still draws thousands to read about places like Tombstone and Flagstaff, but readers are also starting to turn to treasure tales. Junes statistics saw just under 382,000 unique visitors, a 19% drop in traffic from May. Kathy tells me that's normal for summer months, but what caught my eye is the fact her treasure page has jumped into the top 10 most visited at number 8 in June (when excluding site search results and main page).

TOP 10 Pages in Legends of America - June 2008

/WE-JesseJames.html	23944
/66-Mainpage.html	15723
/LA-Ghosttowns.html	10706
/LA-OldWestLegends.html	10478
/GH-TwistedHistory3.html	10168
/NA-Totems.html	9167
/LA-VintagePhotos.html	8406
/LA-Treasures.html	8251
/postcards-descriptions/People-Postcards.html	8074
/LA-GhostlyLegends.html	8062

Search Terms also reflect the increasing interest in treasure, with the term treasure hunting making it in the top 10 as well.

Top 10 Search phrases on Legends of America - June 2008

76616 different keyphrases	Search
route 66	4554
jesse james	3537
la llorona	1773
robert ford	1487
dutch oven recipes	1199
geronimo	910
goldfield hotel	735
doc holiday	553
treasure hunting	519
old west	512

So maybe I should take a cue from the readers and consider doing some treasure hunting of my own. Could be a nice break from just taking pictures of Ghost Towns. Better check them rules though before I go, make sure I'm not upsetting any spirits or lawmen.

The rest of the summer is about to go at warp speed. Kathy and I spent most of June at Legends of America's future headquarters on the Lake of the Ozarks. Finally got a most of our landscaping done and now in the planning stages of building an additional office/garage for a shipping center. We have photo's of the latest work on our second home and I promise to post a link here as soon as they're up.

Tomorrow we fly out for a 10 day tour of Wyoming, Montana and all the incredible sites in-between. Definitely going to enjoy it as it promises to bring many new adventures. I'll be out of the loop most of August and September doing my corporate gig, but I'm sure Kathy will stay in the thick of things catching everyone up on our trip.

I'll try to post again within the next few days and let you know if I find any treasure in Yellowstone ;).

On my feet again after May slowdown

Finally back into normal tennis shoes after being on my back most of May. You would think I would have gotten a lot of blogging done during my down time, but was too caught up in the ceiling paint and other distractions.

Legends of America was a little off as well. Looks like the high price of gas is effecting many peoples desire for travel, however if you live in the American West, this site is perfect for those short little day trips. It's also a good way to see most of Route 66 from the comfort of your computer, and dream about those Old West ghost towns and legends.

May numbers broke down like this.

Legends of America had 468,904 unique visitors, or about 15,126 per day. Those visitors represented 34.8 million hits on the site.

The top five most popular pages visited, with the exception of the main page and search results, are:
3687 different pages-url Viewed

/WE-JesseJames.html	27126
/GH-TwistedHistory3.html	22125
/66-Mainpage.html	16497
/LA-OldWestLegends.html	12447
/LA-Ghosttowns.html	12419

What are the top subjects you're searching for?

Search Keyphrases (Top 10)
93598 different keyphrases Search Percent route 66 5007 1.7 % jesse james 4718 1.6 % goldfield hotel 3884 1.3 % la llorona 3384 1.2 % robert ford 1783 0.6 % deadwood figure 1360 0.4 % geronimo 1346 0.4 % doc holiday 1126 0.4 % doc holliday 1041 0.3 % civil war facts 965 0.3 %

An estimated 72% of Legends visitors added the site to their favorites in May. For that we say a big Thank Ya!

Kathy's been busy adding more stories and pages than you can shake a stick at. Be sure to check what's been added by visiting her "What's New" page.

June's busy getting things caught up on the site before our next big adventure in Montana next month. Kathy's added Canvas prints to her photo print shop so be sure to check it out.