The 4th of July in Virginia City

To celebrate the 4th of July we decided to pack up the kids and head to Virginia City, an old mining town about 75 miles from us. We're usually in Rapid City for the 4th so we almost didn't know what to do with ourselves! We headed out around 10, and everything was smooth sailing until we hit Ennis right as the Ennis parade was ending. We were stuck in traffic for about 45 agonizing minutes. As a side note: we went to the Ennis parade once, but I was so disgusted I'm not sure I could ever go back. There was a float that was in "honor" of a local who was killed in an alcohol-related accident, and every single person on that float, including the driver, was sipping a can of Bud. Hello people! Anyway, we made it to Virginia City and first purchased our tickets to ride the train. We were hoping for the giant steam engine, but it was broken. So sad! INstead they had a gas-powered little thing that was fine, but I'm sure not as fun. We got our tickets then went out back and set up a picnic near some old buildings:

Here is a picture of us on the train. Ruby wasn't overly happy b/c we boarded right at about her typical nap time, but once it got moving she perked up. The weather was turning for the worst but it never amounted to anything. The train runs from Virginia City to Nevada City, another long-since-abandoned mining town about a mile down the road. Pretty fun!:

Here's a picture of us in front of the steam locomotive with a bad valve. We'll have to make sure we come back:

After the train we walked up and down the wooded sidewalks to enjoy the sites. We saw a sign for $1 hotdogs at the Elks club. Perfect! We stopped to top off the kids, who were apparently quite hungry. Ruby out-ate Reder by finishing her hotdog in no time flat!:

This is the Elk's Lodge where Reder met some other little boys who were more than willing to run around with him like crazy on the dance floor. Reder's on the far left:

We took the long way home and went through Alder, Sheridan, Twin Bridges, and finally Whitehall before hitting the interstate. Beautiful territory! There are so many parts of Montana I'd love to explore. The thing that struck me about this area was the nothing-ness.....yes there were homes and ranches in the valley, but up the slopes towards the mountain was absolutely no development. Pretty cool.

We got dinner on the way home. Kids were both bathed, in bed, and asleep by 6:30. Wow, we pooped them out! Then we got to work in the garden, and now we're sitting on the back deck enjoying the gorgeous evening. Happy 4th of July! Happy birthday GG!