The weather sure was gray this morning. It rained off and on all day as we headed east. We traveled on I-90 until we got to highway 1, at Drummond. We turned off to take a scenic byway. Guess what? Drummond had a neat quilt shop, so of course we had to stop a bit.
A must stop at quilt store
Then it was off again on highway 1. Harris suddenly pulled over and decided Judy needed to drive Howie for a bit. “Just until we stop for a geocache”…which turned out to be in a Phillipsburg city park. Phillipsburg is quite the little tourist town. There were signs to Granite, a ghost town, so we decided to give it a try. Halfway up a dirt road, a sign said, “Road narrows, proceed at your own risk”. Okay, we thought, we can still do this. Wrong. Just around the next bend it got really rutted and rough. Turning around wasn’t easy, to say the least, but we were happy we did so. We stopped to let a small car pass us. They stopped to tell us the road was much worse and the town not worth the drive.
An intersting sight along Hwy 1
A sign in Phillipsburg
So, out of Phillipsburg, on down the highway, which grew progressively more scenic as we got away from the scrub brush and into the foothills. We did a couple of more geocaches along the road, then realized it was getting late, especially because we lost an hour going east, and Rick was probably sitting around waiting for us to show up. One cache we stopped for was near a fountain of water, running out of spigots. People came from miles around to fill up containers of “pure” water. We tasted it, and agreed it was really good. We passed through Anaconda, then hit I-90 again and hoofed it to Belgrade.
Stopping for lunch in Montana along Highway 1
Harris hauling down a cache in the forrest
Rick was indeed waiting for us to show up, and graciously showed us around their new house, giving us a choice of 2 guest rooms. Candy came home from her second week of being the school superintendent, and the weekend began.
A kids' slide we saw on our morning walk
Rick cooked bison burgers for us all. We stayed up way too late, chattering and playing cards. Judy lost big time. Saturday morning we walked to breakfast at a local café—good food! Then we walked around the town and the school district offices. It was interesting to watch Candy take mental notes of many little things that we just ignored. (Not our problem if a sign had been knocked down, but she has to take care of it now. ) Candy took Judy to a local quilt store. She laughed when she realized Judy is still trying to find the perfect materials for a quilt she was working on in March. Oh well.
The "C&R" bed, breakfast, and more...
A savory breakfast at the C&R B&B
Inside the Ellen Theater
Rick and Harris cooked a great chicken dinner. Then we went into Bozeman for a play called “Laughter on the 23rd floor” by Neil Simon at the Ellen Theater. Don’t know how old the theater is, but it’s beautiful. The play itself was well acted, but the writing was just okay. But we enjoyed going out to a play. Then we came home, played more cards, and this time Judy won!
Street view of the Ellen theater
Sunday morning Rick cooked us a great breakfast. Rick and Harris watched the Mariners lose again. Candy and Judy made some chocolate zucchini bread. Then we went out and about geocaching. One “Just off the freeway” cache took us many miles into the hills to the north. It’s a great way to see new territory, places you wouldn’t normally go to. We dropped off this giant travel bug in a cache that was very close to a grain elevator—right in the middle of nowhere. We wondered how the grain left this elevator and we’ll be interested to see how soon the travel bug gets moved from this out of the way cache.
One of the many trains that pass by Candy and Ricks' B&B
Andy...errr...rather Candy as new Super!
The weather today turned great. We loved being out and about in the sunshine and heat. We came home to sit on the shady porch, snack, play cards, eat a great salmon dinner, play more cards, and talk the night away. (Not too late, Candy has to get up in the morning to work. Poor her.)
We love visiting Candy and Rick. (Thank you for such great hospitality and fun.)
Tomorrow we head west, back toward Seattle. We’ll see how far we get.
Harris and Judy by the grain elevator
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