Friday, August 28, 2015

Montana Adventure Day 14

I set my alarm for 3am to get up and watch the Persied meteor shower-which perhaps explains some of the happenings of later in the day.  Got up got dressed and went outside.  The sky was amazing and I saw two meteors before the cold drove me back in (also the campground had major lights which made seeing all of the sky a problem.)  I could have driven out from town but I had no idea where to go, sigh.  Went back to sleep.

Quinn and I headed out on a side trip today.  First to Bannack State Park where I discovered I'd left the data card for my camera in the laptop back in the camper, sigh.  Decided to use my cell phone.  Took a number of really good photos but for some reason I cannot get them to transfer to the laptop.  Many hours of trying later, I give up.   It was an interesting ghost town and Quinn enjoyed being able to wander around with me.  I found some odd things interesting-typical, I know- all the buildings save one began as log but some were covered with clapboard siding in time and some in shingles, you could see the logs in the places where the siding and shingles had fallen off.  Plus, when they added onto the buildings it was sort of haphazard and the new part settled differently then the old so you had a tilt to one part.  I imagine walking in them would have been interesting!
The two story white building is the Masonic Hall.  Apparently, they still hold meetings here and anyone who is a Mason can attend one special meeting there.  Folks come from all over.


Mining train




Church

See the logs behind the clapboard?


And here are logs behind the shingles!

I wonder did they begin with this corner in the ground or did it happen later?

Quinn enjoys the shade-it was warm walking around in the sun!

Love the door on this whitewashed cabin!

Grass growing on the roof!  I think this had bars on the windows-so maybe the Jail?

This one sank in the middle!

This one sank on the back end.









 After we left Bannack we drove to the town of Polaris (for neat pics) in the Grasshopper valley on the Pioneer Mountain scenic byway.  (Also the site of the Northstar novels by Suzie O'Connell!)  Gorgeous drive through the national forest, saw some wildlife, er cows, roaming free in the woods.  Not much traffic either.  Decided that I'd go back the next day and take a fully functional camera!  These were all taken towards the north end of the Pioneer Mountain Scenic Byway.







1 comment:

a good yarn said...

Light pollution is the bane of star gazers. I guess the log cabins seemed a bit rustic and as people became more affluent the wanted their homes to be more civilised. Perhaps the clap boards and shingles made the homes less drafty? I'm guessing the building regs were fast and loose in those days. I hope we get to see a few pictures as from your description it must have been quite beautiful.