Virginia City, Montana

I'm doing 2 posts today, because I've been trying to get this one in all week. Last Friday we took a little day trip up to Ennis and Virginia City Montana. They are two really fun little old time western towns.

We left home late morning and the weather was typical spring weather, cool and the sun was out with some overcast areas. We got up the road a ways to Island Park--still in Idaho and look at what their weather was like....... SNOW! And lots of it! It was coming down on fairly good too. And yes those are fence posts you see, so you can see how much snow they still have and this was on May 9th--with still more snow coming!

We did get past all of that and back to normal springtime weather and we saw literally hundreds of elk as they were migrating for the spring. There were also several hundred antelope as well. The trip was just beautiful with all of the mountains, pine trees, log homes and wildlife.

Here is a shot of downtown Virginia City. It's an actual old west town and these are the original buildings still standing today. They are being preserved and most of them are set up inside just like you would have seen them back in their time. You can't go inside, but you can look through the windows. Sort of like an outside walking museum. Below are several photos of the insides of these stores. I had to hold my camera right up to the glass and then snap the picture.

Wouldn't you just love to go inside this store! Look at the tin ceiling and all that white stoneware way in the back. The area isn't quite open yet, so the lights were off inside of these shops, but the pictures turned out sort of cool I think.

A milliners model

A clothing store. Look at those cute shoes on the counter!

Another view of this same shop. What a pretty babies gown.

Another dry goods shop. They all seem to have women's underwear displayed on their counter tops. LOL !

This was my absoulute favorite window of all! Look at that gorgeous wallpaper and all the pretties on the wall. The little white round thing is a pincushion.

Now for a front view of the same window. I want a pair of those boots! There actually is a real little shop here in Virginia City that you can shop in and they do carry repros very close to this style of boot and yes I do have them on my wish list.
When we go back I'll see if I can get some better pictures of things close up.

This little window was filled mostly with children's clothing and that handsome feller in the window is the husband sporting his new derby hat he has just bought in the mercantile up the street.

We also visited Ennis, which is just up the road from Virginia City and it's buildings are newer than these and it has several really nice antique shops. I bought a few little things that I'll share tomorrow and I also bought a treadle sewing machine that is 100 years old, but I haven't brought it home yet. We'll be going back up in a few weeks to pick it up and then I'll tell you all about it. I can't wait to go back. It was truly a fun and enjoyable trip!