Monday, 10/3.....Virginia City and Bannack, Montana....

The storm continued this morning, with a drizzle at our campground....it let up for a bit so Molly and I took a nice walk in the Gallatin National Forest which abuts the campground....today was moving day, and we had our last breakfast at Running Bear Pancake House before heading northwest into Montana...first stop was the old mining town of Virgina City - population 108 now, down from its peak of 10,000 in the 1860s when gold was discovered there....now it is a somewhat-preserved ghost town....named after the First Lady of the Confederacy, Virginia Davis, interestingly enough....

We had thought we might stay at Elkhorn Hot Springs, but when we arrived there, it was snowing, so we reconsidered....backtracked a bit to Bannack State Park - the town of Bannack was Montana's first territorial capital, and is now one of the West's most well-preserved ghost towns. Home to 3,000 people at one time during the gold rush, many eventually left for Virginia City, which had much greater gold deposits....there are two basic campgrounds at the park (i.e., no hookups), and we are the only campers in one of them...it's along Grasshopper Creek, and is very peaceful...pulled in around 5:30pm, and it's still raining a bit, so we'll tour the town tomorrow morning, when I hope to get a few nice pics...state officials do not renovate nor modernize the old buildings (which supposedly number almost 100 structures), but they do "stabilize" them. Should be interesting to see them! Update the next morning: Bannock IS and incredible town! Walked through it early this morning with Amy and Molly....

Dinner tonight is ragu bolognese, salad, and a nice crunchy baguette we bought in West Yellowstone this morning before we departed....it's 38 degrees outside here in Bannack, it's still raining a bit, but the three of us are nice and cozy inside toutou, which is a toasty 72 degrees.....music is on, we're watching a video (Amy), sleeping (Molly), and typing (me).....and now I'm going to open a bottle of wine and have a bite or two of the Comte cheese we brought with us before prepping dinner...