Adventuring

 It takes a lot for me to slow down and shift gears.  Working is what keeps me distracted from worry so I work a lot...and I don't have the luxury of weekends off because of necessity to pay the bills.  All summer, I've been wanting to go back to Bannack, a ghost town I went to with Spencer several years ago right after he got home from his mission.  Earlier this week, I announced that we would adventure this weekend, and we did! 

We left early Saturday morning and drove 2 1/2 hours to Bannack State park, West of Dillon, MT.  It poured rain from the moment we left the house until we parked at the ghost town and while it was still cold, the rain stopped.  We spent a couple of hours walking through each of the more than 20 homes and buildings.  There were not many people at all, in fact there were less than 10 people wandering around so it was really nice and quiet.  There was a park ranger there who was awfully chatty and full of facts about the town.  Shelbie asked him to tell her the strangest story that most people wouldn't know about the ghost town.  Of all the stories he could have told, he began talking about his love for William Clark.  William Clark of the famous Lewis and Clark.  

Now, that may not seem strange to you, but William Clark is the kids 5th great grandfather on their Father's side.   William Clark, according to this man, raised the children of Sacagawea and helped her, but the two never had a romantic relationship.  He also said that Sacagawea's nephew was murdered on the outskirts of Bannack ghost town. This park ranger has toured the United States, tracing the steps of William Clark.  It was an odd coincidence.   

Afterwards, we drove another 45 minutes, up to the Pioneer Mountains and found Crystal Park, a mountain full of quartz crystals.  We parked and could see people walking down from the mountain covered in mud and carrying shovels.  We were completely unprepared for mining crystals but decided to hike up and see what it was all about.  The kids were skeptical and laughing at how dumb it seemed that we would actually find any crystals but we did!  We found hundreds! They were so beautiful.  We could have spent all day there. 

You can see the hole below the roots the fallen tree in the picture above, people dig below the roots of the dead tree, sometimes 4' down and then sift the dirt.  Because it had been raining so much, many crystals had come to the surface.  We dug a little here and there with our hands in the loose soil and found so many.  It was such a unique and fun thing to do. The Pioneer Mountains might be my new favorite mountain range. 

One of the crystals we unearthed

Pioneer Mountains

We headed home late in the afternoon, stopped at an old Cafe in Dell for dinner.  Earlier in the day, the owner of the cafe had a horse that had given birth.  They took us out back after we ate and showed us their horses, as well as the brand new foal.  Nothing like small town dining. 

It was just nice to be so far from anything resembling life.  I forgot there was even such a thing as COVID.  

It's back to work and getting ready for another busy week.