Tuesday, June 11, 2013

How to safely carry a big bottle of wine?

There have been some disasters with carrying red wine in our RV.  I think I found a solution to the problem.  

This is a big plastic jar of almonds that we buy at Costco.

A large bottle of wine fits perfectly inside the plastic jar.  This works great and keeps it from tipping over when it is open or riding in the cupboard over rough roads. 

I started out with shorts this morning and before we left I decided to change to jeans.  It's a good thing I did.  The temperature was 59 degrees!  It was cloudy but we still decided to drive the 17 miles to Bannack State Park.
Here's what the brochure had to say about Bannack.  Bannack State Park holds one of America's best preserved ghost towns.

It was here that a whole list of Montana firsts were achieved...Bannack was the first territorial capital, and it had the first hotel, the first jail, the first school, the first chartered Masonic lodge, the first hard rock mine, the first electric gold dredge, the first quartz stamp mill, and the first commercial sawmill.
In 1862 the first really big gold strike in Montana was made on the banks of Grasshopper Creek, which winds along the town's southern side.  Millions were taken out on the streams and hills around Bannack, and more than 3,000 people called it home.



Now over 50 buildings, made of hand hewn logs, finely finished lumber and brick, line the town's old main street.




A replica of the gallows up Hangman's Gulch says that this was a tough place.  Vigilantes, dismayed at the 102 murders and numerous robberies in the gulch and at Virginia City, took the law into their own hands.



They declared war on the "Innocents, a gang of road agents, toughs, robbers and killers that was secretly headed by Bannack's elected Sheriff Henry Plummer.  The Vigilantes dispensed their brand of "necktie" justice by hanging a number of the "Innocents," including Plummer, on the gallows Plummer had built to hang horse thieves.  




Soon the gold strikes at Virginia City , Last Chance Gulch in Helena, and elsewhere took their toll on Bannack's population.  Although the town lingered on for nearly 75 years, it never again regained its ranking as Queen of the gold camps.



It lost capital status to Virginia City and in the 1880's, the county courthouse moved to Dillon.  Although some mining continued for years, it eventually declined to a "ghost town".  In 1954 it became a state park.  There are over 60 buildings.  The neat thing about the town is you can walk through the buildings and the only place that had plexiglass covering the doorways was the Masonic Lodge.
Christina was so happy with her "buy" at the auction for her new pressure cooker that I thought she'd enjoy this photo of one.

Our timing was perfect because when we climbed into the truck it started to sprinkle.  

This evening will be spent on reading the book about Bannack that we purchased at the visitor center.  

Turtle Safely....,.

1 comment:

  1. 59 degrees?? It got to 101 here in Guernsey, WY today. About did me in. We really enjoyed Bannack. Headed for Virginia City tomorrow? Hope the weather cooperates. Got an alert for severe T-storms in Billings. Oh goodie. That usually means hail up that way.

    ReplyDelete

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