Old Montana Prison and Frontier Museum

Lots to see at the old prison.  Deplorable living conditions, escapes, riots, and a fire resulted in two wardens murder and 2 hangings.  The prison was finally closed in 1979, replaced by one 3 miles west of town. 

Inside the compound

Turkey Pete was in for life.  Model prisoner who was entrusted with the prisons turkey flock, thereby earning him the name of Turkey Pete.  A prisoner for 47 years.  In his later years he supposedly went a bit daft and up anx sold the entire flock for 25 cents a piece, thereby gaining another distinction as the first entrepreneurial prisoner ever. On his death his cell #1 was memoralized and never used again.

Cells 4 stories high

 

Non computerized prisoner tracking device above.  Everyone given a name plate and their name was hung in the appropriate section.

Beneath the tunnels ran a labyrinth of tunnels used to spy on prisoner activities.  Supposedly haunted.

This is what's left of the

theater after a fire gutted it.  No prisoner was ever charged.  Inside is stored the traveling hanging stage.  Six prisoners were hanged from it.

Larry and Bill share the car museum previously so I'll keep my portion brief.

Also visited the Frontier Museum.

Lots of old stuff here.

Come back and visit our adventures again if ya can.

Stoneridge to 71,047 Silver Coins Casino

Actually it's called 50,000 Silver Coins but the running count is higher.

Before I get too far into this move let me say how wonderful our weeks stay at Stone Ridge resort was.  We were both assigned beautiful lots which of course they wanted us  to buy. Absolutely no high pressure sales. Our only commitment was a beautiful hour and a 1/2 golf cart tour of the entire project. 

We did visit Newport, Washington, Sandpoint, Idaho and a visit to Larry's  family up in Priest Lake, Idaho.

We dragged ourselves away from Stone Ridge resort and headed to Wyoming, stopping at 50,000 Silver Coins Casino. 

7Probably the largest souvenir shop in Idaho.

50,000 coins and counting.  Free RV parking too.  Including electric hookup and water.  A great stopover.  Food wasn't bad either. 

Tomorrow we head deeper into Montana, stopping at Deer Lodge.

  

Newport, Washington

Piled into car and headed north to Newport, WA.  Nice little town far from anything.  Found a local market and pulled over to check it out.  Not much produce but interesting all the same.  

 

Lots of logging going on in Newport and plenty of old equipment to prove it.

Owen is a founding namesake in Newport and we wandered into the little market named Owen's and stumbled onto a great treat.  An old building and business established in 1938.

And of course who but Larry, Bill and Gail could turn down a soda fountain treat.

 Drove out to Little Diamond TT park outside Newport, WA.  Nice campground but almost empty.  It is cooling down big time in the evenings up here.  Days are cool too but clear and crisp and beautiful.

Heading to back to Newport we decided to stop at the Historical Museum in town.  Museums are always so interesting.  We were able to transport ourselves back to the early 1900's in Newport, WA.

The old train depot is the core of the museum with a huge assortment of settler lifestyle items.

The main depot office.

,

Old Caboose and buildings relocated from various areas around Newport.

 Old Clark Saw Mill.  Also a founding father, he homestead 160 acres near Diamond Lake and moved this saw mill each time he bought more land.  He made part of his fortune selling lumber for casket building.

 Biddie, orneriest dog in Newport. Historical Museum welcome hostess.

Another beautiful drive through Eastern Washington.   Two miles across the state line and we exited and headed north to the community of Stoneridge.  

We'll stay put for a week before heading to Montana.

Be back with a full report and pictures in a day or so.

Beautiful Cascades

Such beauty.  A four month drought of sunshine makes you appreciate the majesty of the Cascades and the freshness of clouds hugging the peaks and valleys. 

 We even got to enjoy a fresh snowfall.  Larry and Gail are about 5 miles ahead, clearing the road for us.

A nice drive through Leavenworth brought back memories of our 2013 departure for the east coast, also through Leavenworth. 

An hour later and we had completed day one of our winter journey to Texas and back.  

Arrived at Crescent Bar RV Park for a brief overnight stay before heading off for Idaho in the morning.  

A beautiful day in Crescent Bar. 

So being just a day into our adventure, there's not much to jaw about yet.  We hope y'all continue to follow us.  Looking forward to more to come.

Susan

Hey Y'all - Getting Ready

Larry and Gail are flying in today. Tomorrow we all start loading up the rigs for our next adventure.

This fall we travel east to Idaho, south through Yellowstone, further east and south through Wyoming, Colorado to Albuquerque for the International Balloon Festival. Afterwards heading to Roswell to put to rest all the Alien hype, Carlsbad Caverns and on to Big Bend in Texas. Yes Texas. San Antonio, Houston, Rockport, Harlingen to finish the winter.

Hope y'all join our travels along the way. Standby....blast off is September 20.

Susan