The V.C. is the Place To Be!

Road trips are one of my absolute favorite things to do when I am home in the summer. There really is nothing that comes close to driving across Montana looking up at the enormous blue sky and laughing in a car with your closest friends. In the past few years I have taken some minor excursions that seem like they will be easy and end up being an adventure that we never could have expected. The routine was not broken with my latest road trip to the small “town” of Virginia City (The VC), Montana.

I must first start by saying that I know I will be making Sascha (“Mountain Man”) Radetsky proud with my latest excursion. Last time he was in Montana he started talking about this mysterious place known as Virginia City. He had been in Montana for about ten minutes while I had been for ten years and I have never heard of it. I journeyed out yesterday with my friends Jenna (“Bugs Kitty”) and Michael to go see our friend Gillian perform in the “Brewery Follies” in the VC.

(One of about 50 pictures I took while stunned by the views as we drove.)

The minute we got in the car I was so tired I was deliriously giggling as we played random games that made me cry from laughing so hard. We collected scary stickers at gas stations and listened to Beyonce screaming her lungs out on the stereo. Along the way Jenna collected the new nickname (a mix between Bugs Bunny and a Cat, “Bugs Kitty”) and it was clear that this was going to be a road trip to remember.

(Just a little example of one of the store fronts in posh VC.)

With people you have grown up with but don’t always see all the time I find that there is always a little bit of fear as to whether things will be the same when you reconnect. I have been fortunate enough to have friends that every time I meet back up with them (some as little as once a year) it seems as if we have just seen each other the night before. So I was extremely excited to see Gillian and to do a little bit of exploring and partying in VC.

(Moments after the riveting reunion of G. To (Gillian Todd meets J.Lo) and I.)

(G. To does a little posing with the sign for her show. It's a wild cabaret show full of gay humor, cussing and sexual innuendo. Add beer (it's in a brewery) and the possibilities are endless.)

I don’t think I can begin to explain the size or scope of what Virginia City is. As one resident described it, it is basically “summer camp with alcohol” and I think that seems like a pretty adequate definition. The town is literally one main street a few blocks long with store fronts that look as if they are out of Disneyland’s “Frontier land”….except this is the real thing. People walk around in “Gone With the Wind” outfits and you hear horses trotting and spurs whizzing on the sidewalks. It’s like “Cheers” meets John Wayne, in the sense that everyone knows your name but you are more likely to find an authentic cowboy than a house that has a phone in it. In both places you have lots of drunks.

(One local who's outfit I just had to get a picture of. Following close behind her was a similar one except with feathers sticking out in all directions. I would have gotten a picture but I was too busy running to see if they had it in my size.)


Sometimes I think dancers can party and then I hang out with actors and realize that we have nothing on them. In VC the summer seems to be lived almost in some “Groundhog Day” type hangover. It’s a schedule that I would never be able to keep up but to be in the mountains of Montana for a night enjoying the beauty of the surroundings (everything except the 40 degree temperature at night) and the company I was with it was something I was eager to observe.

While I may never be a Mountain Man like Sascha wishes I was, I did do a little “rugged” outdoor star gazing at 4 in the morning. It looked like I was in some planetarium except there was nothing fake about it. The intensity that these stars shone with was enough to move people I was around me to tears. It seems like every day I wake up I am just more and more amazed at how gorgeous this state is.

(In the morning, checking to see if my shadow is as hung over as I am.)

(After lunch we walked around and toured the whole of the V.C.)

I am not ready to leave my friends here yet and this is the first time I have ever had the thought run through my head that this really has been the best summer of my life. With the building memoir that is my blog I have been more prone to taking pictures to document the events that I encounter. These are memories I never want to forget and I hope that I am not boring anyone to death who reads this.

(No comment. What?!)

To say the least, the night was a memorable one. It was full of confessions, fights, make-ups, nature, nicknames, cowboys, stars, surprising visitors and most importantly, old friends. A few people I was with were fighting the hangovers of their lives this morning but I don’t think there was ever a moment where anyone thought it wasn’t worth it. And just wait until you see the picture that is coming in my next post….it’s not to be missed.

(Kind of sums up the exhaustion we all felt. What happens in V.C. stays in V.C.....or comes to the blog.)