A Sapphire in the Rough

 

Our next stop was a very small town called Philipsburg. Formally another mining town, known for its sapphires, rather than die out and become a ghost town, it became an adorable little town with a very artsy and fun main street.

We stayed in the totally renovated Broadway Hotel which has unique rooms, ours was themed “Sportsman”. All of the twelve rooms run the perimeter of the floor and in the center is a coffee bar/full kitchen and large sitting room. Our room was extra awesome because it had a bedroom, sitting room and bathroom with a 6-foot claw foot tub. It was the first time of the trip that we were able to be in a different room from our children! It made bedtime a lot easier. I thought Ella would be worried by the animals on the wall, instead, she loved them. She was sure to greet each one and tell them goodbye when we left. We heard a lot of, “Oh hello, fish!” Lillian fell in love with taxidermy at the Holland Lake lodge. I’d hold her up to various animals and she’d break into laughter so she was very excited by our furry friends.

The town has some amazing shops, but the stand-out has to be the candy store, The Sweet Palace. Not only was the candy selection jaw dropping, but their antique furnishings had me in awe! As soon as we walked in the door, we were treated to taffy samples. When we were checking out, we were given fudge samples and of course, we bought a pound of candy!

As if the town wasn’t amazing enough with a deluxe hotel, cute shops, a giant candy store…they also had an awesome playground at their elementary school. If Philipsburg wasn’t in the middle of nowhere, everyone would want to live there. The playground was a little replica of the town!

One of our days in Philipsburg, we backtracked through Anaconda on a search for wildlife. We stopped at the grocery store in Philipsburg for picnic supplies and headed over to a state park. Our picnic was rather short however because it was not only chilly, but windy! Brrr! We didn’t see much for wildlife, except a couple of deer…of course.