Interlude: The Trip to Billings, Montana Pt. 2

We woke up the next day with a plan in mind. First, we'd walk down the street to the Strawberry Festival, find a good place to eat lunch, check out the historic Moss Mansion, then head back to the condo to change and go to this really nice and fancying steak place for dinner. After that, we'd see where the mood struck us to go. We figured that was more than enough for us to do for the day. So once we were all dressed, we headed over to the Strawberry Festival!

Strawberry Festival!

The walk was fairly present. The sun was warm and welcoming in the morning light and the further we walked towards the center of down town, the more people we noticed. Eventually we made it to the heart of the festival. Music, dancing, food vendors of every kind, shop vendors, balloon animal makers, face painters, and henna stands. These were all available to view. Though I had to admit, for a strawberry festival, I couldn't really see very many strawberry items yet. Maybe they were in the street where the food vendors were located?

Some of the Vendors at the festival

The first stall I had to visit was the henna stand. I already had a tattoo, so I thought it would be fun to get a little henna art on my arm. I opted for something easy: the astrology symbol for Leo. It was simple, easy, and cute! Mikkola got a bit more creative with hers and asked to combine two different designs into one crocheted hand glove design. Hers had a mermaid at the center of her hand surrounded by cross stitching and mini roses that trailed all along the back of her hand and fingers. It was really beautiful. Once we were done, we were told to keep the paste on for a minimum of four hours to get the lasting effect. 

My design is on top and Mikkola's is on the bottom.

Once our henna was done, we walked around the rest of the festival. There were a lot of shops there with a lot of vendors full of knick-knacks and all kinds of homemade stuff, but none of it really caught my eye. I managed to find a little something my dad might like, nothing special, but something I thought he'd appreciate for Father's Day.

After we'd walked around the festival for a couple hours, we decided to eat at this greek restaurant called The Athenian. I wasn't feeling very hungry, but I really wanted to try their baklava. I also ordered a side of pita bread because who could say no to pita bread?! Mikkola and Dar-Dar each ordered a falafel. When our food arrived, Mikkola insisted that I try her falafel and while it wasn't to my taste, I could see how many other people liked it. But back to the pita bread, which was so freaking good! I scarfed them down in a few minutes. God, I love pita bread! What else can I say about the baklava except that it was perfection? I've never been able to handle large quantities of sweets. I'm the type of person where three bites into a chocolate is all I need to reach my sugar intake for the day. I've just never been into sweets. But let me tell you, that baklava had the perfect amount of sugar! Probably because it was made of natural sugars like honey instead of processed sugar. Between the taste and the texture, it was the perfect dessert! 

The Athenian!

Yummy food!

After an insanely delicious lunch, we walked down the street following our GPS to find our next stop: Moss Mansion. Just down the street from the Athenian I saw a beautiful older building with faint letters spelling out 'Library' etched into the front of it. I was immediately excited and walked over there. Unfortunately, it turns out it was no longer a library but a museum. While I normally would have liked to walk around and view the exhibits, we had to get to Moss Mansion. Still, it was cool that the cabin of the American Author J.K. Ralston. That was a neat little touch outside the museum. 

Some pics from outside the old library/museum.

After a lot of walking around (seriously, the GPS didn't know where the fuck it was going), we made it to Moss Mansion! It was hidden between a garden of beautiful trees and bushes, peeking out above the treetops like a beacon. It was a beautiful red building three stories tall with countless windows. We walked towards the front door when we noticed a sign that said the entrance was actually located in the back, so back we went, enjoying the gorgeous landscaping and different sides of the mansion.

Moss Mansion

When we moved towards the back, I noticed a glass dome filled with plants and squealed with delight. It had its own little greenhouse! I already couldn't wait to go inside and explore! Mikkola and Dar-Dar insisted we take the guided tour, which I was more than happy to go along with! 

The many sides of Moss Mansion.

When we finally reached the back of the mansion, we noted that instead of going to the back door, we actually had to descend stairs to the cellar. Instead of a cold gloomy cellar, we entered a bright and cheerful gift shop. Once we had our tickets purchased, we waited a few minutes before the next tour started, happy to have a chance to sit down for a moment. When it finally began, we were taken to the next room where there were several seats set out so we could watch a 15 minute about the history of the Moss Family. (Curious about the Moss Family? Check out the website for the mansion right here!)

Some pics of the gift shop and mansion.

Once it was done, our tour guide arrived and took us upstairs to the entrance hall. He showed us one of the oldest items int he museum, a chair that Mrs. Moss acquired that was dated to the 14th century. From there he took us to a door to the right, which ended up being the library that Mr. Moss used as his study. My favorite part of this room was the stained glass on the wall of William Shakespeare. Our guide told us that Mrs. Moss decorated all the rooms herself and wanted them to be the height of fashion.

One of the oldest items in the house.

From there we went across the hall to my favorite room: the French Parlor. This room looked like something straight out of one of my favorite Netflix shows, Versailles. The room was also used as a music room, though the guide said that it was actually very rarely used. The room was also embellished with wreaths and bows, the symbols of King Louis and Marie Antoinette. I want this room design in my house one day. It was simply gorgeous. 

The amazing, gorgeous French Parlor room. (Yes, its picture is bigger because I love it so much.)

My other favorite room was actually the conservatory. The room was so warm and inviting filled with so many plants! It reminded me of the conservatory in the Clue board game. I'll admit it was pretty hot in there, but it was still so beautiful and filled with so much life! Plus, it had a bunch of recipe cards from the Moss family! Bonus!

The Conservatory

It was us, in the conservatory with the camera!

I could go on and on about all rooms that we toured, but it would honestly take up an entire blog post and I want you all to go visit it yourself so you can learn all about the amazing history and see the artifacts yourself! So down below will be a bunch of pictures of some of the rooms we saw. You've been warned.

The kitchen and grand staircase.

The guest room.

Another view of the parlor, a floor plan of the third floor, the ceiling of the second floor, and a look into the grandparent's room. 

The nursery and peek into the master bedroom.

The bathroom (with the first indoor plumbing in the state) and the girl's room.

Some of the beautiful paintings and peeks into all the rooms.

The Moss Family tree.

*Phew* That was a LOT of photos. I had to put them in collages otherwise this post would have been REALLY long. So anyways, after we said goodbye to Moss Mansion, and headed back to the condo to get dressed up for dinner. Once we were all ready we, thankfully, drove to the restaurant. Jake's was one of the more high end restaurants in the town. Mikkola and Dar-Dar insisted it had some of the best steaks they'd ever had, so I was extremely excited to try it out.

Some pics from Jake's.

After much debate, I finally decided to try the New York steak. OH. MY. GOD. That was the juiciest and most delicious steak I have ever had in my life! It tasted so fresh and delicious and UGH! I could go on and on about that steak. SO GOOD!!!! It also came with a baked potato topped with butter and bacon, but I couldn't even finish my steak, much less eat the baked potato. Can you say leftovers?

My dinner is on the lower left, Mikkola's is on the upper left, and Dar-Dar's is on the upper right.

Once dinner was done, we decided to head to this bar called The Last Chance Pub where they supposedly had some amazing cider. We drove over to the pub and walked inside and sat at the bar. It was pretty hot in there, but I really enjoyed the decor of the place. It looked like a modern industrial place (I actually think it looks like it used to be a warehouse).

I had a really delicious cherry cider. It was so tart, but I absolutely LOVED it! 

We had a couple drinks before the heat got to be too much, so we headed back to the condo. We all went back and changed into our pajamas. I had to admit, I was absolutely exhausted from our long day. We did so much walking! Still, I really enjoyed the day in Montana. I'm going to miss it, but I'll definitely have to come back another time and visit it for even longer.