Snow, mountains, and candy...a spring adventure in Montana

I drove about 110 miles to Philipsburg, MT. If you know Montana at all you know that from Butte to Philipsburg is not 110 miles but since my boyfriend was in town we took a looong detour so that I could show him some Montana scenery he hadn't seen yet.

Unfortunately it was snowing. Yes, snow in late April. In fact it is snowing right now as I type this. So the scenery may have been a little white and cloudy but it was still a fun adventure and still pretty. We drove along the big hole river to see some great views and also some very small towns like Dewey and Wise River.

For the two of us who come from suburbs of major metropolitan areas it's hard to imagine what life would be like in these towns where there's a small grocery store, one or two bars, a post office, and a handful of homes. But we did agree that along the river is a nice place for a vacation home. (we're gonna need to make a lot of money in the future for that haha) You wonder what people do in such small towns. Joey joked he'd have a lot of hobbies to kill the time. But around here I've learned that there's a lot to do if you're into things like fishing, hunting, skiing, snowshoeing, biking, and any kind of outdoor recreation no matter the season. Anyways, after our looooong detour we finally arrived in Philipsburg.

Philipsburg has a population of 914 according to the 2000 census. It's probably similar to that now and this is bigger than the previously mentioned Dewey and Wise River. The first time I ever came to Philipsburg I thought I was on the set of an old western movie. I think it's the architecture that makes me think John Wayne could appear at any minute. We made our way into the Sweet Palace, Joey and my first stop in the town. It is a massive candy shop where they make a lot of their own stuff.

We walked out of there spending over $30 on candy and fudge. Well worth it. We had a bag of gummy candies, a bag of chocolate candies, some chocolate peanut butter fudge, and these...

One cashew cluster and one pecan cluster. Basically just a giant cluster of nuts and chocolate. The sweet palace had several different versions of these.

Next we ate at the Doe Brothers restaurant and old fashioned soda fountain just across the street from the Sweet Palace. At our table we were able to entertain ourselves with a game of checkers with some unusual pieces.

Joey won the game. Oh well. The food was good he said his reuben on a pretzel bun reminded him of home, which is good. I had something called jimmy cricket, basically chicken salad. For those who know about my recent vegan diet, I took an exception day. I felt seeing my boyfriend for the first time in three months was a special event and warranted an exception. Especially with that candy to eat!

After leaving Philipsburg we headed back to Butte but of course took in the scenery on the way back too. After all Montana Highway One, which is the highway Philipsburg is on, is called the "Pintler scenic route."