As I promised….I am back with another fun couple of day trips. We went to Philipsburg on Tuesday and again today. We really love this little town and the reason we went back today was because some of the stores I wanted to go to were not open on Tuesday and since it is only about an hour away we went again. We also went to Anaconda both days because of this diner we found. Let me tell you this diner is a diamond in the rough and what a find. But more about that later. lol
Let me start off with telling you a little bit about Philipsburg, Montana. This town is where they mine for Amethyst and several other gemstones. Well, I was in heaven looking at all the gemstones in these little shops. Now besides the gem stores they have a candy shop like I have never seen before. Let me tell you, Curt Wilder was in heaven. On Tuesday, we got up early so we could watch them make candy. This man in the picture was sitting at this old machine that individually wraps the taffy. He would cut it but not all the way through and then stretch it and feed it into this machine and it would cut it and wrap it. While we were standing there he told us the only trouble he had with the old machine was it would get paper jams and about that time….sure enough the paper jammed up and he would have to tear it off and thread the paper in again to start up again. Then someone else would take the full container and go through each piece to make sure it was wrapped up correctly and take out the pieces without paper or take out empty pieces of paper. Then they would sack it up. It was interesting.
I truly don’t think I have ever seen so much candy in my life and there was every flavor you can imagine. Curt Wilder, filled a sack full of dark chocolate everything. I sucked in my breathe when we went to pay but he didn’t seem to care at all. lol He said it was the best chocolate he had ever eaten and that is saying a lot because he is a chocoholic for sure and he knows his chocolate.
This little town is so clean and on every post is these beautiful hanging basket of flowers. They are gorgeous.
This is the original hotel and it is still a working hotel. I thought it was really neat.
As were leaving town I looked up the hill and I told Curt to turn right as I wanted to see what building was at the top of the hill. And of course the man calmly turned the corner. Well it was the Courthouse and then up the street was the jail that is actually a Historic Jail and is still a working jail. I had to get pictures of these buildings. It takes so little to entertain me. lol
The sign says: The Granite County Jail was constructed in 1896, three years after Granite County was carved from two adjacent counties and Philipsburg made the county seat. The town served as hub to extensive area mining and later, ranching. The jail was the first major public building constructed for county use, reflecting early desire for law and order. This stately building contains jail space, the sheriff’s office, and the sheriff’s residence. It was constructed for an estimated $8000.00 using features from several architectural styles. The jail’s dominant feature is a medieval tower above the arched portico. Its bricked-over windows intriguingly, were part of the original creation. The dark brick was locally fired and the rough-cut granite locally quarried. Renovated successfully to current standards, this remains one of Montana’s oldest jails still serving its original function.
When we left town, we went through Anaconda to get back to Deer Lodge. Well on Tuesday, by the time we left Philipsburg, we both were getting a little hungry and I had already stated, I didn’t want to cook when we got back. We went by this little diner that Curt didn’t see and I said, “Curt turn around and lets go to that diner, there are lots of cars and trucks there and that is always a good sign.” So he turned around and we pulled in. Now, let me say this…..this was for sure a diamond in the rough. These are the very best kind of eateries. It was called Tillie’s Diner.
There was only 6 tables in the place and it was packed. There were people picking up to go orders and people waiting to be seated. They seated us and got us menus and when the waitress came over, I asked her if I could take pictures as I wanted to blog about the place. She said, she would ask the owners. I said, sure I understand. She was so busy….the phone kept ringing and she kept taking orders. This place is only opened from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. She came back to get our order and she said the owner would be in to talk to me in a little bit. I thanked her and we ordered. I ordered a cheeseburger on sourdough and it came with a fried egg on top and also curly fries. Curt order a burger on Texas toast and his came with fried onions, mushrooms, bacon, and two kinds of cheese and his came with curly fries too. Let me just say…..this was without a doubt one of the best burgers we had ever eaten. And the whole meal including our drinks costs $22.00. It was so good.
Well the owner came out and she introduced herself as Kat and her husband was Johnny. They were the cooks. She told me they opened the place 3 years ago. It was an old gas station. She said when they were trying to think of a name for the diner, her husband said, “Let’s name it after your mom.” She said her mom passed away at age 56 and today if her mom were alive she would be 96. She said her mom loved to play scrabble and that was the reason for the huge scrabble board on the wall and the comic strip on one of the walls was her moms favorite comic strip.
The comic strip was called Tillie the Toiler
This was just the neatest place with amazing food. The cinnamon roll was the size of a dinner plate.
So today, after we left Philipsburg, we decided to go back to Tillie’s Diner and we were not disappointed. Again, we had to wait to be seated as it was full and lots of people coming in to get to go orders. When we were there on Tuesday, I heard Johnny tell the waitress, to not take anymore orders. Well, now that is a great problem to have as an owner. They had nowhere to put the tickets…the wheel was full and she was laying them on the counter. The food comes out really fast too. Well, today, I had to have the same thing I had the first time minus the curly fries. I couldn’t eat them the first time so I just got the sandwich and Curt order a club sandwich which came with the curly fries again. Oh my gosh…it was so good again. The dill pickles were even homemade.
So that was our day. We got back and we are both still full and it has started storming. It is so nice to hear thunder and rain. Well, we will be here at the camp another week and then we will head off to Idaho. Next week we have planned another couple of day trips so stay tuned to hear about those trips.
Until next time……………