By Donna Beth Ingersoll
Tired of the cookie-cutter motel/hotel experience?
Try one of Montana’s most successful bed and breakfast sites: Josephine’s in downtown Billings, 517 N. 29th St.
Owned by Harvey and Bobbi Bybee, the 100-year-old Victorian home has been a boarding house for college students, a business school for young women and is now divided into five suites, each named and each decorated individually with its own bathroom and, in some cases, sitting room.
Harvey, at 6 ft. 1 in. looks like a cross between Paul Bunyan (dark hair and beard) and Santa Claus (round belly). But looks can be deceiving. The retired minister is chief cook and bottle washer while his wife, an RN at St. Vincent’s in labor and delivery and who looks like a Norman Rockwell grandmother, handles the books, reservations and other “intellectual” chores.
“It saves a lot of stress and disagreements when the jobs are clearly designated,” Bobbi said in her gentle voice.
The B and B is named for the Josephine riverboat which plied trade up and down the Yellowstone River in the late 1800s until the railroads arrived and usurped its governmental contract for delivering supplies. A picture of the old boat hangs in the music room which features an antique Ivers and Pond player piano.
Breakfast for the discriminating palate
Breakfast, which is served from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., features sourdough pancakes made from a starter given them by a guest which came from the Klondyke in Alaska in the 1940s and has been kept alive all these decades by adding ingredients as needed. In addition, there is pecan caramel toast, an Amish cheese soufflé with meat and potatoes casserole and eggs and omelets as well as other palate tempting dishes.
“I always ask about dietary restrictions and prepare accordingly in such cases,” Harvey said.
For a weekend getaway, the dove gray house with deep red gingerbread trim and wraparound porch complete with swing might be just the thing. The home has played host to senators, congressmen and governors as well as musicians (Men of Worth) and even a German ambassador.
Who knows, you might run into a 10-year-old child prodigy who plays concert quality Rachmaninoff on the old upright, or a French-speaking Belgian couple who spent several hours in conversation with another guest who had been an exchange student in France.
“This home has had a comforting and healing effect on many who’ve stayed here,” Bobbi said. “We’re pleased with that.”
Enter for a chance to win a two-night get-away to The Josephine Bed & Breakfast on the Contests page.
© 2010, Rocky Mountain Mr. & Ms. Magazine[RM3]. All rights reserved. World Vocal Media, Inc.
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