Montana Travel Journal Update

A few days have gone by since I've updated our Montana travel journal so I'm going to just hit the keynotes to bring you up to speed. Thursday included buying a DVD player and some computer speakers for Marge and concluded with Glenn & Anna joining us for a very nice dinner at Bridge Creek in Red Lodge. After some delicious Grandpa specialty waffles for breakfast, we followed Grandpa around his Yellowstone Boys and Girl's Ranch. He showed us the impressive new Equestrian Center, the updated Administrative building and plans for a new driveway. Kari and I then took off from east Billings on I-90 and headed for Three Forks.

We had a short lunch stop at Taco Johns in Livingston and arrived at Trevor and Courtney's house a little before dinner time. We had a lot of fun playing with baby Lyle and showing him the Mater toy we brought him. After dinner they showed us a new game called Settlers and I think Kari and I got a little addicted. We didn't win but we definitely wanted to play again. On Saturday morning, Pony Days was happening at a small town in the area so we hopped in their Dakota Club Cab to check it out. We grabbed pancakes, eggs and coffee at the Mason Hall just before the parade started. Afterwards we walked through the small craft fair in the park. Courtney also showed us an abandoned bank building that she wants to turn into a bed & breakfast.

Our ultimate plan for the day was to tour the Lewis and Clark Caverns, but Trevor also thought it would be fun for us to see a couple nearby ghost towns. We had fun walking through an old hotel and playing some silent movie machines. After we had walked around Nevada and Virginia City's and grabbed a quick lunch, we departed for the caverns. Once we signed up and paid for our cavern tours, we had a little time to tour the gift shops and buy some ice cream. When it came to our turn, we hiked up to the start of the caverns and took some photos. The tour took about two hours and although he was humorous, our guide was kind of slow (the group behind us caught up a few times) and his flashlights died by the end. We all had a great time (even little Lyle in his Baby Bjorn) but were ready for some rest and refreshment after crawling around inside the mountain for a couple hours. Trevor and Courtney made another delicious dinner and agreed to play some more Settlers with us after Lyle was put to bed.

Sunday morning started at a more relaxed pace. We shared breakfast and then packed up Rexx (aka our 2005 Nissan Xterra). We made a quick stop to fuel up and grab some sandwiches at the original Wheat Montana before heading north to Glacier Park. The roads were really rough and made for some slow going at first. We started to see and smell the forest fires as we began breaking west at St. Mary. We arrived at the breathtaking Many Glacier Hotel before dinner time and checked in. We cleaned up and shared dinner at the hotel's restaurant and then we were ready to head to bed early after a long day on the road.

We didn't have far to go on Monday. We enjoyed a breakfast buffet at Many Glacier Hotel and then packed up and checked out. We loaded our luggage and drove a short way up the road to SwiftCurrent Motel. We had expected to hike first and check in later, but we were able to unpack our things before hitting the trail. I'm really glad we did too because after we came down from the Swiftcurrent Pass trail we were both thoroughly exhausted and dirty. The hike was beautiful and we saw some wildlife and beautiful scenery. There were quite a few fat chipmunks (we called them Chubmunks) near the trail on the way up and on the return trek we encountered a good sized moose quite near the trail. After showers and naps, we shared lasagna at the Swiftcurrent restaurant, then drove back to Many Glacier Hotel to play Spite and Malice and watch the sunset over cheese fondue.