When I was a kid, my sister and I loved the song, Meet Me in Montana sung by Dan Seals and Marie Osmond. I had never been there but I sang it with all the heart and soul I could muster. Well the days of anticipation are over. I few weeks ago, I was able to vacation with a family I've become close with over the past few years. So, if you're prepared to take a trip down memory lane with me, read on ... if not, I strongly encourage you to check out the pics:
My friends', the Orsaghs, were celebrating their 40th wedding annivesary and as a means of celebration they decided to take their whole family on vacation to Montana. Their eldest couldn't attend the family retreat due to an already large family of his own and another little tike on the way. So, I was graciously offered his spot and with little (no) hesitation at all, I said yes. My co-worker and friend, Marla and I, flew out of Nashville and met up with her brother, his girlfriend and her sister at the Minneapolis airport - from there we were off to Billings. After a long drive and hours of waiting for her parent's delayed flights to catch up we were all sleeping peacefully in our cabin in Gardiner, MT.
While in Gardiner, we spent a 1/2 horseback riding at Hell-A-Roarin ranch, covering the country-side and checking out the yellowstone river from above. We were fortunate enough to spot a small bear cub sun-bathing on a nearby rock. (We were also fortunate in NOT finding it's mother!) Later that night we had a wonderful dinner at CHICO's restaurant http://www.chicohotsprings.com/ and hot springs. Pork Chops! Yum, some of the best I ever had! The following day was spent touring Yellowstone Park where we saw Elk, Bison, hot springs, gysers (including the much over-rated Old Faithful) and more bison. Day three in Gardiner included a lazy ---yes, I said lazy --- rafting trip down Yellowstone river, which flowed right beneathe our cabin. We hit two class 2 rapids and the rest was much like a lazy float down the river. Still very scenic and even more relaxing. All of our rafting and horseback riding was planned through http://www.flyingpigrafting.com/ Very well organized and great people!
The following day we were up and at 'em and headed for Glacier Park. I LOVE THIS PLACE! I had never been before, and it was amazing. We stayed in East Glacier Park Lodge. We spent a full day on on the Red Jammer tour which took us through Glacier on a widing mountain side. We started at about 3000 feet and wound up at 6500 feet. I did get a little queezy on the ride, but was still able to get some fasintating photos. We traveled on the Going To The Sun road, visited Lake McDonald, Logans Pass, St. Mary's Lakes (and took many other stops along the way.) I'm convinced the most amatuer photographer couldn't go wrong in this place -the views were absolutely breath-taking.
Our last day at Glacier was less than expected. We drove to Great Forks, MT to meet with some other family members for lunch. It was a longer than anticipated drive and though the scenery was beautiful, everything paled in comparision to what we had seen the day before on our Glacier trip. We drove along Flathead Lake, a serene view of the mountains and Big Sky (a very suitable nickname for Montana). The following day we departed for Billings for our last night in Montana, spent in the Hampton Inn. http://www.hamptoninn.com/
The trip was great and pictures and a small blog account hardly does it justice. I recommend this trip for any and all who love the outdoors, love beauty, and want a sharp reminder of just how small we are in this great big world we live in.
