Fly fishing, horseback riding, snow in June.... Montana brought us some great adventures and memories.
We arrived in Big Sky late on Thursday night after a full day at Yellowstone. Coming in from Yellowstone, our directions to our cabin were confusing, we had no reception on our phones, GPS did not recognize the address, and it was snowing hard. Ben was white knuckling it down the snowy hills.
Adventure.
We arrived around ten and immediately forgot about the driving frustrations once we saw our wonderful Montana home. It was brand new and modern and cozy and inviting. Gracie loved her private bedroom after sharing space with her sister all week. The other three enjoyed the lower level kid space- two sets of bunks and a TV/comfy sectional just for them.
We woke up Friday morning to an absolutely beautiful view- snow everywhere! We loved our Montana home even more in the morning light! Drew and I were the first ones awake and enjoyed the quiet together for a bit. I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast and everyone slowly trickled into the main space after using the morning to catch up on sleep. For the first time of vacation, we didn't get an early start to adventuring, but rather opted instead to spend a quiet morning just enjoying our cozy Montana home and the snow outside in June. We especially enjoyed sitting in the hot tub together.
After a relaxing morning, we were ready to go explore. Our initial plan for day one of Montana included lots of things that we weren't able to do in cold, snowy weather, so the new plan became a drive to nearby Bozeman. We ended up continuing our very laid back vibe to our day by just roaming around the town. We had lunch at a really great local restaurant, spent some time in a perfect little bookstore, visited a record store and a toy store, and got coffees. After a while, as we sometimes have to do to accommodate different vacation styles of the kids, Ben and I decided to split up for a bit. He took Kate and Luke to Montana Grizzly Encounters to learn about grizzly bears. Drew and Grace wanted to continue to poke around the shops in downtown Bozeman. Drew loved all of the outdoorsy shops and Gracie enjoyed the boutiques. It's fun to remember/record that she fell in love with the cutest yellow summer dress that she immediately knew would be perfect for her upcoming sixteenth birthday and did not hesitate to spend hard-earned babysitting money on it. It was a little out of her price range, so her sentimental momma offered to help out because you really only turn sixteen once and some dresses are just too perfect to pass up. ;)
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At home we try to eat pretty healthy.
On vacation this is not always the case.
Cinnamon roll pancake for lunch for Kate and a peanut butter chocolate pancake for lunch for Luke. |
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The record store we found was almost as fun for the kids as the toy store we visited next.
They are growing up so much. |
We came back to the cabin to have dinner and Smores around the firepit. We stayed out long enough to see the sun set, which happens so late here! It has been almost ten each night before it is dark. As we hung out, I tried not to worry too much about the bear poop that Ben saw not too far away. There are many written and verbal warnings about bears in Wyoming and Montana, and bear spray is sold almost everywhere, so it made me a little uneasy to be eating food in the middle of a secluded area after Ben told me about the bear evidence. Luckily, no excitement- just a picture perfect vacation night under the Montana sky.
Our first day in Montana ended with Ben and I splitting a bottle of wine and staying up late watching The Office with our teenagers.
It was a good day.
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