Montana Moments

We freaking love Montana.

P and I love the tv shows ‘Big Sky’ and ‘Yellowstone’ and while watching have always made comments about how beautiful the scenery is.

Flash forward to summer 2022, P’s brother Dalton and sister-in-law Millie decide to go on an Airbnb roadtrip around the country. Their plan is to stay in different states for a month each before working their way back to Tennessee - and Montana is one of them! I don’t think we have ever booked a flight so quickly without any research lol.

We flew into Bozeman on a Saturday morning, then made the 3 hour drive in our rental (a pick-up truck, of course) to Missoula to pick up a toy for their sweet pup. They rented a little farmhouse in Clinton, just outside of Missoula, and we started the trip with a bonfire in front of the barn. Dreamyyy.

HORSEBACK RIDING

This…was an experience. We drove to Cowboy Jeff’s ranch early Sunday with not a clue of what would happen next. We lost cell reception after turning down his road, but the drive was breathtakingly beautiful. There was a river to the right and the most monstrous mountains in front of us, with trees everywhere. There was a forest fire nearby, but even the smoke couldn’t take away from the beauty and calmness.

Cowboy Jeff’s dog Rip (after Rip Wheeler in Yellowstone) runs up to greet us - best start to the day! We do introductions and I quickly realize how freaking massive the horses are…not sure what I was expecting, but they were scary big. I am the first to get assigned to a horse and I hop on. As Dalton and Milie get on their horses, mine just starts walking around and I have not a clue what to do when all of a sudden I hear commotion behind me. As I turn around, I see one of the older guys in the group getting thrown from his horse who is now on two feet…great.

Cowboy Jeff eventually calms that horse down and we’re back on track.

Until P’s horse starts running full speed across the field. I have tears in my eyes, Millie is asking me if we should leave, Dalton is just staring at P who now looks like he’s in a rodeo. I have never been so scared in my life. My heart was racing, I couldn’t breathe - I was trying to figure out how we could call 911 with no service and explain where we are and wondering how far the closest hospital was. P was going to get thrown off and die, I was sure of it.

Thankfully, the ranch hand was able to calm the horse down enough for P to get reassigned to a calmer one. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful (thankfully), then we took the chicken avocado salad Millie made to a swinging bridge over the creek and we had a picnic while the boys skipped rocks!

HELMVILLE RODEO

I mean, we had to. We spent Labor Day at the rodeo watching kids [attempt to] ride sheep, wild cows get milked and men ride bulls. They had cold beer and yummy cheeseburgers - it was SO fun.

FILMING LOCATIONS

While in town, we wanted to see a few Yellowstone places. In Missoula, we ate at Ruby’s Cafe and saw where the big protest happened. On our way back to Bozeman, we stopped at Glenn’s Cafe before driving through Darby and seeing The Dutton Ranch - they were even filming! We walked around Darby’s super cute downtown area and heard from the locals about how the show has positively impacted their community. At Double H Hats we saw the most intricately handmade cowboy hats and met the owner. The cowboys and cowgirls in Montana seriously invest in their hats and take such pride in them!

STAYING IN BOZEMAN

The day before our flight home, we had a fun date night. We spent the day driving through the mountains, seeing Yellowstone locations and we even stopped at a national park (P’s dream day tbh) before arriving at The Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks. We drove into downtown Bozeman and ate pasta at an Italian hole-in-the-wall before getting ice cream and getting lemon drop shots at the hotel’s bar.

We had SO much fun in Montana and are already dreaming about our next trip out west!