Montana

Funny, but for some reason Montana makes me picture the Marlborough man...although apparently the image created was from Texas. Which I found out by looking it up, and in the process of my research, I unfortunately discovered that when you google 'Montana' you get many images of Hannah Montana - I am sure they love that association there!

But back to our trip. We drove out of Yellowstone - such a beautiful park with incredible variation in the landscape - and into Montana looking for a place to stay. On the recommendation of both Pauline and The Lonely Planet (LP) - Bozeman, Montana is a pretty cool place. So we set our targets there. We were also pretty hungry at that point and trusted the LP recommendation for "Plonk" to have some dinner and a nice glass of wine. We walked in to discover great local place with a nice wine selection and live jazz. Based on that find, we decided Bozeman was in fact - cool.









Hotels were available at pretty good rates on the main strip and so we checked out a couple - one based on our waitress' recommendation, and the other based on the LP's recommendation. The first didn't appeal - so we picked the kitschy Lewis & Clark on the main strip recommended by Lonely Planet.








And once we checked in to our "newly renovated" room - well that is where we realized this was our first bad choice in Montana...

...'nuff said - we won't show you the up close or get into some of the others staying in the motel (either booked in or staying in a boarded up suite under renovation...but thankfully the beds were clean, and we did get some sleep.


In the morning, we made our way over to the local's favourite breakfast spot for some local specialties.

I confidently ordered the scratch biscuits with gravy, sausage and poached eggs and Joe had the uber healthy chicken fried steak which he has been curious to try. We discovered, both are drowned in a white thick gravy studded with sausage bits...I think I lost about 3 years off my life that morning and I do believe I saw pity on the waitress' face as she took my plate away with a cup of gravy (looks like pudding) left on my plate that I had scraped off my biscuits. Yes I exaggerate - but I did honestly have enough of a shock that I will ask what the local interpretation of gravy is for the rest of my life. The biscuits were, however, some of the most tender and delicious buttermilk biscuits ever!

That was our second and final mistake in Bozeman...it really is all about choices, and perhaps doing a bit more research but don't get me wrong, both Pauline and Lonely Planet are right in that Bozeman is a cool place!

Montana is so pretty. It really doesn't matter where you aim your camera - the scenery is gorgeous.









Last stop in Montana was a cool town called Missoula - another University town and here we found a great pub with VEGGIE SANDWICHES!! People are really friendly and the food and local beer were fresh and delicious!