Montana Part 5 - on to Yellowstone.

Today we leave Many Glacier and I remember the words of wisdom given by a stranger:

Remember you are paying for the view, not the room.  

Truer words were never spoken.  Cheryl and I stayed on the top floor, the fourth floor.  I am pretty sure that this is where the servants stayed.  The room had enough room for a double bed, one side table a sink and a little desk and chair.  The shower and toilet were in a little room that used to be the closet.  Keep in mind that when this hotel was built there was no indoor plumbing or electricity or heat.

Even with the shower the size of a coffin, the sloped ceilings, the lack of any floor space, the view out the window anytime of day or night made it all worth while to be in the servants quarters.

Mare's room was a bit bigger and she had a door out onto the balcony, it was not expansive in any way, but again look out the window.

So we pack up and call down for the bellman and his leiderhosen and pack up the car and head for Yellowstone.

I think I speak for us all when I say I hope to come back here to this place.  I hope it is here to come back to.

So long Glacier - Hello Yellowstone!

We have about 440 miles to go today and we start our drive south thru Montana.  Montana, Montana, more Montana.  Montana is a BIG state.  While not as large as California in square miles, it sure felt like we were never going to get thru it.  It is beautiful, parts of it seem empty, but I sure it is not.  

I picked up a book called "Montana Women Homesteaders - A Field of One's Own".  It is about single women that homesteaded to Montana in the early 1900's.  I was not sure I could homestead in this country now, let alone over a 100 years ago.  It is an interesting read and I admire those women.

And we are still driving in Montana.

I think the people at AAA when doing your trip tik think, where can I have them go and still get them to where they really want to be without getting in trouble, well AAA peeps you gave us a nice route, weird sometimes, but nice.

Our ride today took us thru Choteau (Sho-To) where we stopped for lunch at the Outpost Deli on Main Street, we had the best grilled cheese sandwich ever, and looked out at this:

And for some reason this:

 

Choteau is actually a place the homesteader book talks about.  Walking 14 miles one way to the nearest town Choteau to get supplies.  I look at the buildings in the first picture and imagine one of the women on the porch of one of them.  Amazing.

After lunch we went next door to get a coffee drink for the road.  Cheryl and Mare got a hot chocolate and I got a coffee.  A coffee that was so hot I could not drink it for at least an hour and I would swear that the little bit I got rid of at the end of the day was still hot and probably is still hot!  Yes, it was hot!

Back out on the road

Big Sky Country, without a doubt.

We pull into Gardiner - Gateway to the northern entrance of Yellowstone and we are met by the welcoming committee.

This was our first elk.  While in Glacier we saw mountain goats, big horned sheep, black bear, grizzley bear and of course the dangerous bunny, but no elk.  They were everwhere in this little town.  And a word of advice, don't eat in this town.  Food is bad and just not worth it, at least where we went.

Into Yellowstone!

 

We came in by the northern gate, once more using Mare's senior pass.  Excellent perk.  I actually thought that all of Yellowstone is in Wyoming, but no.  You actually go a couple of miles into the park before you enter Wyoming.  

Stay tuned.