We Take a Break for Indulgence

Gallatin River along US 191

2019-09-05 Thursday

Today was, I think, a first for us— a day when we left our RV and spent the night in a fancy resort instead. It was all at the generous instigation of Joe’s sister Betsy and her husband Sean. For 15 years, they have been coming to a fabulous fishing-oriented resort in Montana on the Yellowstone River, and talking about it with great excitement, enthusiasm, and love. This year, it worked out perfectly for us to meet them here for dinner—a doubly perfect day because it was Sean’s birthday. Then they generously offered to put us up in the cabin next door to them, and their insistence and enthusiasm won us over. So our RV is out in the parking lot, and Joe, Cassie and I are cozily occupying a lovely cabin with an extraordinary view of the river and mountains right outside the back window of our room.

We left West Yellowstone this morning to start our remarkable day, but first we had to upload the blog, dump our waste tanks, revisit the post office, and eat some lunch when those other tasks took us way beyond noon. We didn’t even leave our campsite very early, despite other campers coming in who were eyeing our site eagerly. In the end, someone paid for our spot while we were still in it, and waited at the site until we left so her husband could pull their rig into it. We had had a good choice of empty sites when we arrived at noon on Monday, but the campground was full last night, and as I said, there was a push to grab sites today. I suspect the place will be full all weekend, too.

Joe and I, meanwhile, went to do our chores in town, and at about 1:30 or so we finally headed north on US 191 along the Montana/Wyoming border toward Bozeman, Montana. The drive was beautiful, with the road following the Gallatin River for a lot of the drive and even 20 miles or so inside Yellowstone, where the road cut into the park. The mountains were beautiful but it was really the river which was captivating.

We arrived at the Yellowstone Valley Lodge at about 5pm, after stopping in Bozeman at the CVS to pick up some prescriptions we had phoned in, and detached the Jeep from the RV so we could park the latter in the parking lot. Then we threw some overnight clothes and toiletries into the Jeep, and drove it to the front of our cabin. Betsy and Sean, meanwhile, returned from their day fishing just in time to greet us at the door to our side-by-side cabins. 

Yellowstone River from our cabin’s patio

I immediately understood why they love this place so much—the back patio of each cabin looks directly onto the Yellowstone River, only a dozen yards away, and the deeply colored mountains on the other side. The four of us spent some time visiting on the patio (Cassie enjoyed hanging outside there with us—there was even some grass for her to lie in) and then we all went to clean up before dinner. It was hard to leave that view, though!

Yellowstone River from our cabin’s patio

Dinner proved to be good enough to justify leaving the view behind. B&S have claimed for years that this is one of the best restaurants ever, and they were not kidding. First of all, the restaurant is basically outside, although there are glass walls in several places to cut any wind (there wasn’t any tonight) and to keep the temperature comfortable. Second, they seem to know the entire staff personally after all these years, and are treated like beloved family rather than tourists staying at the lodge. Third, the menu is totally unique and fascinating, and the food was prepared with real excellence. The service was personal and, because it was Sean’s birthday, they kept bringing us extras to celebrate the day. We were there for several hours, talking and laughing and enjoying all the little details. For example, Betsy had made sure to ask them to make iced tea, because she knows that’s what Joe likes to drink. She is amazingly thoughtful, and the staff was incredibly accommodating. This was just not your usual dining experience in any way, shape or form! It was a truly memorable evening for all of us.

And the good thing about it being so memorable is is— as before, I forgot to take any photos of the four of us!!! Tomorrow B&S are getting up early as usual to go fishing (I think they may be heading back down to Yellowstone, which is only about 50 miles south of here), but Joey and I will be getting up later than that, so we most likely won’t see them in the morning. We’ve been told that the breakfast is included with the meal, and that it is at the same level of fabulous as the dinner we just ate, so we are looking forward to that as well. And then we will have to return to the mundane world of our RV (not that we don’t love it, but the views aren’t as consistently stunning as those of our cabin) and head for Bozeman. 

A Postscript: A few days ago, I described visiting Steamboat Geyser, and that there were people sitting in chairs waiting for it to erupt. It is one of the largest geysers in the park, I’ve read. Anyway, I think that was on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday night, Joe and I heard a very loud roaring sound. It was like nothing we’d ever heard before, and we couldn’t figure it out. Joe kiddingly said, “Maybe Steamboat erupted and that’s what it was!” We both kind of laughed at that. But today, when we had some internet and phone connections, Joe looked it up— and it WAS Steamboat! We heard it all the way in our campsite, outside the park. It was probably about 20 miles or so as the crow flies. That was LOUD!!