Twenty Trip--Entering the Land of the Yellowstone

September 4th, 2012

After climbing all over the Beartooth mountain range (which was gorgeous. Did I mention that already?), we arrived at our Ultimate Destination.

(See? It's so lovely that even my o.k. camera took good pictures!)

^Proof that my parents were there as well.

I wonder how many millions of people have taken their picture with that sign, and where they're from, and what they got to see in Yellowstone?

This was one of my favorite signs of the whole trip--almost as good as "Be advised: stay on road" while going around hairpin curves in the Beartooths!

And you know what? The closest thing to bears we saw in that whole trip were...

 ...buffaloes.

Which aren't very close to bears.

At all.

I lay the blame for this entirely on my grandma, who was convinced that we didn't really want to see grizzlies. Even from inside the car and across the river. Even from across the valley. In fact, the only place we were allowed to see bears was inside museums. *sigh*
I guess I'll just have to go back sometime!

When we arrived in Gardiner, Montana, this was the view from our hotel room at 8:30 that night. 

And if we turned the other direction, we could even see the famous North Entrance's Roosevelt Arch!

Gardiner was an interesting town, but not one I'd like to spend too long in. The shops were nice, but so-so, and the restaurants were of course over-priced. It's a tourist trap, the food will be pricey!

The two nights we ate in town, we went to K-Bar Pizza. Good, good pizza! The restaurant/bar is in an old mainstreet building, complete with false front and plank sidewalk out front. The interior is covered in old (beer) advertisements, pictures, license plates, etc, and a huge mirror behind the bar. Down the wall from the bar, they have a work station and then a large woodburning oven. You can sit there and watch them hand-toss your pizza while you yell at each other over the loud music. The waiters were friendly and talkative, and I had a marvelous time people-watching.

And, of course, there was the delicious pizza. Can't forget that!

~Kiwi~