Their version of bread or chips - pickles 🥒:-).

I had a bison burger and Diane had the bison meatloaf. Very lean meat so not a lot of taste.

Pretty tired and waking up at 4 in the morning so went back to the hotel for cocktail and social hour.

Asked for a martini - she made us a Vesper - way to strong. We took them to go so we could toss them.. Went to the Kimpton social hour with a roaring fireplace and chatted with some well traveled people from Oregon.

Nice birthday surprise

And good night.

Us 😃

Today is Yellowstone day! Picked up at 5:45 and headed out for our 1.5 hour drive to get there. Stunning views like this all the way!

This is the entrance to the park we went in - the Roosevelt Arch.

Doorway to walk through from one side to the other

Our first stop was at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

We did see a grizzly bear and her cubs - our guide had a spotter he set-up as they were far away. The cubs were newbies and playing. Cute to watch.

One of the cubs.

Still a lot of snow on the ground and in the

Mountains.

We saw many bison today.

Bison roadblock

Walking along the road

Wallowing - they do so to get the bugs off and cool down.

Stopped at a lake view -lake butte overlook - \240the water was so still and it reflected the mountains. Blue blue water, blue skies and fluffy clouds was stunning.

Yellowstone Lake

And off to the Upper Geyser Basin we go. 700 of 900 geysers in the world are here in Yellowstone and this is the largest collection in the park.

Saw three geysers go off within an hour - very rare accordingy to our tour guide from the Yellowstone Safari Tour Company. Dallin was his name but I Nicknamed him the geyser nerd.

Grand Geyser - one of the tallest

Beehive Geyser - very irratic

Old Faithful- most faithful but not the largest.

Good explanation and example of one of the hot springs.

Stopped by a hot spring we could get close to.

And a hot pond that looked like it had lights

Other things we learned:

This is the First National and world park

Purposely let wildfires burn as part of the ecosystem

2,000,000 acres

Highest peak is Mount Washburn

Do NOT get in any water - it is all above the boiling point.

Needed a little nibble and a cold one so we wandered down Main Street. Stopped at Beer Sanctuary for a cold one. Not their own brews, but still had a loca beer.

This was followed by dinner at Montana Ale House. Another place that did not have its own beer so Diane and I both did a 3 beer \240flight.

For dinner, we had bison, potstickers, and an elk burger. Gotta admit not a fan of bison and elk as they are very lean and don’t have a lot of flavor.

And that’s it for the day - long one.

And there is no sales tax in Montana - bonus.

Snow peak mountain top in the background

City view

Had to head to their only brewery called Beehive - aren’t we cute.

Mexican lagers seem to be really popular here so Diane had quite a few of them here in Montana. I \240had what was called a smoked scotch ale, which was a unique flavor and one I never tried before.

Mountains mountains everywhere

Cool sculpture - seen a few of these - made from all recycled parts.

Many of the shops were closed, but we hit up a few and then headed back to Bozeman.

On our way we stopped at Bozeman Brewery - place was a little boring and we had their popular brews for this area- Mexican Lager and a Scotch ale.

Headed over to Bridger Brewery for a slice and a beer on the rooftop.

Me - nice to be outside in the 70s.

Headed back to drop off the car and wander downtown Bozeman for a little shopping and another drink.

Ernie, the elk in front of one of the stores.

Sitting in a window seat at a wine bar (but yes that is a whiskey).

Just liked the logo.

That was about all she wrote - headed back for social hour and a drink at our hotel. Tried the upstairs bar - the Skyshed but it was packed. Went downstairs the speakeasy bar that had live music.

It’s light till around 10 here, but didn’t make it that late 😂

Snow along the trail in spots made it slippery.

The reward

Love that sound

I would guess about 80 feet - Palisades Falls

This is the reservoir in the Galatin National Forest and the Canyon we were in was called Hyalite Canyon. Beautiful trees everywhere.

Lake and mountains are my happy place

Snow writing 🤣

Not cold at all!

And back to our hotel for a quick break and another stroll around the city. Had to stop in to the American Legion

For my momma.

Popped in and out of a few shops then a quick glass of bubbles and a beer at the Bozeman TapRoom. Onto Revelry for linner and our last meal here. Cute little place for happy hour nibbles.

Went to our last social hour although no one was very social so up to our room we went. Chilled out and getting excited about heading to Idaho tomorrow - all 50 states!!!

Montana is an extremely beautiful but desolate place. I can imagine it is very lonely in the winter when the temperature is so cold. It is the fourth largest state, but has less than 1 million people that live here.

One thing I found fascinating was that they paint their electrical boxes. Here are some examples.

And one final fun sitting bench :-)

And we made it into Idaho on Monday, May 26th - we have been in all 50 states and Puerto Rico!

Left Bozeman after breakfast - decided to split the drive and stopped in Missoula for lunch. The drive to here was spectacular- so many fir trees.

Like this the entire way.

Beer and burger/sandwiches for lunch.

Blue cheese on those :-).

Another gorgeous drive into Coeur D’Alene arriving around 5. Made it to a nice restaurant on the river called Terrazos.

What a view!

And look - guacamole and queso! \240

Early to bed - vacation is exhausting! \240Up this morning and went for a 2 hour 4.5 mile walk - some around the river, some along the beach and a little street walking.

Wildlife sightings: \240a bunch of bunnies, ducks and geese.

Only caught this one on the camera, but we saw black ones white ones brown ones and multicolored ones.

Woke this little mallard duck up

And some cute little baby geese.

On the “beach”

The only moose we saw-Mudgy with the mouse on its nose - Millie.

Afternoon consisted of a visit to their only winery. Unfortunately they were having an event outside so we had to sit inside. This shortened our visit tremendously as to nice to sit inside. Wines were okay - Chardonnay was the best!

Appropriate to end up at a winery in our 50th state

Nice Lily.

Went on a relaxing boat tour of the lake. Got to see amazing houses and a few bald eagles. Many of the houses are only reachable by boat!

Ended up back at the Staybridge Suites for social hour. This was a disappointment as we chose this hotel because it had this social hour on Monday and Tuesday. Monday they didn’t do it. Tuesday they had no beer and their idea of snacks was pretzel bites and chicken nuggets, not quite the salad bar that they advertised. Our room was decent but it is hard to go from a Kimpton to a lower suite hotel.

The Spokane falls - amazing and they power the entire downtown.

Fun statues - running people - and yes asked Diane to pose with them.

Got bored pretty quickly down here so we popped into the visitor center and asked her about a nearby winery. We ended up at MaryHill, which was a tasting room not far from where we were so we were able to walk. Shared a wine flight of seven wines and had salads for lunch.

Last bit of low humidity and 70 degrees!