pine tree hallway rain dodging

start 9:00,  13794
end 17:43, 14022

Today was a day of riding, beautiful riding. It was chilly to start around Flathead Lake and the Flathead Valley. We passed by several lakes, one of which was the longest lake without a dam, Swan Lake. We rode through several summer lake communities and they were lovely. By midday when we got to Helena it was warm. We stopped for lunch at the Brewhouse and had a delicious pizza and homemade sweet potato fries. I wish we'd have been stopping for the day because they had 19 fantastic beers on tap. We continued on to Bozeman where we stopped to let a huge rain storm pass. The storm was just in front of us and looked ominous. Luckily with Ryan's weather forecasting skills we completely avoided all parts of the storm (except the wind).  In Livingston, 27 miles east of Bozeman, we turned south toward Yellowstone. There was standing water on the sides of the road but the roads themselves were dry and the sun was back out!

We arrived in Gardiner, MT about 5:45p and checked into the Travelodge...yes the Travelodge. It is fantastic. I cannot believe how clean everything is. The proprietors are also super. They left a welcome note on the bed and the nightstand thanking us for staying. Plus, we got the best recommendation for dinner. We ate at the Raven Grill. It was fantastic. The special was pine nut crusted salmon in vanilla buerre blanc with a pineapple salsa reduction served with Delmonico potatoes and fresh squash. It was delightful to have something that was freshly prepared and not deep fried straight off the back of a Sysco truck.

The vistas today were amazing and changed considerable through the day. This morning it was lake side greenery, midday we were surrounded by pine trees by tonight we are in the rolling grassy hills going into Yellowstone. The one bit of sightseeing in Yellowstone tonight was the Roosevelt Arch dedicating the park in 1872. It was close enough to the hotel to walk to. So beautiful!

Tomorrow we will spend most of the day in the Park and finish the day in Casper, WY.