The Road to Gardiner, MT

Friday morning, we pulled out of Billings, MT and headed, say it with me, west on 94, as has been the theme for the week.

As we approached the edge of Billings, something large and blue and hazy appeared on the horizon.

I couldn't see any details. Just the sharp outline of what had to be one of the largest mountain ranges I'd seen in my life.

As we got closer and closer, the mountains filled the entire background of our view, and yet they didn't quite look real.

Like someone Photoshopped a mountain range into an image it didn't belong in.

The Googles told me these were the Crazy Mountains, and that the prominent peak in the middle was Crazy Peak. 

And it looked like we were headed straight for it.

But nope.

The highway gradually turned south, and the Crazy Mountains faded away out the passenger window.

Then new mountain ranges began to appear. Dark. Massive. Covered in evergreens.

And up, up, up we climbed.

And it got windy.

Like extremely windy.

Between the elevation changes and the wind gusts, Jason said it was like towing a trailer with flat tires.

He loved it.

After about 100 miles of climbing and wind, and Jason nervously watching the exhaust temperature gauge—which I will henceforth refer to as the Doom and Gloom Gauge—we finally arrived in Gardiner.

Welcome to Yellowstone

Gardiner is a small town that sits about a quarter-mile from the north entrance to Yellowstone.

We parked at Sun Outdoors Yellowstone North, a small-but-big-enough campground perched on the side of a mountain overlooking the northwestern mountain ranges of the park.

The views are just...

Well.

Hard to describe.

When people say this part of the country is "scenic," the word doesn't really do justice to what you're looking at.

And honestly, neither do the pictures.

Although we got some pretty good ones.

It's stunning.

And we're finally here.

Gardiner has a decent number of shops and restaurants, but we quickly discovered, while walking into town from the campground, that about half the businesses don't open until 4pm.

Even on the weekends.

Which I think is an interesting choice for a town whose economy is surely built on tourism.

But hey.

What do I know?

The majority of places to eat are casual outdoor-dining spots. Amazing views, but no table service.

We did find one gem: Wonderland Cafe and Lodge, which serves things like Bison Ravioli and Wild Game Chili.

I had chicken pasta with a pumpkin sauce.

It was perfection.

After dinner, we walked back to the campground.

And it felt really good to WALK.

That is something this trip has been seriously lacking so far.

Exercise.

Apparently, exercise is something you have to schedule when your daily activities consist primarily of sitting in a truck, sitting in a camper, and occasionally walking into a brewery.

So that was Day One in Gardiner.

Tomorrow, Yellowstone.