Missoula (September 21-22) - Big Sky Brewing Co. is a pretty famous brewery (ever hear of the beer Moose Drool?) so when we saw their name pop up on Harvest Host we got excited and knew we`d be staying there. Their tap room was under major construction so they weren`t having any tours but that actually worked out in our benefit. They have a huge lawn next to their building where they host their Summer Concert Series, so that became Nelly`s play pen. As she was running around another camper showed up and parked next to us. We chatted with them for a bit and then an employee came outside and offered to take the four of us in for a private tour! We got a free beer as we walked around and listened to her share information about the brewery. After the tour we grabbed Nelly and met a friend, Becca, & her pup, Grup, for a hike in the hills. Darby (September 22-23) - On our way from Missoula to Darby we stopped at Lolo Peak Brewery for lunch...yes, ok, we got one drink there too. We arrived to Trapper Peak Winery (Harvest Host) around 3 and his dogs started barking from their outdoor kennels. By the sound of them they seemed like large dogs that you did not want to mess with. Once Keith (the host) arrived we went into his barn/garage where he has all of his wine and set up for tastings. Since it was just the three of us and he had some back issues, we took a seat at the table and ended up just chatting about so many different topics and "tasting" for 3+ hours. He let his pups (Tina & Rosie) in eventually and they were definitely the alphas to Nelly, which she is not used to, but it was all good and they ended up playing and sleeping by the fire that he kept going. The next morning we woke up (later than planned) both craving McDonalds... we had way too much wine. So for the first time on the trip, we stopped and got ourselves a nice healthy McD`s breakfast. No regrets. Bozeman (September 23-26) - The drive from Darby to Bozeman was beautiful! We went through the mountains which were covered in snow (thankfully just the trees and not the road). The fresh, cool air felt so nice. We pulled over to a spot on our way down to get out and throw snow balls for Nelly:) We saw some new friends as well that were very photogenic. When we arrived to Bozeman we had a short drive out of the town up the mountains to the Butz`, where we were staying. Joel & Debbie Butz are my dads friends from college. While we were there we enjoyed the area and went for a couple walks. I found an antler shed on one of the hikes which was super exciting - we`ve never found one before. We purchase bits of antler from the pet store for Nelly (about $15-20 a piece...crazy) so she recognized the smell (which I'm sure was even better than the pet store ones) and also got very excited. Sorry Nelly...this one is not for you. We promised her the second one we would find would be hers, but never came across another.
The Packers played the Bengals that Sunday so we got out the cheese and crackers, other appetizers, and chili and made it a real Packer Sunday! We spent the next day walking around the nearby town, Livingston, and also around Bozeman. We made a mix up thinking there was something in Livingson that Sam`s grandma wanted us to see, but it was actually a different city...so we just walked around and headed back. I bet you can guess what we did in Bozeman. You`re right, we visited a brewery. 406 Brewing Co. is in the Cannery District, which is a neat little area, so we stopped there for a drink and chatted with the bartender who just recently moved from Bend, OR and originally from a small town in Maine. He was a competitive skier and had some good insight to share with us on living in Bend. After that we walked down the Main St. and got Nelly a new bag of food from Dee-O-Gee pet store (I love the name), and met Joel at Cosco. Our last dinner with them was naturally an Indian curry (chicken tikka masala) and I think its the best one we`ve made so far! Before heading out the next morning we cleaned the camper and finished our laundry/dishes.
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