Big Sky, MT to Missoula, MT
Based on the advice from a few locals, we made the uncharacteristic decision to backtrack to Big Sky. Only about 45 minutes down the road from Bozeman, we’d heard the mountain shouldn’t be missed. We made arrangements to stay at the Rainbow Ranch Lodge for two nights before making our way to Missoula.
The Rainbow Ranch Lodge was a magical little spot that backed right up to the mountains. As soon as we arrived, Merl and I went exploring on one of the trails while Mike did a little work. For dinner we decided to hit the half-off appetizers and drinks at the hotel restaurant and called it an early night to get to the slopes first thing in the morning.
After layering up in our ski gear and getting the car packed, we grabbed a quick complementary breakfast and went back to the room to let Merlin out one more time. When we arrived back to the room he didn’t run over to the door like he usually does. I heard Mike say “Oh no!” And turned the corner to see two packets of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix torn open and Merlin frantically licking his paws.
We left the bag with the hot chocolate packets on the floor and the little guy just couldn’t resist. Luckily the mix is mostly sugar and doesn’t contain much chocolate. We weren’t worried about poisoning but we were concerned about leaving him in the room with a potentially upset stomach. We decided to postpone skiing to the afternoon and take our hyper little guy on a hike instead.
On the upside, we got to test out some snowshoes we picked up in Bozeman. They were just what we needed, and on our peaceful hike up the mountain we spotted a family of Elk making their way through the trees!
With Merlin throughly tired out and his stomach seeming fine we headed off to the mountain for the afternoon. Luckily, the snow coming down in the morning kept the trails in great shape for the afternoon. Big Sky has multiple faces and is a huge mountain but with a little planning we were able to sample most of it. The terrain was awesome and we were glad we decided to check it out - this was one of my top 5 mountains!
On our way home from the mountain we picked up a pizza, and later that night we went for a dip in the relaxing outdoor hot tub.
The next morning we packed up and drove on through Montana to Missoula. We had heard Missoula was a fun college town and were looking forward to spending a couple nights at our AirBnB in the city.
For our one full day we decided to hit some of the vintage and thrift stores where we met a very fat cat. Unfortunately, with memories (nightmares) of our house filled to the brim with apartment belongings, we were both extremely reluctant to pull the trigger on anything but had fun browsing around and exploring downtown.
After shopping we grabbed Merlin and took him to a park on the river where he chased crows and ran around in the mud!
That night we decided to stay in, order some food, and watch a movie. It was a nice relaxing evening and just what we needed before taking off for the great outdoors of Whitefish, Montana.
