lodge lady: Red Lodge to Cooke City, Montana

As we were packing up at the Alpine Lodge in Red Lodge, the guy next to us with his wife and sister was bemoaning packing the car each day. He looked at Jerry, everything neatly packed into the back and car top carrier, kids all belted into their seats with fresh water bottles in hand, and said, "I can't even imagine!"

Well, imagine we did. Of course, he didn't know that the girls fix our picnic every day, that the grandparents are riding high on the pure high octane joy of these kiddos, and their ability to just roll with it when things get a bit rocky (mosquito attack).

Highlights:

• The Beartooth Highway (highway 212) from just outside of Red Lodge up to 10,947 feet via switchbacks then sweeping down towards Yellowstone is one of the most dramatic drives in, dare I say, the world. And everyone agreed. Mountains and valleys and vistas that go on forever, and in the lower reaches more wild flowers than I have ever seen blanketing the landscape. The Beartooth Range is as ragged as the growling mouth of its namesake. Do not miss this drive if you are the Bucket List type.

• Fishing on the shores of Beartooth Lake where Kai caught his first Brook trout and continued his run as the grandchild who has pulled in the most fish. As he says, "I don't want to make you feel bad, but I have caught the most fish." And he says it daily. The thousands of mosquitoes did not deter them. Especially, Maya who is documenting the trip with her new camera and joy of using it.

• Cooke City is like a real life Western amusement park with a one long street of old buildings, log cabins/motels, bars and three or four restaurants and two gas stations along with great little General store. Lots of amusement but no rides. Considering you get there via the Beartooth, that's enough of a ride. We stayed at Skyline Guest Ranch Bed & Breakfast, a huge log cabin with rooms on every floor abutter miles outside of town. This place is definitely for families. We had one big room with a loft and one bathroom so we tested our togetherness....it worked. Liz puts on beautiful breakfast and the reason we were there was for the option of a trail ride.

• Miner's Saloon in Cooke City was our choice for fine dining with Jackson ordering the Redneck Special pizza, the rest a gigantic cheese number while I had a lovely watermelon and goat cheese salad. Go figure. Kai bellied up to the bar then did a rousing dance number when I Have the Moves Like Jagger came on over the sound system. They also played pool but could not do video gambling. There are a few rules in Montana. Minors have to vacate Miners by 10 pm. We made it. After going to three other restaurants on the second night, we were back at Miners. Kid friends, good service, excellent food...a good choice.

• Trail Ride: Wit and Wyatt got each of the kids up into their saddles (yes, with bicycle helmets), instructions given and before I could get into a complete dither, Jerry got on his horse (Mable) and they were off with Maya in the lead. Reports came back that they traversed the Clark's Fork River, went through wildflower meadows and multiple river crossings with nothing but good times for all five of them! And our 36-pound Kai fit on the the saddle.

• Hitting the Trail: With time to spare, we then drove into the park and had plenty of bison, antelope sightings, fishing at Trout Lake, picnicking, wading on a different stretch of the Clark's Fork. There will be plenty of wildlife ahead, but there's nothing like that first Bison: a huge guy just lumbering along and stopping for a car full of kids to admire. Lake Yellowstone Hotel here we come!