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!

Beartooth Highway

Kai's first Brook trout

Kai bellying up to the bar at Miners Saloon

Skyline Guest Ranch

Ready to ride!

Trail riding into the wilderness

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Launched: Nana & Papa Camp Montana

On the road and here we are in Red Lodge, MT:

    Yep, it was a roundabout route, but here we are in Red Lodge via Missoula, MT on our was to Yellowstone. Not the usual way to get to America's oldest national park, but it was a detour down memory byway/highway/interstate/lane from our home in Bend, Oregon. First family stop was in Missoula at my brother and sister-in-law's house where we were shown Montana hospitality that included backcountry fly fishing for my husband, Jerry, and a day at Seeley Lake then Granett Ghost Town for me, Maya and Kai. Keep in mind that the four of us traveled over 1,000 miles before picking up Jackson and Audrey at Billings International Airport.

Billings Airport with the
fearsome foursome

    Red Lodge was home to my mother and step dad and "summer camp" for our two kids for years. As they say, you can't go home again, but being here has brought back the best of memories for me and a chance to show our grandchildren where the place that meant so much to their parents. The historic district of this mining town is just plain hopping with restaurants, bars, galleries, and shops. On the night we arrived,  Arts Guild wine and art auction in the old depot was just winding down featuring plenty of upscale goings-on that weren't there in the 1970s and 80s. What has not changed is the stunning landscapes that just kept on going as we drove to East Rosebud Lake then back to Wild Bill Lake for kid-friendly fishing.

The Beartooth Range

But then there are the oddities like: Pig Racing. What can I say. Pigs with numbers race around a track and you sort of bet on them. Hilarious good time. See Travel Tips.

Pig races: Bear Creek, MT

Those would be the racing pigs

TRAVEL TIPS

• Remember that almost every road in Montana seems to be under construction in the summer. Seriously. That speed limit may have been changed to 80 (or maybe 85 mph) but count on delays and lots of fast drivers with swarms of motorcycles.
• Alpine Lodge, Red Lodge: Love this log-faced motel with great rates, and big outdoor breakfast included each morning, super comfortable beds and rooms or cabins. Nothing fancy, but a great value with a huge lawn full of games, an outdoor fire pit and friendly owners, Larry and Trish. Google them.
• Bear Creek Saloon and Pig Races run Thursday through Sunday. Dinner reservations recommended for no nonsense steak meals. The pig races are a fundraiser for local scholarships, and you can actually win in a very convoluted system of betting. Bear Creek is seven miles from Red Lodge.

NANA & PAPA CAMP: TRAVELING WITH OUR GRANDCHILDREN

Quick background on Nana & Papa Camps

Ready to roll: Nana & Papa Camp 2013

Packed to the gills with four grandchildren, six suitcases, four backpacks,  two totes, first aid kit, camera bag, groceries and cooler (OK, I forgot something), we were four blocks from our house in Bend, OR when then 3-year-old Kai announced: “I have to go to the bathroom, I’m hungry and dehydrated!” Yep, it was the first five minutes of what we all lovingly call, Nana & Papa Camp.

Camp has taken us to the far reaches of Alaska to Camp Denali and Glacier Bay Lodge; the Big Island of Hawaii and Volcano House then onto the beach; Missouri where we connected with my husband’s childhood; Oregon’s Timberline Lodge, Crater Lake and Oregon Caves Chateau along with the coast, Portland Timber’s game and up to Mount St. Helens and this year Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Here are the basics: we stay at one of the historic lodges of the national parks, no parents allowed, each child is responsible for their own suitcase and backpack and for the past two years, they have started picking the destination. That would explain Hawaii.

Official kick-off is July 11th when Jerry and I, along with Maya (12) and Kai (5) pick up Jackson (13) and Audrey (10) at the Billings, MT airport.

Follow us along the trail as we head to:

Alpine Lodge, Red Lodge, MT.

Skyline Guest Ranch, Cooke City, MT.

Lake Hotel, Yellowstone NP

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Yellowstone NP

Canyon Lodge, Yellowstone NP

Signal Lake Lodge, Grand Teton, NP

FOLLOW US ON LODGE LADY.

And wish us all good luck!

    Volcano National Park, 2014

Yellowstone in Words

I just finished reading Gary Ferguson's The Carry Home. Gary and his late wife, Jane, lived in Red Lodge, Montana, the same postage stamp-size town where my mother and stepfather lived for many years. Jane and Gary were friends with my mother. The Fergusons called Red Lodge their base, but traveled extensively because of their work as an award-winning writer, speaker and conservation advocate  (Gary) and as an outdoors teacher/ranger/conservationist/cafe owner (Jane). Their work was their life, and they had the ability and good humor to share that.

That is what is so wonderful about Gary's books. Whatever the subject, he always shares that broad sweep of the West: most often the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone National Park. Not the Yellowstone most of us know, but the backcountry, the hidden lakes, views, wild life and adventures many of us miss.

 Jane was killed in 2005 in a hideous canoeing accident right before her 50th birthday. It was just the two of them, as was so often the case. The Carry Home tells the story of Jane's death and the subsequent spreading of her ashes to five of her favorite places by her husband of 25 years. That final act is woven through their years together---the places where they spent their lives exploring, writing, researching and teaching about. Gary's books are always personal, but this journey takes us deep into the the wilderness of the West and Gary's soul while he spreads his wife's ashes. It is painful, but also healing. A history seen by two "kids" who became adults who became partners who became advocates for such a big swath of land. And more than that it offers a big dose of recent history of the West.

I remember when Jane died, Gary took the time to write my mother a personal letter. Mother was very ill with a debilitating disease, so I read the letter to her. The pain was palpable, but he said the last thing Jane shouted before the tangle of trees and white water took her life was, "Thank you, Universe." It is something we all need to say....every single day.

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I am looking at Yellowstone books in anticipation of our trip to Red Lodge, Cooke City and Yellowstone National Park with our grandkids this summer.

So, here are some Yellowstone books worth looking at if you are going to this country's first national park. Or even if you're not.

1) My favorite is Gary's Walking Through the Wild, A Journey Through the Yellowstone Rockies about his 500-mile "walk" through Yellowstone. This is an armchair journey the likes of which I will never take, but the history and deep spirituality of the place is for anyone who needs a sense of the place. I think our 13 and 12-year-olds grandkids will enjoy it, and I'll love rereading it to them.
2) The Yellowstone Wolves, the first year, also by Gary Ferguson, offers insight into the reintroduction of of gray wolves into the park. The beauty of this book is not only the extraordinary story of the wolves, but Gary's writing. It is magical.
3) OK, I like Gary's work: Hawks Nest: A Season in the Remote of Yellowstone is his 100-mile hike and three months of living alone in the wilderness of Yellowstone monitoring grizzly bears and wolf packs. This is a first hand account of the challenges of preserving the Yellowstone wilderness.
4) While Gary knows Yellowstone, Steve Chapelle was a Montana transplant, relative city-boy who headed down the length of the Yellowstone River by kayak. Kayaking the Full Moon, Journey Down the Yellowstone to the Soul of Montana is that story. OK, so the river is mainly outside of the park, but it's one crazy and stirring adventure....and he took his family.
5) One of my favorite books I read during researching both Yellowstone and Grand Tetons national parks was Worthwhile Places, Correspondence of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Horace M. Albright.
John D. Rockefeller. Jr. was American power personified. Among his interest was a passion for national parks and the wilderness. Horace Albright was a UC Berkeley educated man, who set his sights on the outdoors rather than the law office he was destined to run. As superintendent of Yellowstone National Park and later Director of the National Park Service, Albright could hold his own with a man like Rockefeller. The correspondence between the two vividly illustrates what it took (and how) a public servant and private citizen forged their ideas into reality for the betterment of the national park system.
6) For the brass tacks history of the park, there is the two-part Aubrey L. Haines, The Yellowstone Story, A History of Our First National Park, Volume One and Two. This is the book history buffs go to....I certainly did.
7) Finally, park historian Lee Whittlesley took on the dark side with Death in Yellowstone chronicling, yes, all of the deaths within the national park. Someone had to do it, right?

Oh, and if you want to know about the history of Old Faithful Inn and Lake Yellowstone Hotel, there are always my books, Great Lodges of the National Parks that include Old Faithful Inn and Yellowstone history or Volume Two that includes Lake Hotel!
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