Stories from Montana

Stories from the Road
March 9, 2017
Big Sky, Montana

Last night we took two buses out of the Big Sky area to have dinner at the Gallatin River House, a restaurant highly recommended by a man at our hotel. When I found a decent golf ball in the parking lot, I knew I was in for a good night.

The place was packed with a combination of locals in well-worn ball caps and the ski set from Big Sky. We knew we only had an hour or so to eat, if we wanted to catch the 8:00 PM bus back to Big Sky. Luckily there were seats open at the bar, and Vicki and I ordered fried chicken with some sides. I had a local pilsner, which was cold and tasty.

Our bartender/server was rough around the edges in terms of tattoos and demeanor, but she was fast, efficient, and competent. At one point a local ordered a shot for himself and one for her. Without batting an eye she downed the liquid and kept on working. The restaurant could be described as a roadhouse with pool tables and live music on certain nights. Unlike the movie with Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliot, it didn’t have biker gangs and local troublemakers.

At 7:50 we waited outside for the bus, and it was on time at 8:12. The only problem was that it sped past the restaurant without stopping. Later we learned that we needed to have been waiting by the road, waving our arms. By now we were all tired after a hard ski day. A call to our hotel saved the day, and the man at the desk drove down and picked us up.

It snowed on and off today, though the temperatures were in the 30’s. We skied hard; making 9 runs in the morning that covered 13.7 miles.  A nice lunch at Jack’s followed before heading back to the hotel for a hot tub and nap.