It's a 6 hour drive, and we took the slightly longer and far more beautiful drive through the Swan Valley. We stop in Big Fork for lunch. We find the Old Bridge Pub & Sub, a little place that had only opened a month earlier. We sat at the bar and chatted with Don, the owner. The elk brat was out of this world, but the polenta fries with pesto aioli were even better, crispy and decadent.
The rest of the drive takes us through the Swan Valley, past Swan Lake, Helena and to Seeley Lake. It's exactly the Montana drive we had hoped for, sweeping roads over mountains, across wide valleys and through massive farms. We're alone on the highway for over an hour in a few places, maxing our cruise control out at 90 and even pushing our little SUV to 110 on the long flat straights. Mandy now understands "cows dotting the landscape" as we pass by huge herds happily grazing. Seemingly always surrounded 360 by soaring peaks, It's right out of the song - purple mountains magistry and amber waves.
We pit stop in Three Forks, and check out the Sacajewia Hotel and the start of the Missouri River. The hotel is beautifully restored and you can feel the railroad barons smoking cigars and drinking brown liquor in the lobby.
We check into the Rainbow Ranch around 6. Dinner at the six seat lobby bar with Dale the bartender included the best trout we have ever tasted, a fat medium rare elk t-bone and some good brown liquor of our own. A dip in the infinity hot tub under the Montana stars then a deep sleep in our lodge room.
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