Bucket lists are funny things. Most people forget to empty their buckets as they fill them, or they notice there are a few holes in the bucket, and everything is then a bit pointless. It has been my dream forever — since I was a very young, horsey little girl — to go and see real horse country. Not the country meadows of my past or the salty beaches of Moss Landing and the neat lanes of the Scheid vineyard next door.
No, I’m talking big sky country, the wide-open plains of Wyoming and Montana — the place where horse movies and shows are often made — see Yellowstone — ah me — I had always wanted to go to those places. I recall watching scratchy old cowboy flicks as a kid and, in my mind, I was flying across the Plains with the bad guys. Now I’m in my sixth decade — ahem — I had better giddy up and go before I don’t want to or can’t.
Well, guess what — it has been a while in the making, but we are finally going. September is the month. This bucket bottom feeder moved onto a reality plane when my daughter Francoise met her boyfriend Aarona a few years ago, and Aaron — bless him — is actually from Montana. Much as I love to travel alone, it is fabulous when a local person can show you around. I am the world’s worst tour guide, and I do not enjoy it, but I’ve traveled with Aaron before and he’s a pleasure. And so, the plan evolved around my daughter’s 30th birthday and their two-week vacation. September is also, apparently, a wonderful time to go to Montana.
The first thing I did as an old timer was to buy some good old-fashioned maps. I’m a tactile girl, I like to see where I’m going, as it were, and a proper map helps me to do just that. I found some in the dusty archives of good ol’ eBay and then found another equally dusty Fodor guidebook. This chick was going to do her research. I had waited so long for this trip; I was not going to wing it at any mile marker of the way.
First thing to clinch after the maps is the ranch sitter. Check. When you have a rescue ranch, that is a huge one. Then we needed to examine where we would like to visit over the course of the two weeks Aaron and Francoise would be with us on our big adventure. My daughter and I would be celebrating our birthdays there, so that spot was a very important one.
With Aaron’s help, we picked Big Fork — an enormous cabin on a lake — that looks absolutely breathtaking. We would spend five luscious days there, leaving only for supplies and — oh bucket listers unite — a horse-riding trail adventure through Glacier National Park on Francoise’s actual 30th birthday. Though I don’t technically ride anymore, because my knee is messed up, I am making an exception for this very special time. If I mess up my knee on the trails of Wyoming, so be it — it will be totally worth it.
With the hub of the trip beginning in Billings where Aaron is from, the young ‘uns will be flying into Billings Airport, where we will visit with his family members for a few days. Since the old man and I would be driving, we had to figure out the logistics of our adventure in order to meet them on the assigned date in Billings. I remember the days of yore when people used a travel agent, and one could have really come in handy with this trip!
Armed with my trusty map and the Air BnB app, I worked my way up to Billings. One night in Sac to see our son and granddaughter. That was easy. Zoom through Nevada (been there, done that), spending the night in the beautifully named (we shall see) town called Winnemucca and landing in Twin Falls for a couple of nights, which is supposed to be lovely (check mark the guidebook).
From there, we are headed to Buffalo Valley Ranch — doesn’t that sound amazing! We shall spend three nights in a teepee at the ranch — I hope that doesn’t mean the floor of a teepee, because we will never get up again — but I thought it interesting to explore my husband’s Native American roots, even though he won’t know we are staying in an actual teepee until we get there. Laughs all the way around.
From Moran, Wyo., we are headed to Lake Yellowstone inside the actual Yellowstone National Park — oh joy oh joy. My bucket is overflowing. I have wanted to go to Yellowstone for the longest time and we are taking a day tour to view all the sights (yes, it’s that big). They promise we will see buffalo, elk, moose, maybe even bear … my cup will truly run over. All those exotic animals I have never seen!
We will leave Lake Yellowstone after three days in time to pick up the young ones at Billings Airport and spend a few days there visiting with Aaron’s family. From there, it’s off to Helena where we are staying on Moose Creek — can you imagine — yes, it’s on a creek and we hope we will see moose there. Then it’s time for the big birthday celebrations at Swan Lake Chalet in Big Fork. Yes, it’s just as lush as it sounds — a huge cabin with a wrap—around deck on a lake. I keep looking at the pictures on Air BnB and I am getting so crazy excited already.
We leave Bigfork and head to Bozeman and another cabin on a creek. We will be the kings and queens of cabins by the time we are done! The young folk will then fly out of Bozeman to go back to work, and we will head to the Laughing Horse Lodge to decompress before the long drive home via Washington State and Oregon.
As you can see it takes a lot of planning to put together a trip like this and it doesn’t just plan itself. But I’m happy to share my tour of yet unchartered territory with you in the hope that it will inspire y’all to examine your own bucket lists and, maybe, make a plan to do something incredibly fun and out of the box yourselves.
Next week, I’ll let you know what the plan is for the way home from Montana. Yes, we’ve got that all scheduled too. “We could just wing it?” husband noted dubiously. “Yeah, that’s not happening. I’ve waited a very long time to do this in my life,” I respond. “We are winging nothing.”
