Destination Red Lodge
At the Montana end of the Beartooth Highway is the charming historic mining town of Red Lodge. We stayed two nights at the Red Lodge Inn, a simple but comfortable motel, and enjoyed wandering the main street, Broadway, with its many attractive buildings.
The first night, we popped into the Red Lodge Pizza Co. I can’t remember now if the building used to be a post office, but I do remember all the pizzas had names like First Class or Parcel Post, so I suspect it must have been. Mind you, who cares what they were called? They were delicious! That’s it on the left below. To the right is Ox Pasture, just a few doors down. As we inspected the menu, a friendly staff member came out to encourage us in. Sorry, too full of pizza – but she was so enthusiastic that we booked for the next evening. This was a real find – a gourmet restaurant, using local produce, that would not be out of place in the grandest of cities. Easily the most spectacular meal in the whole of our three-week vacation.
Well, we had to work all that food off somehow so we took the Basin Lake Trail, a pretty walk although some of it was still scarred from wildfires in 2008.
On the way back, we stopped at the Red Box Car, a century old railroad car which allegedly serves the best fast food in the whole of the Yellowstone Region. This was just before our gourmet dinner, so we made do with coffee. The location doesn’t look much below, but it was right next to the creek which runs through town so it was relaxing to sit on the deck and listen to the water flowing.
The next day it was Goodbye Montana – our visit was short but sweet – as we set off to recross Wyoming on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
It’s so weird to look at your pictures. When I went to America, my American friend drove me to her house in Vermont, which stands near a town that looks much like the one in your pictures. That one wasn’t historical, but it was such a strange (and interesting) experience walking down its streets, because it was just like some of the places I saw in tv series as I grew up.
The environment was just as breathtaking. That’s what I love most about America.
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Yes, it’s the landscapes I love, but the towns are interesting too – and as you say, so familiar from films and tv.
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Love Montana. You and John have captured it beautifully as always.
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And thank you as always!
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OH! Love this post! I just followed you! Would love to connect with you! I’m Chy from Her Lost Mango! Nice to meet you! I just posted my Switzerland and Amsterdam trip! Paris, Italy and London is going to be up too! Some of my Europe trip is up now! I just posted too my favorite fashion pieces too. Hope to hear from you! XOXO lovelots! – Chy http://herlostmango.com
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Apologies, just found this in spam! Thanks for visiting.
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When I lived in Billings, MT we used to go to Red Lodge for a couple days if we could get some time off. Love it there. I used to work as a “Petroleum Landman” (woman) in the Williston Basin and then ended up living in Billings for a couple years. Beautiful country. Glad you liked it!
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Oh, fabulous place to live! I think a lot of people from Billings come down to that restaurant these days.
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Very interesting to see Montana photos. Thank You.
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Glad you like them.
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Interesting places, stunning scenery, great hikes, wonderful food and delicious coffee…your blog continues to lure me in with these key ingredients every time!
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You’ve just listed a great recipe for life!
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Thank you for the opportunity to see these amazing places! I love the Rockies and hope to travel more when my granddaughters are older.
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I’m sure they’ll love it!
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We are outdoor people 😉
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I’ll admit, knowing what I know about America, there is no way I would have expected a place in Montana called “Ox Pasture” to have any vegetarian options, let alone tofu, but they’ve proved me wrong! Makes it even sadder that there’s still so many places in Ohio where I’ve had to survive off of fries, or the occasional bland, mushy, veggie burger.
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Well, me too! There was only one option so I could only eat there once – but that’s all I needed. And I did have my best veggie burger ever on this holiday so apart from the hell that was the restaurant at Yellowstone I did quite well.
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