Day 13: Bozeman, MT

Greetings from "MAN"tana (as Joe affectionately calls it - I guess the women are a bit scarce here.) Bozeman is a great town to stop and rest for a day or two. It's reminiscent of Boulder with that college town feel and an overabundance of artists, athletes and "trustafarians" (trust fund kids- to the lay person), but a bit rougher around the edges. (Probably from all the rugged mountain terrain and its cowboy roots.)

This morning we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and decided that we better make a few serious decisions about our route. Snow in Bozeman, at 4500 ft elevation, surely meant snow in Yellowstone, 7500 ft. We only have a two day window to cancel our Yellowstone Cabin Reservation for Sunday night, so were facing a deadline dilemma.

After consulting our maps, resident Montana friends and the weather channel, we decided to skip Yellowstone (boo hoo!) and take a more northern route via Billings, MT and then drop down into Sheridan, WY. This route will keep us in the high plains areas and out of the mountain elevations. The new route is also a bit less strenuous so we have an extra day or two to play with until we camp with my sister and her family in Custer, SD.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the downtown shops of Bozeman and looking for a good slice of pie. We found the Leaf & Bean Coffee Shop and subsequently a delicious slice of Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. It was a chilled delight with crisp nilla wafer crust, banana chocolate base topped with a delicious layer of creamy vanilla custard and then a light whip cream top. I usually do not like chocolate in my pies but this one just had a hint of chocolate in the base and a touch on top for effect. YUM!

The evening was filled with activity. First we took a short bike ride down to the local Art Walk. Bozeman has an old high school building that they converted into artists studios. After checking out the local artists displays, we rode over to the Little Sherpa Coffee House for some music and relaxation. Joe's girlfriend, Mel, owns and manages this cute local coffee joint. Then, to top off the evening, Marc made us all a delicious dinner of fried tofu with peanut satay sauce and a spicy Pad Thai w/ beef dish.

Marc spent the rest of the evening soaking his "Cankles" in Epsom Salts (his tendons are still really sore and swollen). Looks like we are going to spend another day in town before heading off toward Billings on Sunday. Joe is planning to drive us into Yellowstone so we can see the sights and hit a hot springs on the way back. What a great host!