Belgrade, Montana, United States
I have known David Riordan since 2006 when he was one of the
two drivers on the Silk Road overland trip I did from London to Beijing over
four months. That’s a good long time to get to know someone. He was one of the
few American drivers for the company and we’ve kept in touch since, sometimes
getting together when he was working stateside, such as the 2009-10 ski season
when he was working for Vail Resorts and I was living in Colorado. In April he
contacted me before starting work for the season as a driver in
Yellowstone. “You live kind of near
there, don’t you?”
Of course, I do. Kind of near is relative, though, since it
takes at least three hours to get to Old Faithful or Lake Village where he is
being put up for the season. David
stopped by for a day in April on his way from California to Yellowstone shortly
before I left for Europe. With two
consecutive days off just after July 4th, he came back to the
Bozeman area for a visit. That gave me
another chance to play tour guide to an actual tour guide, to show off some of
the best this part of Montana has to offer.
We met up Friday night in Livingston for beers at Katabatic
Brewery, Mexican food at Fiesta en Jalisco, and honky-tonkin to country swing
band Cowboy Bob & the Gypsy Dust at the bar in the historic Murray Hotel.
Saturday was a day on the water, first a three-hour long tubing trip on
the Madison River, followed by a soak in some warmer water at nearby Norris Hot
Springs. We finished the evening at Pakeezah Indian restaurant in Bozeman where
they were offering a very extensive 4th of July weekend grand buffet
before a night of Bollywood dancing. We
made big enough piglets of ourselves at the buffet that we were in too much
pain to linger around for the dancing.
Sunday was the 2nd annual Cars on Boardway event
in downtown Belgrade. There’s such an
annual Cars on Main event that I went to five years ago during my first summer
in Montana, but it was news to me that they were doing something similar in
Belgrade. As we wandered around looking at cars while listening to a band
playing Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, David commented to me, “You know, this might be
the most Redneck weekend of my life.” Ah,
I love Montana!
We finished with a drive up the canyon to Hyalite Reservoir,
one of the prettiest places in the Bozeman area. We did two easy hikes to waterfalls –
Palisade Falls and Grotto Falls, about four miles walking in total, among my
favorites for visitors who aren’t into more ambitious hikes. Better yet, it was nice and cool at Hyalite’s
elevation just as a heat wave was getting underway in the area.
2025-05-22