Road Trip Planning 2010 – Montana

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Ok, I am continuing on the Road to Walla Walla (My FAVORITE of the Crosby/Hope “Road” movies, btw. Dorothy Lamour wears a sarong made of feathers AND an indian head dress!).  Today’s topic is places to stop in Montana.  Now, I know that you are surprised that there is wine in Montana, but it is true.  And luckily for me, some of this wine will be along my route.

These wineries include:

Lolo Peak Winery
Tongue River Winery

I will be trying to contact these wineries from the road as neither has much of a website. I think I have found the folks from the Tongue River Winery on the Facebook. Worse case, I can always try to find a liquor store. Just not as fun.

As for things to see on the road?

Well… There is the Little Big Horn Battlefield. I find battlefields boring unless you like looking at goofy things like a 200 year old jar of canned peaches which somehow sticks in my memory from my family’s disastrous stop at Gettysburg when I was 10. But I like to take in the vista and try to imagine. I feel a stop at the park would be an invitation for re-enactors to inflict themselves on me, and I know enough about Custer to know that this wouldn’t be good for anyone.

I know that I will be driving through the three big “B” cities of Montana: Billings, Bozeman and Butte. Each is in a different region according to the state. Billings is in Custer Country. Bozeman in Yellowstone Territory (which I won’t be able to explore much. Sigh. Maybe some day, I can figure out how to make money traveling and tasting wine and stay to look at places like Yellowstone closer. At least I will be near a super volcano and I know I will be desperately trying to identify volcanic formations along the way. If you are tire of hearing about rocks, blame my college room mate, who I affectionately refer to as Aunt Amy. She drilled all these geology things into my head. Who knew it would serve me well when talking about wine?

Slightly north of my route is the National Bison Range. Yes, growing up in and around Buffalo, NY I have seen bison. But not the kind that live free on range. Where the deer and the antelope play, so to speak. So that would be wicked cool as well.

Finally off my path entirely but surprising to learn was something real, are the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. I thought that the Missouri Breaks was just a movie! Instead it is a badlands like of formation along the upper Missouri River.

So. Once again, if you know someplace that I should visit. Please let me know. gretchen@vinoverve.com.

This entry was posted on June 20, 2010 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Montana, wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.