My Favorites
People
This is a great local band well known throughout the area. The leaders were music majors with a marketing minor at MSU Billings. They developed a marketing plan in my class. They used it to help grow their business. We also used their music in a student created branding campaign for MSU Billings.
Patricia Ridge Bradley Fine Artworks
Patricia works in charcoal, pastel and oil and her portraits, still life, landscapes, cityscapes, and western themes are wonderful. I now have two of her original pastels. She’s also from Oklahoma and her husband was a fraternity brother with my brother at OSU.
Jane taught Martha Stewart how to cook Southwestern. I live on her chili and chili mix and her spices fill my pantry. I met Jane when Sprint sent the marketing VPs on a team building jaunt to her Albuquerque cooking school. She has horses on a property in New Mexico. We keep promising to visit each other.
It was only a dream that his paintings could be in our Elk Morning books. Every trip to Red Lodge, I would pass by his studio in Robert’s, hoping he would be there. Finally, I met him at the MSU Billings Wine Festival. He loves our stories and we love his paintings. He is the most important American Indian artist of our time. And my friend.
Cindy writes a heartfelt blog (Miracle Update: Outback Edition) for wilderness boon dogging and camping.
Karis’ bead work is original and award winning. She was also included in a special issue of Cowboys and Indians Magazine.
bYELLOWTAIL is a Native American owned and operated fashion brand and retailer that specializes in storytelling through wearable art. Every season I buy one special piece to add to my closet.
Places Outside
This 68 mile highway winds its way through southwest Montana and northwest Wyoming and leads into the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. I’m afraid of heights, so I always sit in the passenger seat (with my head between my knees and a white knuckle grip on the arm rest) while a friend drives this amazing highway.
I can see the Pryor Mountains of the Big Horn Canyon from my front porch. Visitors to the canyon can often see wild horses roaming free.
Flathead Lake and the National Bison Range
Any trip to the Flathead Lake must include reverence to the bison and Montana’s native grasses.
Little Big Horn National Battlefield
The Little Big Horn Battlefield is the site of Custer’s Last Stand. On June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer, died fighting several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors in one of the Indian’s last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. They have a wonderful gift shop with historic artwork, books, and movies.
I don’t ski as much as I used to, but if it’s a sunny winter day, I’ll throw my skis in the truck instead of the saddle and head off to Red Lodge, which is a gateway to Yellowstone Park via the beautiful Beartooth Highway. It has some great places to eat and some local history ….. Jeremiah Johnson was once the sheriff of Red Lodge.
My boy Drummer is here. After I broke my leg and had a hip replacement as a result, my horse needed a job beyond me. He is a star with the veterans and their kids, all day every day. I try and ride him once a month, but I have to make an appointment. He seems to love it there. They call him George.
Places Inside
On your way to Glacier National Park, you must visit the Charlie Russell Museum. Russell (1864-1926) was one of America’s greatest artists and created breathtaking historical records of Western cultures, landscapes, and wildlife on his canvases.
Custer Battlefield Trading Post
Whenever I visit Crow Country, I always stop here to buy unique Crow made beaded jewelry (I have more earrings and bracelets than I can count) and eat their Indian Tacos. The BEST!
The Grand in Big Timber has great sandwiches and beers and the largest moose head in the world, so I’m told. If you need gas after your visit, make sure and stop at a local station at the I90 exit called The Fort. — I once shook hands with Tom Brokaw there.
Don’t leave Bozeman without visiting this museum.
This is a wonderful place to stop, shop, read and drink tea. …They sell our Our Lily Good Path series of books. In 2022 we were in the top ten of sales.
“What would Will James do?” If you remember that song, you can see the answer in a permanent exhibit about Western artist Will James, along with other amazing permanent and special exhibits. The Yellowstone Museum is where I fell in love with Deborah Butterfield’s wonderful huge horse sculptures.
The music festival is a great excuse to visit White Sulphur Springs.
Animals
Not only is this where my horse Drummer Boy goes to summer camp every year, it’s also where Bill Crabtree has been giving him excellent training since Drummer was four years old. We trail ride three times a week through Aspen groves and gorgeous views of several mountain ranges.
In the winter, the ranch leases their land to the Beartooth Recreational Trails Association Nordic Center, an amazing local organization that grooms the trails for cross-country skiing, which are open to all.
They specialize in one flavor of dog treat – a handmade and delightfully flavorful Peanut Butter and Pumpkin dog treat made with home made peanut butter. All natural with zero preservatives.
I go through a lot of dog and cat food, treats and treatments. This company delivers for free and makes good on everything, no questions asked. When you live in the country this is a miracle. I LOVE THEM.
My female Great Pyrenees, Nala, was a rescue, found wandering the streets of Salt Lake City when she was only 5 months old. This Montana rescue group facilitates the rescue, rehabilitation, and placement of abused, unwanted, displaced, and abandoned Great Pyrenees and Great Pyrenees mixes into safe, caring companion, or working homes. Volunteers caravan dogs to their new homes and foster homes are always needed.