Road Trip Fun to Billings Montana: Best Overnight at Canyon Creek Brewing

Here we leave St. Mary KOA near Glacier National Park. July 1st. A very long drive day. 378 miles, to be exact. And when your’e towing with a well seasoned truck like our 2010 Tundra, you take it easy. I must say, though, she’s a real champ. Well, aside from the fact that the place that installed our up-to-date stereo, didn’t connect things all that well, so we wound up without said stereo, or cameras, or USB’s, or 12v plugs… or power mirrors… for the ENTIRE trip. Yeah, that happened on day two. You just roll with it. A stop at Walmart for a portable charger for our phones, and we were good to go. Luckily Dave has lots of towing experience and was able to make do with the mirrors as-is for drives and maneuvering. And you know what? The scenery was so attention grabbing and I was so focused on filming, that I didn’t really miss or even need music for passing the time. To each his own.
As for featuring this particular drive, as you can see, this movie is only 6 or so minutes long. Why, you ask?
(Or maybe you may not ask, but I’m gonna tell ya anyway..)
The scenery between St. Mary and Billings is absolutely beautiful, and of course when experiencing the road from behind the windshield, there is a special appreciation for being there. Those who know, know. But, as the miles click off on the odometer, sometimes, as beautiful as it is, the scenery might not change for a while. Like for an hour. Or MORE.
And so what I did, was pick and choose little landmarks along the way and include a sample of each change of topography to keep things interesting. Personally, I find every inch of road time deeply satisfying, but in my short and sweet movies, my aim isn’t to show everything in it’s entirety, but rather a compilation of scenes, both scenic and not so scenic in order to present a real life example of the drive. In making this one, I was also limited with my time to edit and produce an upload, so I hope to have accomplished my aim in this video.
Now, as for our Harvest Host stay at Canyon Creek Brewing in Billings, I can definitely recommend them as a quick overnight when passing through this city. The location is on the outer edge of the town, and while there was a very large construction project next door while we were there, they quit at around 4 and resumed at 7am. Not bad.
We had the best time. The owner was so hospitable, greeted us right away, helped with the best place to park, and even spoke with us twice more after that. With kind and swift service, they offer some great beers, and will even fill a growler for you and set it in the fridge while you enjoy a meal from one of their daily rotating food trucks (we had Cajun the day we were there). For the RV, the parking lot was large enough, level enough and quiet enough. And not far away is a free dump station at Pierce Rv and Marine Super Center if you need it. I mean, what more could you ask for? We even met some really nice neighbor travelers, too.
We stayed at six HH locations on this trip, and every one of them I could easily recommend and were wonderful. I know that isn’t always the case, but research, communication and reviews helped us make some pretty good choices. And don’t forget, a bit of luck. I do find that the farm and private property stays have a higher response rate and are more likely to honor a reservation.
Sometimes, a business such as a brewery or winery, may have events that impede parking and if you made your reservation months in advance, that information may not be communicated before you arrive. You might just be booted out, and you’d better have a plan B. Some handy info right there… your’e welcome.
We lucked out on this trip, and even though a couple places were new to the platform and definitely could improve their directions, I would not hesitate to use HH in the future. That’s my experience in a nutshell. I’d say go ahead and spin the wheel and try HH. It isn’t perfect, but sometimes it hits the mark as far as location and price.
This concludes our time in Montana, which I must say is one of my favorite states, and even when just driving from A to B, be prepared to enjoy the ride! Of course, I haven’t seen a lot of it because it’s really, really big. But what I did see, was enough to make me want to return and see more. It IS called “Big Sky” country for a reason, and there’s so much more to see than Glacier National Park.
I didn’t pay one single visit to ghost town on this trip, but hopefully I will go back to see some in this gorgeous state. I especially would like to see Bannack. In 2011 we made a visit to Virginia City and Nevada City, and they were absolutely fantastic. Can never get enough ghost towns, and Montana has some great ones! Sorry. I side-barred again. Well, I gotta be me.☺️
Trying to stay positive at the moment so hope I am passing that on! Thanks for dropping in; please enjoy the mini-mini movie, and I’ll catch ya next time.. which will feature, yet another Harvest Host, in Wyoming!♥️

[@ervinslens]

What a scenery, absolutely beautiful upload! Clouds created absolutely beautiful and unique atmosphere here!

[@michelemcdanieltravels]

@@ervinslens Thanks so much!