Day 4- and a bear!

Red Lodge, MT to Helena, MT

The Beartooth Highway- The single most beautiful road either of us has ever traveled. Absolutely stunning. If you ever are anywhere near this part of the country, make it a point to drive this highway that runs between Red Lodge and Cooke City, MT.

 It's only about 70 miles long, but it's a slow, winding road- and you'll want to stop a lot for photos. It took us about 4 1/2 hrs. Another plus is that there's no charge to drive the road, whereas in nearby Yellowstone, you'll pay to enter. Yellowstone's also more crowded. (It didn't stop us from going through though- keep reading.)

Zaxby's first time in snow! He loved it.

A friend of ours who spent a summer in Montana recommended stopping at the Bear Tooth Cafe in Cooke City. It's very cute and has dog-friendly patio seating and really obscenely large nachos.

Cooke City is also very close to the West entrance to Yellowstone, and since we needed to travel West- we had to go. Also, we bought a National Park pass yesterday at Little Big Horn, so we wanted to take advantage of it! (Side note: Park passes are definitely a good idea if you road trip a lot. And they last a year!)

Yellowstone

Bison brothers.

Mammoth Hot Springs

We saw a bear!!

Cutie grizzly!

What a day! After leaving Yellowstone, we drove up to Helena for the night. If we did it again, we probably wouldn't go QUITE as far- since we took our time on the Bear Tooth & in Yellowstone, we were in the car for over 12 hours. So if you do it, maybe stay the night in Bozeman, MT, a cute town we stopped in for dinner.