Last summer, I went to Montana! I had a super fun travel year last year and I want to document my travels on my blog. I decided to go with my mom and my aunt at the last minute, and I’m so glad I did.

We got to our Airbnb in Bigfork after an extremely long (and stressful) travel day. I have super bad flight anxiety and since I decided to go so last minute, I had to fly by myself. The trip from Georgia to Bigfork required three separate plane rides, and after we landed in Bozeman, we rented a car and drove another four hours. As soon as we got to our Bnb, we headed out to eat (pictured here!) and watch the sunset.

The sunset aforementioned. This was at Wayfarer’s State Park, which was within walking distance from our Bnb! Downtown Bigfork was also within walking distance– one morning, I got up and went on a run to downtown and it is so cute and homey. We did some shopping around, but Bigfork had such a pleasant small town vibe. One night, we went out to a local bar to see some live music and it reminded me a lot of my hometown.

The next morning, we truly had no plans. So we did what anyone would do– we rented a boat and spent the day on beautiful Flathead Lake. I read my book, sunbathed, jumped off of cliffs, and drank vodka seltzers, and it was perfect. Growing up on the Florida gulf, day two reminded me so much of home, except there were countless mountains! The scenery on Flathead Lake is truly breathtaking.

Imagine suntanning on a boat all day and this is your view– stunning. This wasn’t something we planned to do, but Flathead Lake ended up being right in the backyard of our Airbnb, and we didn’t have any plans until the afternoon, so we figured, why not? This little side quest ended up being one of our favorite parts of the trip. Always say yes to side quests.

That afternoon, we set out to what we initially came to Montana for– a music festival! Though country music isn’t necessarily my jam, I’ll never turn down a music festival, and this one ended up being pretty fun. After our boat on Flathead Lake ran out of gas and we had to be rescued (lol), we took off because we were running late to ‘Under the Big Sky’ festival. This was a weekend fest, but we only had tickets for one day. We got to see some pretty cool artists– Turnpike Troubadours, Brothers Osborne, Tanya Tucker, Chaparelle, and more! I ate extremely spicy vegan Gyoza that made my lips explode and hurt all night ):

On day 3, we decided to go back to Whitefish, where Under the Big Sky was held, and explore the downtown area. Whitefish felt a lot busier, but especially so because of the music festival, and it was just a gorgeous summer weekend. I still really enjoyed it, I found a crystal shop that I really liked and got sone gifts for people, and we got some delicious coffee and lunch!

Since we were in Whitefish already, naturally we had to stop and see Glacier National Park. Glacier is known for its super freezing waters, which is essentially runoff from melted glaciers, hence the name. We found a beautiful little area where you can park your car, walk around and take pictures, swim (if you dare), and grab some bites to eat, so this was just a casual visit, but still my first time seeing it. How stunning Glacier is!

Another pic of me at Glacier (: despite being a gorgeous afternoon, it wasn’t really crowded! Plus, it’s a National Park, so there are lots of different spots to find a little privacy. After this visit, we headed back to Bigfork and spent the night at some bars downtown having a blast and dancing and listening to live music.

We couldn’t stay away for long, because the next morning we got up and went white water rafting through Glacier National Park! Such a fun experience that I would recommend to everyone visiting Montana!

After rafting, we made a pit stop that ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip– Goats of Glacier! This was an interactive farm with so many animals and I swear I was smiling the whole time. We accidentally arrived about 30 minutes before they closed so there was no one else there besides us! A guide showed us around and we got the whole farm to ourselves.

I got to meet so many animals, even a baby Highland Cow! . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. This seriously ended up being one of my favorite parts, and I would also 100% recommend visiting Goats of Glacier if you’re in the area.

Goats of Glacier was a pit stop for what was, in my opinion, one of the highlights of the trip. My mom and I took the drive up the famous Going-To-The-Sun Road. This is simply a road that goes all the way up a mountain in Glacier National Park. You can take the road up to the highest point, Logan Pass, which is 51 miles up the mountain and lands you at an elevation of 6,646 feet. The views up Going-To-The-Sun Road are absolutely incredible, and there are so many places up the way to stop and get out of the car and take in the scenery.

The next day, we checked out early and drove the four hours back to Bozeman. We were flying out the next morning and wanted to stay the night close to the airport. We stayed at the most precious little hotel that was definitely made by women and for women. I wish I had more pictures of it! Once we got there, we explored around downtown Bozeman and did some shopping. At around 6:00, since it was our last night, and we were only 45 minutes from it, we made the spontaneous decision to drive to Yellowstone National Park!

Since it was so late, we were limited in what we could do at Yellowstone, but we got to drive through the park and see lots of wildlife and geysers. I would love to go back and spend the whole day here, but we got to see the most spectacular sunset.

Throughout my Montana trip, I was doing a social media cleanse, and it was so nice to travel and not be tied down by the weight of all that social media entails. I loved going with my mom and seeing her have fun and thrive and let loose. I’ve never been out West until now (well, technically I was born in Arizona, but I don’t remember any of it), and the atmosphere was truly so memorable. The whole time, I was singing ‘Jersey Giant’ by Tyler Childers because that’s just the vibe Montana gave me overall. I would absolutely love to go back, and this was the start of an incredible travel year for me.

Long live cowgirls (and Montanan tourists)!

–mal