Do It Differently Personal Training

You know there will be something to write about when you don’t have any scheduled accommodation for the night, and decide to just drive out of the West Yellowstone exit from the park to see if you can find a place to stay. The temperatures were still really cold and as tempting as the KOA signs were, there was another night of freezing temperatures ahead. Let’s just drive toward I-90 and look for a place to stay. Surely we’ll find something! A highway hotel is bound to have some vacancy and it will cut a few hours off our next drive.

We took Hwy 191 which ended up taking us back through Yellowstone for a small portion of the trip. We both felt pretty awake and knew would could drive on for a while, when we spotted some cabins tucked away in the mountains. Maybe we should just pull off now and stay here! Why not? A highway hotel isn’t very appealing when you see a place like this available. As we were looking at each other processing whether or not we should turn around, we came across another bank of cabins and the Cinnamon Lodge. Let’s do it!

Ben hopped out and discovered they had one cabin left with 2 queen beds, right by the river. Sold. We checked-in and decided to head to the accompanying tavern (yes, the tavern) for a beverage (or two) and a snack. When we walked in, we witnessed a very seasoned bartender slinging bevvies and managing the inebriated local at the bar. Another couple of guys were on a 10-day motorcycle trip through Yellowstone and two others were on a treasure hunt. A little eavesdropping and a couple of rounds and soon you are visiting with everyone!

My all-time favorite moment happened with Samantha, the 10-year old daughter of the owners. She came up to Ava and Hudson and said, “Do you guys want to see my goats?”. Uh, “YES!”. Hudson was practically running out the door and Ava was tentatively checking with us to be sure it was okay. Samantha said they never get kids there so she was very excited to meet some new friends! We thought we should just verify where Samantha lived before they went on a 10-mile hike at dusk into the mountains to see the goats. Turns out the goats (and Samantha) live right next to the tavern.  Off they went with their new friend and Ben and I had another round and enjoyed the energy of the group.

We also saw our first actual tiny house at the Lodge. A family of 5 lives there!