Hanging out at Coal Creek Coffee, Laramie Wyoming
About halfway between Lander and Laramie, Rawlins is the site of the Wyoming Frontier Prison, under lock and key since 1901. As it advertises, “come hang with us” on a tour of this often brutal prison’s history.
Marathon Mouth chomps down on salmon tacone at Go Fish, Vancouver B.C.
It’s a bit late, but I realize I overlooked a number of categories in my Best Road Trip Meals of 2012 awards and figured I didn’t want to wait perhaps months to post reviews of some stellar places. So here we go with Part Two.
Spectacular Wind River Canyon, south of Thermopolis, Wyoming
Thermopolis boasts the world’s largest mineral hot springs (you can visit it in nearby Hot Springs State Park). It’s also just north of where Highway 20 winds through the spectacular Wind River Canyon, the high Precambrian granite walls carved by a river dotted with huge boulders and fly fishermen. Downtown Thermopolis has wide streets, old buildings and at least one good eating spot.
Beautifully bleak landscape in northern Wyoming
Update October 2014: Hungry Bear announced on its Facebook page that it was closing.
If you happening to be driving Highway 308—the short, rolling-hills connector between Red Lodge and Highway 72 leading south to Cody—consider stopping at Hungry Bear Bakery Cafe in whistle-stop Bear Creek. Grab a big $1 cup of coffee and maybe a slice of “world famous” banana cream pie and eavesdrop, from a corner table, on nearby ranchers gathered for the morning gabfest about weather, politics and the price of cattle.
Hungry Bear Bakery Café
116 East Main Street, Bear Creek, Montana
Cody. The name conjures up images of the Wild West and Buffalo Bill Cody. Sure enough, there’s a Buffalo Bill Historical Centre (containing no less than five museums), daily summer rodeos and wild-west shootouts, and more than 25 restored historic western buildings. With a population of only 9,500, it’s easy to get around and sample a surprisingly eclectic food scene. Cody also provides an eastern entrance to nearby Yellowstone National Park.
The fabulous Cafe Regis in tiny Red Lodge, Montana
Billings, Montana
The booming Billings is easily the largest city in Montana (population 105,000). It doesn’t have the same charm as Bozeman, though that may have something to do with the main drag being all dug up when I pass through. It is worth heading up Overlook Drive for a panoramic view of the city, set in the Yellowstone River Valley, with the Pryor Mountains to the south. Area attractions have an aboriginal theme: Pompeys Pillar National Monument (with its petroglyphs), Pictograph Cave State Park and, further afield, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
Casually elegant Restaurant 415 in Fort Collins, Colorado
Best Supper
There are times on a long road trip when you want to wipe off the grime, comb your hair and go out for a nice dinner—the kind where the chefs have trained in high-end restaurants and where the utensils have some heft and are wrapped in linen, not paper. And you want to do so without breaking the bank. Restaurant 415 in Fort Collins, Colorado delivers all that, in spades. The retro-modern dining space is elegant but relaxed, with subdued lighting on the brushed aluminum tables and the stylish chairs, which have leatherette seat cushions and slightly springy wooden backs.
Marathon Mouth 