Big Sky
Had New Years eve wine in Montana this year. The Bob part of me was still there. The joke at the site was that they were going to make a career out of that oil well. They are supposed to drill, get it going, then move on to a new location and repeat. Usually, it takes about 10 days. Bob was on that site for over 3 weeks and when he left it still wasn't finished, but they found a replacement so he could come home for a while. He has many "honey-do's" to catch up on.
So, I drove up there, 11 hours from Denver, to have a glass of wine in the big city of Sidney Montana. It would have only taken 10 hours except one of the dogs was "sick" and I had to pull over about 23 times to let him "go".
For dinner we had 2 choices. The Cadillac. A steak joint and casino. The South 40. A steak joint and casino with Karaoke that evening. We chose the South 40. It sounded more rural and I like to watch drunk people get on stage and make fools of themselves. The specialty there was prime rib and lobster. They serve up a giant slab of slightly warm raw beef laced in fat with french fries and a lobster tail on a separate plate. Honestly, it looked disgusting. Everyone in the place was obese too. They made Bob and I look anorexic. I'm thinking that beef isn't that good for you. Or maybe you just shouldn't eat 10 pounds of it in a sitting accompanied by a cholesterol tail soaked in butter and fries.
We got there at 6:30 with the blue hairs. It was a good thing too, because it took a little over an hour and a half to get our dinner. Here's a tip. If you go to a steak joint, in a small town, just order what they are good at. I ordered Walleyed Pike and Bob ordered Salmon. After an hour, the waitress let us know they burned the pike and had to start over. At least she was honest, they could have told us they were out on the ice catching it and I would have believed at that point. She offered us a drink, but we were only 3/4 done with our bottle of wine...so we passed. In the meantime, we admired the decor. Low ceilings, barn beams, that just right rustic look that reminded us were not in Denver anymore. Bob says I'm snooty. I don't think that's true, I just think if you are going to pay $25 for burnt fish, the place you are eating at should have a cleaner look. Oh yeah, and the men should take their ball caps off while they are eating. None of them did. In fact, one of Bob's co-workers was there with his Tooke hat. He was sitting right next to us and if he didn't have the hat, we probably would not have noticed him.
We had limited wine options.
We chose Beringer Founders Estate Merlot 2002. $20.00 a bottle. Alcohol 13.9%. It was a bit sweet, oaky with blackberry and plum, spicy for sure. Not very smooth. Bob thought it went down like sandpaper. It wasn't silky smooth like his new beard. We didn't like it very much and won't look for it here.
My mom says men were meant to work outside in the cold and that's the reason they can grow hair on their faces. On the other hand, she says women should stay inside and eat chocolates and blog wine. I think I agree with her. My son thought Bob's new beard was funny. When Bob walked in the house Nolan was laughing so hard he couldn't breath.
What a silly little boy! He went on like that for about 10 minutes. Incidentally, Bob's hair grows mostly under his chin, he looks like a farmer from Montana.
So we finished off our Montana New Year evening upstairs in the bar area listening to people singing Karaoke, country songs of course, and watching them drink out of "fishbowls". Hmm, now here's an interesting concept. A giant bowl filled with alcohol (an example would be a Long Island ice tea) with four or more people sharing out of really long straws. We just had a couple of Miller Lites while we waited for the countdown. The barkeeps brought out party hats and favors along with cheap champagne and turkey sandwiches. It was actually kind of fun. One thing I have to say, this was one New Year we will not forget. We tried to remember where we went last year and well, we just couldn't. There is something to be said for small town fun. I only hope that next year we will be here.
So, I drove up there, 11 hours from Denver, to have a glass of wine in the big city of Sidney Montana. It would have only taken 10 hours except one of the dogs was "sick" and I had to pull over about 23 times to let him "go".
For dinner we had 2 choices. The Cadillac. A steak joint and casino. The South 40. A steak joint and casino with Karaoke that evening. We chose the South 40. It sounded more rural and I like to watch drunk people get on stage and make fools of themselves. The specialty there was prime rib and lobster. They serve up a giant slab of slightly warm raw beef laced in fat with french fries and a lobster tail on a separate plate. Honestly, it looked disgusting. Everyone in the place was obese too. They made Bob and I look anorexic. I'm thinking that beef isn't that good for you. Or maybe you just shouldn't eat 10 pounds of it in a sitting accompanied by a cholesterol tail soaked in butter and fries.
We got there at 6:30 with the blue hairs. It was a good thing too, because it took a little over an hour and a half to get our dinner. Here's a tip. If you go to a steak joint, in a small town, just order what they are good at. I ordered Walleyed Pike and Bob ordered Salmon. After an hour, the waitress let us know they burned the pike and had to start over. At least she was honest, they could have told us they were out on the ice catching it and I would have believed at that point. She offered us a drink, but we were only 3/4 done with our bottle of wine...so we passed. In the meantime, we admired the decor. Low ceilings, barn beams, that just right rustic look that reminded us were not in Denver anymore. Bob says I'm snooty. I don't think that's true, I just think if you are going to pay $25 for burnt fish, the place you are eating at should have a cleaner look. Oh yeah, and the men should take their ball caps off while they are eating. None of them did. In fact, one of Bob's co-workers was there with his Tooke hat. He was sitting right next to us and if he didn't have the hat, we probably would not have noticed him.
We had limited wine options.
We chose Beringer Founders Estate Merlot 2002. $20.00 a bottle. Alcohol 13.9%. It was a bit sweet, oaky with blackberry and plum, spicy for sure. Not very smooth. Bob thought it went down like sandpaper. It wasn't silky smooth like his new beard. We didn't like it very much and won't look for it here.
My mom says men were meant to work outside in the cold and that's the reason they can grow hair on their faces. On the other hand, she says women should stay inside and eat chocolates and blog wine. I think I agree with her. My son thought Bob's new beard was funny. When Bob walked in the house Nolan was laughing so hard he couldn't breath.
What a silly little boy! He went on like that for about 10 minutes. Incidentally, Bob's hair grows mostly under his chin, he looks like a farmer from Montana.
So we finished off our Montana New Year evening upstairs in the bar area listening to people singing Karaoke, country songs of course, and watching them drink out of "fishbowls". Hmm, now here's an interesting concept. A giant bowl filled with alcohol (an example would be a Long Island ice tea) with four or more people sharing out of really long straws. We just had a couple of Miller Lites while we waited for the countdown. The barkeeps brought out party hats and favors along with cheap champagne and turkey sandwiches. It was actually kind of fun. One thing I have to say, this was one New Year we will not forget. We tried to remember where we went last year and well, we just couldn't. There is something to be said for small town fun. I only hope that next year we will be here.
posted by Kim Masitti @ 9:11 PM
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