Anniversary Trip - Philipsburg, Fairmont, and Hamilton!

Doug and I have started a tradition of going on a trip every year on our anniversary.  We have found that it's a particularly beautiful time to travel to most places and we've really enjoyed our trips exploring new towns during late October.  This year we decided to visit some places in western Montana that I had never been to and Doug hadn't been to in years.  We had a super successful trip and had fun seeing more of our beautiful state!

We left Friday morning and headed to Philipsburg, MT.  It's a small, quaint little town that has quite a bit of history and is known for being a fun little tourist trap.  We got there mid-morning and our first stop was the brewery.  It's kind of the place to be in Philipsburg, and truthfully was one of the coolest breweries I've ever been to.  I don't drink beer, so my definition of a cool brewery is more about ambiance and amenities for non-beer drinkers than the quality of the beer, and this one marked high on my checklist.  It was super cute!  Doug had a quick drink and then we headed out to explore Main Street.  Philipsburg is *tiny* so it didn't really take long to walk up and down Main Street.  It was a cute little town, and surprisingly enough, there were quite a few other tourists there.  After walking downtown, we decided to get some lunch.  We popped into a place that the server at the brewery suggested and had some really delicious burgers for lunch.

After lunch (it took a really, really long time because as I mentioned Philipsburg was much busier than I think the local establishments had planned for, so we waited a long time for our food), we decided to head to Fairmont Hot Springs where we were staying Friday night.  It's a really cool hotel/resort with multiple hot springs pools and a waterslide.  We knew Drew would have a blast swimming, even though Avery was too young to get in.

When we got to Fairmont, our room was not ready, so we had to walk around the grounds a little before we were able to get our room.  They had a playground and a few farm animals for the kids to look at.  Drew really liked feeding the miniature horses!  After walking around a bit, we got checked into our room.  We quickly changed into our suits and headed to the pools.  Doug and Drew swam first while Avery and I watched from the side.  Then Drew and I swam for a bit while Doug hung out with Av.  We had lots of fun swimming in the warm pools and Doug even helped Drew learn how to doggie paddle and kick.  He loves the water, but is still afraid to let go of us, even with his life jacket on.  We worked on it this weekend (we swam a little later on in the weekend too) and he definitely got more brave. I think he'll be swimming in no time with a little work!

After swimming, we headed back to the room. Avery needed to eat, and we decided that it would just be easier and more fun to have a pizza party in the room than to go to the little restaurant there.  It sure was fun eating pizza on the beds and just lounging around for the evening.  The kids went to bed fairly easily.  It was a pretty good day!

Saturday, we woke up and headed to Hamilton, MT where we were staying both Saturday and Sunday nights.  We took a little cutoff road that ended up being gravel and ran along some pretty steep cliffs.  It was a little sketchy, but pretty country (we saw a pretty neat waterfall) and we made it pretty easily.  After arriving in Hamilton, we got lunch at Bitter Root Brewing.  I had one of the best lunches of my life there.  It was Thai chicken lettuce wraps and they were sooooo good!!  We ended up going back later in the weekend because they were just so good.

After lunch, we headed out for Blodgett Canyon to do a quick hike.  We set off, and quickly realized we needed to head back to the car to feed Avery.  So we turned around and fed her at the car.  After feeding her, we headed back up the trail. Avery was not in the mood and just kept crying.  We turned around and headed back to the car about four different times before she finally fell asleep and we could make it to the top.  Once we reached the top, there was an incredible view of Blodgett Canyon.  It was absolutely beautiful.  I was super impressed.  For such a short hike, we certainly got a lot of bang for our buck!

After the hike, we headed to our hotel and changed and then headed to dinner.  We went to another brewery, Higher Ground Brewing, for dinner.  They had fabulous pizza!  Drew found a friend to play with and we had a pretty great dinner with Drew playing and Avery sleeping. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. Although it was late, and already past Drew's bedtime, we decided to live it up since we were on vacation and went swimming.  On the way to the pool, we found some cookies that the hotel put out, so we got cookies and swimming all after Drew's bedtime.  It was a pretty fun night!  After swimming, we were all wiped out so we went back to the room to finally call it a day. 

The first two days of our vacation were so much fun!  Stay tuned for days three and four tomorrow!

Drew had a few additions to the luggage.  See the balls, car, and rake!

Doug's signature pose!

We were prepared for Drew to get sick on this trip since he's thrown up on the last few car trips we've taken.

I think he had more fun playing with the bowl!

Philipsburg, MT

Philipsburg Brewery!

Avery even liked the brewery!

Drew found some bears to "check out" on Main Street!

Dad and Drew LOVE Jeeps!

Lunch in Philipsburg.  No high chair training is going good!

Georgetown Lake, right outside of Philipsburg.

The miniature horses at Fairmont!

Drew loves dandelions!

Doug and Drew going swimming!

Avery hanging out poolside!

Mom and Avery sitting on the edge of the pool!

 

I love this boy!

He's just the cutest!

We found a horse to ride!

Pizza party in the room!

Sock puppets are still our favorite road trip game!

Scary road!

Beautiful waterfall on the road between Fairmont and Hamilton.

Lunch at Bitter Root Brewery.

Drew helping dad get popcorn!

Thai chicken lettuce wraps....soooo good!

Heading out for a hike!

And we're back at the car!

Drew was collecting rocks.  He had over 40 rocks in his hoodie pocket!

Family hike!

Drew trying to cheer up Avery on the trail.  Be still my heart!

Incredible view of Blodgett Canyon!

Higher Ground Brewery.  Drew found a buddy!

Avery slept through dinner!

Beautiful sunset!

We get to go swimming AFTER bedtime!

And have a cookie!

Vacation means spoiling!

 

Such a fun start to the vacation.  Stayed tuned for part two!

 

And today is our actual anniversary.  Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband.  I love you so much and I'm so happy that you're my partner in life. I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else!