Ski Trip in Big Sky, Montana

Josh and I haven't missed a ski season together in ten whoooooole years.

We try to mix it up each year and go somewhere different. After skiing Whistler last year, it's SO tempting to break the rules and return there every single year for the rest of our lives. The trip was perfect in every sense. Phenomenal skiing and shockingly cheap ($80 lift tickets! Yay US/Canada exchange rate!) We made the drive up from Seattle (spent a night in Vancouver) and took the Sea to Sky Highway along the mountains lining the coast. There are no words to appropriately describe that drive; it was one of the best of our lives. BUT enough about THAT trip; I'm here to talk about Montana!

ANYWAYS.

Montana has been topping our domestic "to-visit" list for a while. We've skied Colorado, Oregon, New Mexico and Utah (and Dubai) so we figured we would mix it up this go 'round. 

Also, American Airlines just got a direct flight to Bozeman so that helps. 

More points, more points! #platinumbound

We arrived on a Saturday and spent four nights in this Airbnb bungalow in the Big Sky meadow. We couldn't have found a better place. It had perfect views of the mountain, a prime location in town and the most magnificent wood burning stove of all time. 

(We now have a wood burning stove savings account.)

Our friends from Jackson Hole drove up to stay with us for a few nights and we ate and drank and skied our little hearts out. We got to experience our first lift with HEATED SEATS. Yes, you read that right. We are living in the future (but maybe that explains why the lift tickets were $2394832094832).

Although we attempted to fuel our skiing on beer alone, we managed to save room for real food, too.

Some of our favorite restaurants were: Ousel & Spur Pizza Co (get the perfectly lemon-y shrimp crostini!), Lotus Pad thai, Olive B's Big Sky Bistro, and Blue Moon Bakery (we went back for seconds).

Must eat on the slopes: Uncle Dan's Cookies (badass paninis) at the base of the Six Shooter lift.

Heads up: get reservations. No matter how void of humans you think the town is, there are so few restaurants and all the good ones seem to book up fast. 

On our last day in Big Sky we realized we couldn't afford another full day lift ticket, and we decided to hike to Ousel Falls (after carb loading at Blue Moon, again).

The waterfalls were frozen (not sure why this surprised me), but the hike was worth it. We ran into so many friendly people (and their pups) and took in every ounce of the gorgeous Montana snow-capped scenery.

We absolutely fell in love with Montana, and can't wait to return for a summer trip!