After three nights at the Stagecoach Inn at West Yellowstone, the schedule for Day 9 of our trip is to drive some 350 miles across Montana for our next stop at Missoula. En route, we visit Earthquake Lake; Virginia City; and the Big Hole National Battlefield. Our route takes us over several passes above 6,000-feet as well as across the wide open spaces of Montana that give it the nickname of the Big Sky Country. In the afternoon, we experience some ferocious mosquitoes and a hailstone storm that dents the car's bodywork

Earthquake Lake

Virginia City - the site of a gold rush in 1863, and the graves of road agents in Boot Hill

After checking-in to the Best Western Grant Creek Inn at Missoula,

we have an enjoyable meal at a Perkins restaurant.

 

The following morning (Day 10) we drive to Glacier National Park

Our route across Montana takes us through the Flathead Indian Reservation towards the Rocky Mountains

Our lunch break is at Willows Honeyberry Farm before we reach the West Glacier entrance to Glacier National Park