we love you red lodge!

Last weekend we hit the road and headed to Red Lodge to visit our friend (and summer roommate), Patty. Well, before we could pull out of Mammoth we had to scrape the ice off our car...both the outside and the inside of the car. Brr.

Red Lodge sits at the base of the Beartooth Mountains and at the start of the Beartooth Highway. Because the road isn't plowed past Cooke City and the Beartooth Pass closed weeks ago for the season, there's only one way to get there in the winter, what everyone around here dubs "the long way, up and around."

We checked in to our hotel, and Steve reacquainted himself with TV.


Patty invited us to Red Lodge during the town's annual Christmas Stroll, and it didn't disappoint. We decided to get our holiday shopping done during the day, so that we could just focus on eating our way through town in the evening when the stroll officially began. The main street of Red Lodge is lined with great shops that stock a lot of unique and local products, and we made a major dent in our holiday shopping.

Patty took me to Babcock & Miles, a specialty food store that she knew I would love.


I was already giddy over the aisles of olive oils and fancy jams, and then I let out a squeal: they had Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese! A Christmas present to me me me, we haven't been able to find that cheese since we left New York and I couldn't believe they had it.


Around 7 p.m. we hit the main street again for the stroll.


Most of the shops stay open late and serve food--everything from cheese and crackers, cookies, and chili to mini-meals like pork and beans on home made biscuits,


and cupcakes. RED VELVET CUPCAKES! Red Lodge, I love you...


There are fire pits in the street


so you can make s'mores as you wander around. Yes, s'mores stations on every block!

And--only in Montana--a streetside branding station, wood blocks provided.


As we pulled out of Red Lodge on Sunday, we told Patty we'd be back for next year's stroll. But on second thought, I'm sure I'll be back long before that to restock on Mt. Tam cheese.