I’m home from Big Sky now, and already missing it’s bluey, snow-capped mountains. My sissy and her hubs showed us a great time!!!
I channeled my inner Ansel
In five days we managed to fit in a trip to Yellowstone, fly fishing, several naps, and even a mountainous trail ride on horseback. We truly enjoyed Yellowstone, as neither The Hubs nor I had ever before been. We saw tons of bison, a couple of coyotes, some elk, and ravens as big as dogs!
baby bison!
We drove to view Old Faithful and it was kind of shocking; not in the least what I had thought it would be at all. Picture a huge parking lot with tons of tourists, then almost an amphitheater type of platform built around the geyser, complete with stadium bench seating, three deep! I thought the geyser would be in the desolate middle of nothingness – WRONG! Old Faithful came complete with a huge hotel, a gift shop, cafeteria, gas station and every other amenity you would ever want or need… it was crazy. Thankfully, I was able to take a photo omitting almost all of those things.
Old Faithful was 15 minutes late…
The Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail had to be my favorite Yellowstone attraction. It smelled sulphurically horrible but contained so many beautiful colors! The Fountain Paint Pot truly looked like bubbling, blurping primordial ooze.
blurp!
Steam emitted from the Clepsydra Geyser made you feel as though you walking through a prehistoric landscape. At times I half expected a dinosaur to come ambling along the boardwalk with us!
The Hubs with sissy, Clepsydra Geyser in the background
Also, the constant turquoise color we saw everywhere was quite surprising! My nephew informed me it was because of the high content of bacteria in the pools. Who knew?!
pretty colors of boiling bacteria
The trail ride on horseback through the mountains was definitely something I’d recommend to anyone wanting the Ultimate Montana Experience. Go to Jake’s Horses on Doe Creek Road and ask for Taylor to be your guide; she was a very laid-back, friendly and empathetic (towards me). I was definitely the most inexperienced (no experience?) rider of our group, but I managed nonetheless. My sister, of course, might as well have been born on a horse. Whenever asked when she was little what she wanted to be when she grew up she would always answer either “a dog” or “a horse”. She’s an animal lover, for sure. The Hubs was also über comfortable on horseback! Who knew!?
thanks Taylor!
The highlight Meal of the Week had to be the rainbow trout that The Hubs caught with my six-year-old nephew Matthew’s Batman fishing pole.
Mattie, in constant motion. [photo credit: Chris Tompkins]
taste the rainbow!
My brother-in-law filleted the fish so deftly and quickly I barely had time to snap a photo! I made him pose for this one.
Doug, the master fish filleter
The fish was so beautiful and colorful I almost didn’t want to eat it. Almost… My sissy and I expertly steamed it wrapped in foil with lots of butter, fresh garlic, salt and pepper.
butter and garlic were key…
The fish was so fresh-tasting and so mild, I’ve never before tasted trout quite like this. For extra deliciousness, make sure to pour the melted butter left behind in the foil packet over top the trout!
so flakey and delicious! Good job D, not one bone found!
Steamed Rainbow Trout
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
- 8 trout fillets (2 fillets per person, 4 whole fish total)
- 4 cloves garlic, zested
- about 4 tablespoons butter
- salt & pepper to taste
- 4 pieces of foil, cut large enough to wrap 2 fillets
Method:
- Preheat grill to medium. (If you are working with an oven, preheat it to 375.)
- Place small pat of butter on foil, then lay 2 trout fillets overtop the butter.
- Zest 4 cloves of garlic and rub 1/2 a zested garlic clove on each fillet.
- Place 2 more pats of butter, one on top of each fish fillet.
- Finish fillets with a pinch of salt and pepper each.
- Wrap foil gently, but completely, so steam cannot escape. Repeat the process for all 4 packets containing 2 fillets each.
- Grill over medium for 10-15 minutes, until fish is no longer opaque, and becomes light and flaky. (Cook time depends upon the size of the fillets.)
- Serve and finish by drizzling remaining garlic butter from foil packet overtop of the trout.
Great post!! The trout was for sure the highlight dinner!! Everyone should experience fish so fresh.
Put me down for “meat fishing” any day of the week!
What a beautiful and fresh piece of fish! Looks so very tasty… 🙂
Thank you Ronit! The fish was so flaky that I couldn’t even make a pretty presentation and serve a whole filet, it just fell apart on me… Plus I was more concerned with putting it in my mouth than taking the perfect photo at that point! Ha. -M