Paws Up Day 1

My first night at Paws Up was so cozy...it's about 30 minutes from the airport in Missoula, and a beautiful drive. The mountains are awesome! They've had a lot of rain up here lately so everything is very green. Once I got to the resort, I checked in at the beautifully rustic main office, then was brought to the house I'll be staying at for the next 3 days. This is a huge 3 bedroom, 3 bath ranch style house, (think Ponderosa) with huge private bedrooms, bathrooms en suite, a massive fireplace in the living area and a fully stocked kitchen. The bathrooms have tubs and showers and great etched glass. Cocktails were in the bar, Trough, and on the deck overlooking the fields going off into the distance, where the horses were grazing. Dinner was magnificent. Brown butter for the bread, a watermelon, tomato, olive salad...( I never thought of that combination before and it was delicious) and the best elk I've ever had. A subtle red wine, and nice light desert put me completely ready to get into bed after my 10 hours of travel, even though it doesn't get dark here until after 10 pm. The bed is dreamy, soft, comfortable, warm, all those superlatives that describe my first great nights sleep. Today, we start with a site inspection that will take all morning. Then my horseback ride. I'll continue later tonight.....