Gardiner
The bison pack 2 explored the main street area of Gardiner Montana on Thursday, May 25th around 9am. We walked down Highway 89 and Park Street then returned to the Absaroka Lodge. While walking we learned a lot about the town through our interactions with locals and just observing our surroundings.
Physical Setting
The area that we explored would be considered bustling for the area. We were somewhat surprised that even at 9am a lot of tourists were out exploring the shops around town. A lot of the shops sold ice cream and coffee along with many different souvenir items. The buildings themselves looked like they had been there for a while, but had been updated on the insides especially. Despite the area being a little larger than we had expected, we realized how secluded the town is when we saw a sign that pointed to the closest Wal-Mart, which is 83 miles away from town.
Interaction
While exploring the main drag of shops along the other side of the river, we decided to go in to a local saddle shop, called Kellem’s. There we talked to the owner, whose husband happened to be the owner of Absaroka Lodge where we’re staying here. She was very friendly and eagerly asked us where we were from, after which we asked her where she was originally from. She told us that she was from Brazil and had come to the U.S. originally as an interpreter with a group. While in Gardiner, she met the owner of the Absaroka Lodge, they fell in love and were married a year later, which quite frankly was adorable. She said she has enjoyed living in Montana for roughly the past 20 years, although she said she didn’t really appreciate the winters. After leaving her store, we browsed through a few more shops before entering the Wagon Wheel Trading post. While we were there, the owner Dianna, told us about how her and her husband had moved to Gardiner 17 years earlier to start a church. She was very open with us and kept telling us about how Gardiner had a small town kind of feel and was extremely welcoming. She went on to tell us about how her and her husband were only going to keep the store open for another season, before they sold everything and traveled around the country in their RV full time because her husband was in congestive heart failure.