When I started planning our route across the country, my goal was to hit as many beautiful scenic areas as we could—famous national and state parks, amazing overlooks, and all the places we’d always wanted to see. But this trip was about more than sightseeing. We also wanted to visit family and friends in the states we were passing through.
One of those stops was the small town of Anaconda, Montana, where Dustin’s former coworker lived.
To be honest, I wasn’t particularly excited about it.
There didn’t seem to be any major attractions in the area, I didn’t know his coworker very well, and I assumed we’d have a somewhat dull week filled with old shop talk and not much else to do.
What I didn’t expect was for Anaconda to become one of the places we left wishing we had more than a week there.
Copper Court and New Friends
We arrived at Copper Court RV Park in Anaconda at the end of August, after nearly a month of traveling around Yellowstone National Park. By this point, we were actually looking forward to not having much of a plan.
We had spent weeks going from one adventure to the next—driving, hiking, exploring, sightseeing, moving camp, and trying to make the most of every place we visited. We loved it, but we were also tired.
We didn’t realize it yet, but we were ready for a vacation from our vacation.
Copper Court RV Park was clean and spacious, and almost immediately after setting up our site, we were greeted by an entourage of campground kids on bicycles, scooters, and rollerblades.
It didn’t take long to unload our own bikes and blades, and within minutes the boys were off riding around with the other kids.
From that day on, they hardly spent any time at our campsite. Most mornings, they were out the door before breakfast, already on their bikes and ready to ride around and play. They’d come back for food, occasionally check in with us, and then head right back out.
It had been a while since we’d stayed somewhere with so many other families and kids, and the boys absolutely loved having friends to play with. The adults were just as friendly and welcoming, and before long, we were getting to know our campground neighbors, too.
Discovering Small-Town Anaconda
Having kids around for the boys to play with and friendly campground neighbors was just one of the many reasons we ended up loving Anaconda.
Our campground was right at the edge of town, and Dustin and I spent a lot of time simply walking around the area.
The neighborhoods were a mix of older, century-old homes and newer houses, and we would often run into families of deer grazing in front yards as we walked.
There was something about Anaconda that immediately felt comfortable and safe.
It had that quaint, small-town feeling where you don’t feel like you’re constantly rushing somewhere. People were friendly, the town was quiet, and there was a sense of community that we hadn’t experienced in quite the same way during the rest of our travels.
We could immediately see the appeal of living somewhere like this.
Friends, Food & Lots of Time Together
During our stay, we spent quite a bit of time with Dustin’s friend Mark and his partner, Lynn. We had meals together, went fishing, played games, and toured around town.
And, to my surprise, our visits weren’t filled with old shop talk after all. They turned out to be very enjoyable and fun and we genuinely had a wonderful time with them.
We also got to know some of our campground neighbors and ended up sharing a couple of meals with them as well.
In fact, during our week in Anaconda, we had more meals in the company of other people than we had with just our own family! That was something I hadn’t expected at all.
After spending so much of our trip focused on where we were going and what we were going to see next, we suddenly had a week filled with conversations, shared meals, fishing, games, and long stretches of unplanned time.
And surprisingly, it was exactly what we didn’t know we needed.
Our One Big Adventure: Lewis & Clark Caverns
Of course, it would be completely out of character for me to spend an entire week somewhere without planning something.
So we had one big outing while we were in Anaconda: Lewis and Clark Caverns.
We took the drive out for a two-hour cave tour, and it ended up being one of our favorite adventures of the trip. The caverns were incredible, and the tour was absolutely worth the hour drive and $51 admission.
You can read more about that adventure here.
Other than that, we didn’t feel the need to fill our days with activities since our time spent at camp and with friends was just as enjoyable.
A Little Truck Maintenance
We did end up needing some work done on the truck while we were in town.
We had been hearing a pretty loud squeak coming from the ball joints on the upper control arms, so we had them replaced. Luckily, the shop was only about half a mile from our campground, which made dropping the truck off incredibly easy.
And being without a vehicle for a day wasn’t really a problem.
We were perfectly happy hanging around the campground, walking around town, and letting the boys play.
Normally, losing access to our truck for an entire day might have felt like a major inconvenience. In Anaconda, it barely mattered.
Sometimes You Need a Vacation From Your Vacation
Overall, Anaconda wasn’t the town with dramatic cliff views, massive waterfalls, or majestic landscapes.
We didn’t take any epic hikes or plunge into famous lakes. We didn’t visit a national park or check off some iconic landmark.
And yet, it ended up being one of the most memorable stops of our trip.
Because instead of sightseeing, we slowed down and we connected.
We made friends. We shared meals. We fished. We walked around town. The boys rode their bikes with new friends every day. And for an entire week, we didn’t feel like we needed to be anywhere or do anything.
So much of our journey up to that point had been one amazing adventure after another, and while we loved every minute of it, we were ready for a break from the constant movement.
Having no major plans for the week turned out to be the best reset we could have asked for.
Seeing the boys run out the door every morning to ride their bikes and play with other kids was one of the best feelings. We could tell they needed that freedom and connection just as much as we did.
Anaconda reminded us that travel doesn’t always have to be about seeing more.
Sometimes, the best part of traveling is simply having the time to stop.
Sometimes the places you expect to be nothing more than a “stop along the way” end up being exactly what you need and the places you remember the most.
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