Shotgun Bar — Restaurant in West Yellowstone

I'd be lying if I told you I wanted to go here on a Friday night. A quiet town, a small bar, random locals. In my head it was a recipe for awkward, but in reality, it was the best decision I made on my trip.

While visiting Yellowstone and staying at a local weekend rental, my friend and I decided to swing through Shotgun Bar on a Friday night. We expected live music, but were met with the quiet tone of the jukebox. Apparently, the live music happens during the summer and winter. However, that didn't matter.

A couple locals sat at the bar and a friendly bartender immediately welcomed us. As a tourist, I wasn't sure whether to pretend to fit in or play it off and not bother the locals. It wasn't long before we were sniffed out. It is a small town of 250+ after all. What happened next would change the course of our journey.

We ended up meeting some of the friendliest, funnest and funniest people of our lives. They embraced us and before we knew it, we were all buying each other drinks.

I will warn you, the sake jelly shots we were encouraged to chug were a struggle, but the experience left us holding our bellies with laughter.

One of the owners of the bar, Katie, really made the experience special. She told us stories of the locals, gave us Yellowstone tips and history, showed us around and invited us to her home. She introduced us to other locals and genuinely made the experience once in a lifetime.

By the end of the weekend we didn't just have drinking buddies at a bar, we met kind-hearted, genuine and incredibly funny people that we now consider friends.

On top of all that, the beer selection was superior.

As we prepared to leave on the final night, the other owner, Jessica, gave her own bottle of bear spray to us so we wouldn't be mauled walking home at night (Uber isn't quite prevalent here). Luckily, we didn't need to use it.

These people are the real deal, these people are genuine Americans. This experience made Yellowstone feel like a tiny morsel of awesome in the grand scheme of things. As they say, sometimes it's not about the destination, it's about the people you meet along the way.

Definitely meet the people...

Great place for breakfast. The price was amazing and I met people from all over the country. I have yet to go to the live music they do every Sunday after 4 p.m (I believe is when it starts) or go the bar for an actual drink but will in the future. It has a great mountain feel to it like a log cabin does. The artwork there is gorgeous to which adds to the place. The only knock on the place was the server. He forgot out cutlery and didn't ask if I wanted cream or sugar for my coffee. The food came out within 10 minutes of ordering if not sooner so that offset the server! I would recommend this to anyone living single or with a young family. P.s this is breakfast I am talking of I have no idea what the place is like...

I was one of the bars most frequent daily customers. I would take a daily 3 mile walk down from Yale Creek to visit with the most delightful lady behind the counter, and fork over my silver for the most delicious treat known to all western young men. The 5 cent hard licorice stick! They were so hard, 1 stick would last me the whole long walk back to my Grandparents Kesler's cabin on Yale Creek and then some! Some days I would splurge and rack up a set of billiards on the table. I always wondered why the Shotgun "Store" had a pool table in it, and very few groceries. Oh well, those are the best memories of my younger life in the...