Great Falls

The service manager Bob, was only the first of many warm and delightful people we met in Great Falls. When we had quickly stopped on the outskirts of town the day before for lunch, the town appeared to me to be rather dumpy and forgettable. But now that we were stranded here (for likely another week), and we began to see more of the town, I quickly realized how wrong my initial impression had been. I wondered how many other towns I've driven through over the years and also quickly wrote off could have revealed the same surprised had I stayed there longer.

It's interesting that when doing a websearch of other websites that discuss Great Falls, that this site's author had a similar impression of the city (he also had some nice photos of the town which I neglected to get).

Rather than stay at another campground, we decided to stay in a hotel this time around. But, not too many options for lodging that offers free wi-fi while also accepting large dogs and mothers who smoke! Fortunately, Great Falls had a very nice, clean Motel 6 that was just perfect for us.

Our first morning, Bob had the Enterprise Car Rental office come pick us up to get our rental car. It was also a Subaru Outback (and did a great job at starting to renew my confidence in Subarus!). The guy at the rental counter, by coincidence, also was a native of Chicago and he recommended a good pizza place for us to try. Then, our valet driver said we'd just HAVE to go to Eddie's Supper Club to enjoy their steaks and 2-piano lounge. The night before, the tow truck driver had highly recommended we go hear "Piano Pat" at the O'Hara Motor Lodge. Oh, so many entertainment options and so little time!

We decided to splurge that Friday night by going to Eddie's Supper Club. What a time warp it was!

(photo courtesy of Roadfood.com)

The waitresses were clad in 1960's short barmaid outfits, and appeared to have worked there since that era...no spring chickens here! This was a real, honest to goodness throw-back supper club-- with dark paneled walls and booth dividers with those old yellow and red transparent plastic top sections. There was a large lounge with red Naugahyde swivel chairs and a pair of pianos with 2 old guys playing all their favorites from the "rat pack" years. I expected Dean Martin or Sammy Davis Jr. to come waltzing through to offer a cigarette and a martini at any moment! But all joking aside, their steaks were outstanding and food was the best we had by far on the entire trip. If you ever get to Great Falls, you HAVE to go to Eddie's!