Stunning Green O Resort in Montana: from tree houses and stargazing from bed to river rafting and spas among the piney woods
Lots of adventure amid breathtaking scenery and top-notch dining experiences – that's what your vacation will be like at the stunning Paws Up Resort in Western Montana. But those travelers seeking solitude can find their wish at its stylish outpost, The Green O, in the middle of a wooded area.
Paws Up is a comprehensive resort that is just under an hour's drive from Missoula and spans 37,000 acres. It is suitable for high-end family vacations. But its unique part, The Green O resort, is geared toward all-inclusive romantic vacations and a more sophisticated atmosphere. It features 12 individual homes that are scattered on the hillside around the Social Haus, a restaurant, a green bar, and a meeting space.
The Green O offers privacy for two in shelters among the trees in four possible exquisite designs. Each layout has its features and benefits. The Tree Haus is a tree house with two stories, raised to a height of 23 feet. Ceiling-to-floor windows allow for views of the forest, while two terraces provide a leaf-level view of the landscape. The Green Haus creates an immersive nature experience amid fragrant pines on the terrace with a fireplace and offers an unprecedented view of Montana's starry skies through the clear ceiling above the bed. Light Haus is notable for its alcove with full-wall windows on three sides that give the impression of being in nature, and ceiling-to-floor windows in the bedroom with a fireplace. The unique design of the huge curved windows in the Round Haus creates a 180-degree panoramic view of Montana's serene nature. All of The Green O's adult-only resort homes feature unique amenities such as multiple fireplaces, porch swings, outdoor hot tubs, and more.
Start your day with a flavored coffee on the porch or patio, which you can enjoy while watching the flames flicker in the fireplace, with birds chirping overhead. Or follow up with breakfast at Social Haus, which serves some of the most spectacular dining in U.S. hotels, so if you narrow your resort experience to just lounging in your room and eating at Social Haus, your experience will still be unforgettable.
The resort's culinary approach is impressive, and its program comes from Chef Brandon Cunningham, a veteran of Portland's gastronomic scene, and Pastry Chef Krystle Swenson, a James Beard Award-nominated chef who previously worked at Crawford & Son in North Carolina. Each meal will impress with combinations of flavors and aromas. For example, for breakfast, you might be served a tiny ricotta beignet with dried raspberries and cherry sauce and a mushroom-stuffed omelet. But the main event at Social Haus is dinners when a team of top-notch chefs led by Cunningham presents a delicious multi-course tasting menu. Come early to prepare for your meal and try gourmet versions of simple appetizers: for example, instead of the usual chips and dip, you'll be served crème fraîche onion chips with homemade sour cream and a spoonful of whitefish caviar. All of the dinner dishes are delicately complex, a little playful, and accented by the season. Each is a surprise, and each dinner is a new revelation. Woodland ingredients are also present, such as roasted morels with onion sauce or a confetti of rosehip petals. You can attend dinners for a week and never be served the same dish twice.
It's difficult to pinpoint the cooking at Green O to any particular cuisine, but something of this luxury all-inclusive resort's approach is reminiscent of western forest cuisine, using local Montana ingredients and an abundance of dishes cooked over a live fire. It's a good example of a vacation where the pleasure lies not only in the luxury of the experience but also in the contrast with the surroundings. The dining room at Social Haus is centered around a central open fireplace, and its windows overlook the pine groves. All of this makes dinners more atmospheric.
If you do decide to diversify your itinerary between fine dining and a luxury lodge, you'll be surprised at the options open to you. A few minutes in the Lexus (which is provided to each guest for the duration of their stay), and you'll reach the starting point for all of Paws Up's adventures and activities.
Since The Green O resort is located in Montana, you can start with the state's typical fun activity of galloping through a meadow dotted with flowers and grasses. Or take a peaceful horseback ride along the banks of the Blackfoot River, through a pine forest, and cresting the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Or you can opt for an ATV ride, whizzing through dusty pastures to Lookout Mountain, then climbing on foot to the rocky summit for panoramic views of the pine-forested foothills of the Pomegranate Range and the Blackfoot River. On another day, join a fly-fishing expedition, rafting down the winding Green River and catching so many trout that it may well be the best catch of your life. On another day, drive into the hills to join in the cattle drive through sage-dotted scrubland.
After thrill-seeking activities, turn to relaxation with the Green O Spa and Fitness Program: try bliss with a hot stone massage, enhance your look with a natural facial, work on your posture and breathing with a yoga class, set records on the fitness center's machines and heal yourself with sound bathing sessions.
Spend the evening enjoying gentle rhythmic tunes over another heady dinner at Social Haus. Stepping outside closer to sunset, watch the sun set the clouds on fire, giving them orange and pink hues as the light gradually fades over the spires of pine and fir trees. The beauty of nature will be the best way to end the day at The Green O, a luxurious adults-only resort.
