pappy's cowboy cookout

I loved this " authentic" staged event on our trip to Billings MT as a part of of 14- day tour of the southwestern USA . Happy Pappy was a funny, intelligent and most important of all a true cowboy. He shared some of his life experiences and film industry roles in the movies. It was an evening of good fun, good fun and good entertainment. weren’t expecting too much of this evening, On the journey out to Pryor Creek, the coach was held-up by two masked riders. We were then escorted to the barbecue area where the chow wagon with barbecue, together with tables and benches were set up amongst the trees. The catering team produced a really enjoyable meal, which was followed by Pappy on guitar and singing a few popular cowboy songs, entertained the diners seated around an open log camp fire lasting 3 hours. As we left , the appearance of an American Indian on horseback was a nice touch. Happy Pappy and his crew were hospitable to a fault. All were entertaining and put on a 1st class in the Wild West.

We were on a Trafalgar tour, and this was one of our stops. It was really entertaining. The food was great. Well worth doing. Our Tour Director just told us we were going to a "cowboy cookout". We were surprised when the bus was held up.

Pappy’s Cowboy Cookout was a cowboy cookout, a chuck wagon meal with western entertainment in Huntley, MT, outside of Billings. Happy Pappy (Dennis McNiven), our host, was quite a character. He’s appeared in movies such as Far and Away, A River Runs Through it, Lonesome Dove, & The Ballad of Little Jo. We ate picnic style outside (but with a roof over us). If you’d ordered steak, they asked you to come up to the grill where they cut into a steak to make sure it was cooked to your preference (e.g., rare, medium, etc.). It was the thickest, best tasting steak I had on our tour, even better than one I’d had in a steakhouse in Las Vegas. The cowboy beans & Pappy’s special fry bread were delicious as well. After our dinner, we sat on logs around a campfire while Happy Pappy sang & played his guitar. This Happy Pappy adventure in Big Sky Country was great, my very favorite tour group dinner! Very enjoyable!

We weren’t expecting too much of this evening, but it turned out to be good fun. On the journey out to Pryor Creek, the coach was held-up by two masked riders. One of the outlaws (aka Happy Pappy) entered the coach and entertained the tour group with an outline of his previous career in the film industry.We were then escorted to the barbecue area where the chow wagon with barbecue, together with tables and benches were set up amongst the trees. The catering team produced a really enjoyable meal, which was followed by Pappy on guitar and singing a few popular cowboy songs, entertained the diners seated around an open log fire. The whole evening lasted for approx 2.1/2 hours, which provided an entertaining evening with a difference. As we carefully walked through the trees back to the coach in the dark, the appearance of an American Indian on horseback was a nice finishing touch to the evening.