The Grasshopper Inn provides a friendly family atmosphere with excellent food and lodging in a beautiful scenic area. Open year-round, you can enjoy fishing, horseback riding, hunting, skiing, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing nearby. We have a fine restaurant, lounge and game room. The rate is $60 per night, per room, + $4.20 for double occupancy. We have 10 motel rooms with 2 queen beds in each room.
If you are looking for a secluded getaway, a fun place for a family reunion, office party, even a wedding, we can fill your needs.
Gas and diesel available on premise.
On 1 September 2009, the Grasshopper Inn near Polaris opened its doors to the public under new management. New Owners Tom and Laurie Nelson and Bill and Tish Watson offered several special dinners to highlight a new menu at the Inn, which will be serving from 7 AM to 9 PM daily. Many residents of the Grasshopper Valley who had eagerly awaited the re-opening were met by hostess Helen Sorel along with Tom and Laurie Nelson for a wonderful meal prepared by chef, David Gleason. Several of the diners sampled Helen’s variety of homemade pies to top off a superb meal.
New owner, Tom Nelson, is a long time resident of Beaverhead County, and comes from a family well known in Dillon for its restaurant experience. Tom’s father, Ray Nelson, with his wife, Fay, owned and operated the White Café in Dillon when Tom was a youngster. In fact, when Tom was a junior in High School, Sonny and Nancy Paddock sought Ray’s advice when they first built and opened the Inn and Restaurant in the Grasshopper Valley. In those days, it was known as The Bedspread. Tom’s great grandparents are part of the history of the Grasshopper Valley, running the Stage Stop at Mill Point from 1905-1912. Tom’s grandfather was the last person to be buried, in 1954, at the Bannack cemetery, and Tom’s uncle attended the one room school at Polaris. Today, Tom and Laurie’s grandson represents six generations of Beaverhead County residents.
New owner, Bill Watson and his wife, Tish, are relative newcomers to the valley, but they have developed a deep love for the rural way of life, the magnificent scenery, and the many summer and winter sports activities the valley has to offer. Though currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia, Bill and Tish have a residence overlooking the valley and the Inn, and they spend as much time in the valley as possible. When Bill heard the Inn was to be closed he immediately began the process of finding some way to keep it open, since it serves a critical social and business center for the valley. Bill and Tom found a way to do that to the great approval of the local residents.
Both Tom and Bill are pleased to have the Inn open to the public and serving meals daily, but they also see many opportunities to expand the role of the Inn in the future. Today the Inn offers a motel, a restaurant, a gas station, along with an ATM, and in the near future it will once again offer a full service bar. But their vision is to make the Grasshopper Inn into the Business and Recreation Center of the valley. Near-term plans include a Laundromat for use by the many campers and bikers who frequent the Scenic Byway, while longer range plans include possible RV spaces and music festivals with seating along the natural hillside beside the Inn.
Tom and Laurie, Bill and Tish invite everyone to come try the new menu and the warm hospitality they have to offer at the Grasshopper Inn.
– Walt and Linda Loendorf
