Kelly Reilly has spent over half a decade filming mega-hit "Yellowstone" in some of the most stunning natural landscapes in the West -- including Park City and Ogden, Utah, and Darby and Missoula, Montana.
And although her character, the bitter and often sadistic Beth Dutton, may have tired of her surroundings, Reilly told Travel + Leisure ahead of the show's Sunday finale that she'll forever be astounded by the beauty of the show's setting in real life.
"I became very humbled by it," she said. "You have the bears and the wolves and the eagles and you feel very small but at the same time very connected to things. Not only has the role on the show been a gift, but experiencing that part of America [has, too]."
Off camera, a particularly humbling experience also had Reilly realize just how vast her surroundings out west could be. Early in the show's run, the actress was driving by herself from the ranch in Darby, Montana, where the Yellowstone Ranch on the show is filmed, to a hotel in Rock Creek to meet her husband, Kyle Baugher. Google Maps gave her two options: a three-hour route that would take her up and around Missoula, or a more direct road that would only be an hour and 20 minutes. She opted for the shorter route.
"I didn't realize it was called Skalkaho Pass, and it was a mountain pass! And I'm doing it in November," she said. "I'm in a rental car and I'd never been so terrified in my life. By the time I did make it to the bar I had a very large bourbon."
Reilly has never shied away from adventure in her travels though, even in her 20s she took an impromptu solo trip a cattle ranch in Argentina after a breakup.
"I was completely heartbroken, and I couldn't face doing Christmas at home, so I got on a plane to Buenos Aires and I drove out to this cattle ranch for two weeks," she recalled. "It was magical, therapeutic, and emotional for me. It's so woven into your life. If you're enough lucky to travel, it's such an experience."
Though following Yellowstone, her next venture -- partnering with and being the face of a campaign for Ammunition Wines & Whiskey -- may not be as outdoorsy, Reilly is taking her new role by the reigns.
"I want whiskey and I want bourbon," she said. "I have so many female friends who drink bourbon, but it still feels like it's a man's drink, and we're not going to change anything. We're just saying, 'Hey, we're at the party too, and we enjoy it.'"
Perhaps a natural fit, Reilly's favorite hotel is also in a state known for whiskey, the Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.
"It's a really beautiful location," she said. "You are in nature, but you're also having a beautiful meal, and they've got a wine cellar to die for. So it's sort of that connect, that marriage of both. But if I can get me to a hotel for a weekend with my husband, that's one of my favorite things to do. I'm up for discovering more always."