Missoula, MT:
A Weekend in the Second Largest Town in Montana
My hosts for the weekend: Marcia and Jerome.
After I feasted on homemade pizza, salad, and local beer the night of my arrival, I slept. Hard. Marcia and Jerome usually go on a bike ride in the morning and the next day was no different. When I woke up, they were out and I made breakfast and had a pleasant morning waking up to scenes of the mountains from the balcony. Marcia had left a note detailing a whole bunch of things, including lunch plans...
Jerome's cowboy hat making an appearance stage right. When they did arrive back at the apartment, we all got ready to head out again to the Farmers Market which is held twice-weekly. After touring the farmers market for a little while, we made our way over to the river to watch the kayakers do their thing in the rapids: flips, barrel-rolls, and more. Those are some very fit and acrobatic dudes.
Sorry kiddos... Jerome mentioned we check out the carrousel around the corner, which is an old historic landmark of Missoula. It was build back in the early 1900's and is still in use today, complete with hand-carved animals and original fixtures. Acting like little kids again, we got in line for tickets and each hopped on a pony when our time came. The people situated on the outer-most creatures get a chance to take a ring from the mouth of a wooden dragon in hopes of collecting the golden one, which grants an additional free ride of the carrousel. Perhaps it was a little unfair of me to be on the outside with my long arms, but I managed to get a ring every pass, including the golden one! I attributed it to beginners luck, out-of-towner's luck, or just the Irish in my, but at any rate, the three of us each earned a free ride token. I kept mine as a memento (It's been in my wallet since and I keep confusing it for a Dollar coin).
Brunch was the next item on the agenda and since we were all pretty hungry by this point, we decided to stop by a restaurant about 100 yards away. I don't care what your opinion is of the following dish, but it might be the single greatest thing I've ever eaten… or tried to eat. I couldn't finish it and I was sad.
Brunch was the next item on the agenda and since we were all pretty hungry by this point, we decided to stop by a restaurant about 100 yards away. I don't care what your opinion is of the following dish, but it might be the single greatest thing I've ever eaten… or tried to eat. I couldn't finish it and I was sad.
I was headed towards a state of comatose and readily would have passed out asleep after brunch, but Jerome had a suggestion that was too good to pass up. We grabbed our cameras and headed out to the National Bison Range, a protected park specifically set up to protect herds of buffalo. Along the way, we stopped at a local cherry stand and picked up some delicious Flathead-region cherries. I don't know why I don't each cherries more often…
Once in the park, it was only a matter of minutes it seemed until we saw our first examples of large, charismatic fauna: buffalo! A huge heard of them, scattered all over a giant hillside. The park warms visitors not to get more than 10 feet away from your car at any time and it was immediately evident why. Several of the buffalo crossed the road within inches of the front of the car as they made their way to a little pond on the other side. If you've never seen one up close, they make cow look tiny, especially the bulls. The largest ones can weigh up to 2,500lbs. I never want to be on the wrong side of those horns.
We rolled on a little farther until we changed upon two full-grown big horn sheep along the side of the trail. I've never seen one of those either. At first, I wasn't sure if the two of them were part of a diorama, but one of them moved shortly-there-after and instantly proved otherwise. Their horns are huge too, and very impressive to see up-close.
Next were elk. A trio of them were hanging out not far off the road. They still had felted antlers that caught the afternoon sun in just a way that it looked like their antlers were glowing. They were very cool as well.
As Jerome and I cruised towards the exit, we finally came across a small herd of antelope. I think they are the prettiest of the animals we saw that day. They're just so interesting looking! We did manage to see one buck with some antlers, but most I assume were females or juveniles.
We saw a few white-tail deer here and there but since we've got those at home, I didn't bother taking any pics. No moose or bears this time, but Jerome said he has seen a bear in the park before. Dang.
Marcia had waken up from her nap by the time we got back and we then set out to find some dinner. The Shack was a place Jerome had mentioned a few times over the course of the day and so we decided to go there. I was told to have trout while in Montana by Jim, one of the mechanics at MOAB, and so that was another reason why we chose The Shack. The name of the place is a total misnomer, because it's the most un-shack-like place you'll probably ever see. It was exactly like an old 1920's european cafe, even down to the smell and the food was delicious. It also happens to be where I tried my first Moose Drool, a wildly popular brew from the Big Sky Brewing Co. up in MT.
Once in the park, it was only a matter of minutes it seemed until we saw our first examples of large, charismatic fauna: buffalo! A huge heard of them, scattered all over a giant hillside. The park warms visitors not to get more than 10 feet away from your car at any time and it was immediately evident why. Several of the buffalo crossed the road within inches of the front of the car as they made their way to a little pond on the other side. If you've never seen one up close, they make cow look tiny, especially the bulls. The largest ones can weigh up to 2,500lbs. I never want to be on the wrong side of those horns.
We rolled on a little farther until we changed upon two full-grown big horn sheep along the side of the trail. I've never seen one of those either. At first, I wasn't sure if the two of them were part of a diorama, but one of them moved shortly-there-after and instantly proved otherwise. Their horns are huge too, and very impressive to see up-close.
Next were elk. A trio of them were hanging out not far off the road. They still had felted antlers that caught the afternoon sun in just a way that it looked like their antlers were glowing. They were very cool as well.
As Jerome and I cruised towards the exit, we finally came across a small herd of antelope. I think they are the prettiest of the animals we saw that day. They're just so interesting looking! We did manage to see one buck with some antlers, but most I assume were females or juveniles.
We saw a few white-tail deer here and there but since we've got those at home, I didn't bother taking any pics. No moose or bears this time, but Jerome said he has seen a bear in the park before. Dang.
Marcia had waken up from her nap by the time we got back and we then set out to find some dinner. The Shack was a place Jerome had mentioned a few times over the course of the day and so we decided to go there. I was told to have trout while in Montana by Jim, one of the mechanics at MOAB, and so that was another reason why we chose The Shack. The name of the place is a total misnomer, because it's the most un-shack-like place you'll probably ever see. It was exactly like an old 1920's european cafe, even down to the smell and the food was delicious. It also happens to be where I tried my first Moose Drool, a wildly popular brew from the Big Sky Brewing Co. up in MT.
That evening was spent at a local saloon where Jerome (from Georgia) was introducing some new dancing to Marcia (from New York). The band was, sadly, not the best but it was definitely one of the better people watching establishments I had been in in a while. It surprised me how quickly Missoula becomes completely country-farmer when you start heading out of town. Just goes to show, there's all kinds all over. That about did it for that night and we all headed to bed after a long day exploring and enjoying a nice Saturday.
Sunday started just like the day before but quickly changed at 11am when the three of us went to M.A.S.S., or the Missoula Area Secular Society. Holy cow, what an interesting group of people. Cross-dressers, comb-overs, and all sorts of other curious walks of life. M.A.S.S. meets once a month at Elbow Room, a bar on the way out of town, but on this particular day, the owner of the restaurant was out of town and the few employees had literally just arrive at the same time as 30 of us. After waiting too long for coffee, we decided to ditch because we all knew it was going to take forever to get anything to eat, plus the menu was a little uninspiring.
We drove back to The Old Post, which is another of Jerome's favorite places (made even better this time by the grits he could order only on sunday) The food was fantastic but unfortunately the service was glacially slow too. We finally got the check and moved on to a driving tour of the town. We saw the university, and the property that Jerome and Marcia are going to build on this fall. We stopped for ice-cream on the way back to the apartment and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon relaxing at home. I was able to update the blog from the week prior and ultimately enjoyed dinner out on the balcony overlooking the mountains, Jumbo and Sentinel. A fine evening it was to wrap up a wonderful stay with two wonderful people!
We drove back to The Old Post, which is another of Jerome's favorite places (made even better this time by the grits he could order only on sunday) The food was fantastic but unfortunately the service was glacially slow too. We finally got the check and moved on to a driving tour of the town. We saw the university, and the property that Jerome and Marcia are going to build on this fall. We stopped for ice-cream on the way back to the apartment and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon relaxing at home. I was able to update the blog from the week prior and ultimately enjoyed dinner out on the balcony overlooking the mountains, Jumbo and Sentinel. A fine evening it was to wrap up a wonderful stay with two wonderful people!
Thank you so much Marcia and Jerome!!!
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