Missoula 2014

We were looking forward to spending a week with Ari and Eric following the wedding. They moved to Missoula two years ago and this is the first time we were able to visit them there. They are living in a large three bedroom house with a huge basement and fenced yard in which they have planted an amazing vegetable garden. Lyra dog loves the house too. The neighborhood is perfect for walking Lyra on many greenbelt paths and she especially likes to chase the squirrels.

Missoula is a university town as well as gateway to outdoor adventures. It’s surrounded by mountains and rivers and the area is also noted for being one of the winter stops on the Lewis and Clark expedition. It’s a great base for exploring northeast Montana. We had a wonderful balance of just hanging out and fun adventures in the area.

Hanging out at home: Watching the World Cup, cooking and BBQing, baking (scones and naan), reading, plus the mundane like laundry, repacking the car, and dealing with the credit card company ($3800 in fraudulent charges in less than a month!!!).

Hanging out in town: Trivia Night at a local sports bar with some of Eric’s family and friends, shopping for camping and sports equipment, touring Eric’s University office + lab, visiting Ari’s hospital, eating at local ethnic places including Brazilian and Cajun and having a treat on puppy ice cream night (the local DQ offers a free cone for doggies one night a week).

Adventures near town: River floating and sunset walks. River floating is popular on the Clark Fork River outside and through town. For Ari’s birthday, we got her a double float raft. She and Eric can float side-by-side down the river in comfort, with a little built-in ice chest between them! We all went river floating two evenings during our stay (about one and half hours on the river each time.) One evening we went to the island dog park near the University and another evening we had a beautiful walk in the nearby hills at sunset.