Slept in again. This could get to be a habit. I hope.
Today we decided to take a day off from hiking. Instead of hiking we’re going to drive around Missoula, walk around Missoula and just do whatever. After some discussion of options for today and the next several days, we headed out for breakfast.
Breakfast is at a restaurant right next to Ciao Mambo where we had dinner last night. The place is called Hob Nob, and our breakfast was great. I stuffed it all in. Ummm. There was a young Brittany lady tied up close to us. I took the boys over to say hi, and I think something else must have been said – she wasn’t ready for two new friends, even if they looked just like her! Oh well, she was cute, small (normal Brittany size – Jake and Woody are large for Brittanys) and all of her mannerisms were just like the boys. Too bad they couldn’t be friends.
After breakfast we had a few minor things to take care of – resupply dog biscuits and get some Windex wipes for the car windows. There is a River Trail in Missoula, and we checked out a little of it. It’s nice, and good and well used exercise path for pedestrians and bicycles along the Clark Fork River through town. It is very popular. We also found an old high school football field next to the trail and we exercised Jake and Woody there. They are very good at running back and forth between us – one at a time. So we set up about 40 yards apart and send the dogs to each other. It’s good exercise for them, and they seem to enjoy it. When you don’t have a fenced dog park, that’s what you do!
We stumbled on a car wash – this was a ‘real’ one, with people working on the car. We had to do the interior, but they did the exterior (along with the machine, of course), and this time the car came out looking pretty darn good. Yippee! Finally.
Back at the room we had a one game Cribbage tournament before getting out to explore the city and surrounding area. Our first stop was Big Dipper ice cream. Wow – I had a 2 scoop Hot Fudge Sunday, $4 (!), and it was great. Got to get back there before we leave.
Then it was back to Jacob Island Bark Park to give the boys a little freedom. But this time they were a little more active, and less responsive, so they didn’t get as much off-lead time. Remember, there is nothing keeping them out of the river, and the river is flowing pretty fast. But they had a good time anyway.
Then we went driving. We didn’t have any maps with us, so it was blind, but with luck it worked out. We headed southeast out of town, on a road that went through a residential area adjacent to the recent burn on M mountain. The road turned to dirt, and we kept going. It was a nice, fairly long, mostly downhill drive through forest that ended up at I90 just east of Missoula – we had gone completely around M mountain, and who knows what else! Nice drive indeed.
Back in Missoula, this time we headed south on US12/MT93. We were sort of trying to get to Lolo mountain which was still showing some snow – it’s 9700 feet I think. So we headed south, and when we got to Lolo we tried US12 (the two highways split at Lolo). That was a nice drive, and a fruitful one, but it didn’t get us any closer to the snow. Two things about this drive. First, we noticed the Lolo Creek Steak House, which looked busy. And second, it was very scenic. We drove west about 20 miles, fed the boys, and drove back.
Then we went south on US93, still trying to find a path to the mountain. We didn’t find a path, but we found a curiosity. On the side of a mountain close to US93 there were ski runs, or what looked like ski runs, about 8 of them. But we couldn’t see any lifts, and we couldn’t find any way to approach the area. We drove as far west off of US93 as we could, but no path to the ‘ski area’.
Stopped at the steak house and had a wonderful meal – tenderloins for both. The meal was great – steak cooked perfectly, everything just right. What a lucky find! Found out that the ‘ski area’ may actually be a ski area in the future. I’m sure there is a story here, and we didn’t get it.
Now we’re headed back to town (Missoula), but first, we wanted to check out the marathon route – tomorrow there is a marathon, starting at Frenchtown (about 18 miles west of Missoula) and ending at the bridge in town close to where we have been eating our meals. We drove the route (backwards), making a few wrong turns (because the route wasn’t marked yet!), and it was just a beautiful drive, for the most part. Mr. Sun was trying to set – it takes him a long, long time – and that just added to the scenic beauty. We finally found Frenchtown, and I90, and sped home.
It’s been another really good day, a little bit different, but that’s good too.
1 comment:
Mmmmmm..... ice cream. :) WLC.
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