Missoula Recap

After a very long three days of travel, Leigh and I made it to Missoula, Montana to spend a few days with a friend and relaxing our weary bodies. We got in pretty late the first night, so the fun times started the next day. We slept, we ate good food, and we poked around this fun little city to get a feel for the place. Thursday was our first full day in Missoula and after Jescy, our dear hostess, was finished with work for the day we went to a wine tasting (yummy), drove around a little bit, the got dinner and beers at a local bar.

Leigh was still pretty knackered from our trip so she called it a night then, but I let Jescy talk me into a pub crawl of sorts and I'm pretty glad I went along with it. First we had a pitcher with dinner, then went to a preppy sports bar for another pitcher and shooting hoops, then we bounced between the local "gay" bar (which had about 3 patrons and sold $1 jello shots) and another club with good dancing. Most of the night was spent at the last place, Badlands, dancing (or I should say "dancing" in my case) to pretty good DJs. I'm sure you can tell that the above picture was taken at the end of the night because I look pretty haggard :-)

The rest of our time in Missoula was spent doing more of the same: resting up, eating good food, and checking out the local scene. On Friday we visited Jescy at her job, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and ran some errands around town. Saturday morning we hit up the farmers markets, which was really fun, and later went on a short hike with Jescy, her boyfriend and their cute dogs. The view from the top was great and it felt amazing to get some real exercise after a few weeks of being lazy and sedentary.

Sunday was low key. Leigh and I found a yummy place for brunch and started packing to leave on Monday morning. Then we met our hosts in Stevensville, MT at Jescy's childhood home for a family dinner with her parents. Her dad cooked chorizo soup, her mom made salad and we soaked in the hot tub after eating our fill. What a treat! We felt so spoiled and rejuvenated after a long trip!

Tomorrow morning Leigh and I will leave for Rock Island, WA via Moscow, Idaho and Spokane along the way. I'm excited to reconnect with an old friend, my grandparents, and to start working again. I know Leigh is excited to start working again too and to get some quality time with Seattle, her favorite city, after several years of being stuck on the East Coast.