Good People, Good Times in Missoula

After an amazing day at Yellowstone, I packed up camp and headed North and West to Missoula. Originally my itinerary had called for an overnite in Helena, but I remembered that one of best childhood friends was living in Missoula, and thus my plans changed expediently. Missoula was only an additional 80 miles from my original destination, so it made complete sense to venture into this lovely mountain town.

After buying a shower from the Yellowstone Lodge ($3.50), I departed for Missoula. The drive was fairly short and I arrived around lunch time. I grabbed a bite at a local joint called Taco del Sol, which has won numerous awards for best Mexican in Missoula (sorry, no pics!). The food was delicious and home made: One of the best combinations known to man. After lunch, I took a nice long stroll around downtown and met up with my friend Nick who lives there.

After very little debate, we met up with Nick's coworker Jeff who had a great knowledge of the area's local fishing spots. We all piled into my already overflowing car, fishing gear and all, and headed North of town for a relaxing afternoon by the river. We drank some beer (finally got my Moose Drool fix), discussed life and the pursuit of happiness, and cast our lines out for a few hours. Our efforts were in vain on the fishing portion, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and got some good perspective on life.

After returning from fishing, we dropped Jeff back at his residence and headed to the local organic grocers to pick up some staples to make dinner at Nick's friend Beth's house. I was overjoyed at the opportunity to help create a home cooked meal for some friends, and the event proved to be quite enjoyable. We cooked, drank some tasty red wine and whiskey, and discussed life in Missoula among other things. Nick's friends were incredibly hospitable and let me crash on their couch. I slept well, at peace with the world after two incredible days.

I woke early and took a nice run around the neighborhood before departing for the day around 8:15. I had planned to spend the night in Spokane, but upon arriving, realized that it was of little cultural merit, and decided to buck up and head to Seattle driving the whole state of Washington in one day. I arrived after 10 hours of driving, checked into the motel, exhausted, but with the promise of a brilliant day in one of my favorite cities tomorrow.
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OK! We're finally caught up! Thank you to all my readers for bearing with me the past couple of days with no updates, but I promise to try to be more regular in the future. Looking forward to a great day on the West coast tomorrow.

A.S.  Bloom

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