This stop on our trip was mostly for my benefit – we were visiting my friend from college and her boyfriend, who relocated to Missoula, Montana for work a little over a year ago. In addition, two of my other college friends decided to join us for the weekend as well! We drove up to Missoula from Yellowstone National Park, which was about a 5.5-hour drive. My other two friends arrived around lunch time, so we were all together by the early afternoon! We headed over to a local dog park, which is located on a peninsula along the river. We brought some chairs and beers and caught up along the riverbanks. After the dog park, we stopped by the Imagine Nation Brewery. The brewery had a nice outdoors area and great beers! Beers were followed by dinner at Caffe Dolce, one of my friend’s favorite dinner spots. We tried a lot of items from the menu, including ribs, mushroom tagliatelle, lamb chops, margherita pizza, and cherry pie with ice cream). All very delicious and the first nice meal we had enjoyed in a while.
The next morning was a bit rainy, so we took our time in the morning making breakfast before heading out to the local farmer’s markets. We picked up a few items for dinner. We also browsed the downtown shops. After that, the weather brightened up so we drove to the Blodgett trailhead, which is located near Hamilton, Montana (about an hour’s drive). On the way, we played many rounds of Contact (highly recommend as a great group car game) and took turns DJ’ing. The hike was an easy, relatively flat hike that followed a small stream/creek the entire way. There were also nice views of the small adjacent mountains. It is an out-and-back, so we walked a ways and turned around after about 1.5 hours. We capped off our hike with a visit to the Bitterroot Brewery in Hamilton. We got a few beers and snacks to hold us over until dinner. Back at the house, everyone contributed to a home cooked meal – salmon with dragon’s tongue beans, bread, rainbow chard and onion (most purchased at the farmer’s markets). The remainder of the evening was spent playing games, including Resistance (which is a modified form of mafia).
The next day, we headed towards Hamilton once again for a day on Lake Como. The lake was plenty large for wakeboarding! Everyone got up on the board! Everyone was tired from our day on the boat, so we got some pizza for dinner at a local pizza place. My friends were leaving Missoula the next day by lunch time, and we had planned to as well. Planned being the key word. By the time we got ready, repacked the car, and completed our grocery shopping at Walmart, it was already very late in the afternoon. At this time, the Glacier campsites were full (you can check online), and it would have likely been dark by the time we got to a campsite near the park. So, we decided to stay an extra night and my friends were generous enough to accommodate! We got dinner with them at Michi Ramen and then had a relaxing night, watching some television on the couch (it had been a while since we had done this). Also, something to note, for the weekend, we traded our housing budget for our food budget – thanks to my friends for being such great hosts!
You guys are the best – I’m so glad you all made your way to Missoula on your amazing trip! We had so much fun!!
These pictures really take me back!! What a fun weekend (minus playing The Resistance– am I right, Pat??)!! Miss you kids <3