Adam and I left on September 11th and everything went smoothly. We got into Missoula around 10:30 at night and it was chilly! It was much colder than I expected.
Friday morning Adam and I got up and went for a run. There are mountains all over Montana (duh!) so it was so nice to head out the door and start exploring. My parents live right next to a big mountain. At the beginning of our run I pointed to a trail and told Adam that is where we were going to run. I think he thought I was kidding. Half way up we were both huffing and puffing and slowly walking up the trail.
We soon got to the logging road and we were able to run a bit but by this time our chests felt like they were going to explode and the cold air was hurting our lungs. I think it was about 40 degrees. But it was a beautiful morning to be out and about. Even though I grew up in Montana I had forgotten how beautiful the landscape is and the beautiful blue the sky. It was a great way to start the day.
(The town of Milltown, MT)
The rest of the day was spent in Missoula running errands and getting ready for the reception the next day.
Saturday was my birthday. I woke up early and decided to go for another run/hike. I took Millie (my parent's boxer) with me because there are mountain lions on the mountain and I was hoping they would go for her instead of me.
Millie and I climbed the same mountain but this time I decided to go a bit further up and hike to the “B”. In Montana, many mountains have letters on them that stand for the name of the town. Missoula has an "M" and Bonner (where my parents live) has a B. The last time I remember climbing the "B" was in 8th grade and we did it as a class activity. The school had a tradition of letting the 8th graders climb the "B" with the intent of paiting the rocks. The majority of the rocks were get painted but I think even more students would come down the mountain covered in white paint.
Millie and I started up the hill and it was steep. There were not any switch backs, just straight up. I finally made it the "B" after many stops. I felt like I needed oxygen. Once I got to the "B" I realized it was going to be much more difficult to get down. Millie was a trooper on the way up, staying 5-8 feet ahead of me. On the way down she was right next to me which made it that much more difficult. Once I was happy I did the hike but decided it might only be a once every decade kind of celebration though.
(My hiking partner, Millie)The rest of the day was spent at the wedding party/reception. My parents, mostly my mom :) and my sister did a great job of planning the party. There were about 60 people there. It was nice to see family and friends, many of whom I hadn’t seen in a long time and Adam had never met. The party was held at the Hellgate Lions Red Barn. I am not sure what the barn was ever used for but now it is a perfect place for this kind of low key event.
Sunday Adam, Heather and I headed to Coeur D’Alene for a day trip. Adam is toying with the idea of doing the CDA Ironman and I hadn’t been there since I lived in Eugene, OR (six years ago!) It was a pretty drive but it is a long way from Missoula (about 2.5 hours).
Along the way we stopped in De Borgia and Haugen, MT which is where we lived from 1977 – 1982. It is a very small town (according to the 2000 US Census there was a population of 69 people). It took us about 2 minutes to drive by were we used to live and the gas station (that is now closed). The biggest surprise was the 10,000 Silver Dollar Bar is now the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar. It just doesn’t have the same ring.
(This post office seemed so much bigger when we lived here.)
We made our way to Coeur D’Alene, ate lunch at a great pub, battled car sickness, drove part of the bike course, stopped at DQ for a Blizzard and return back to Missoula. It was a quick trip but a good one. It was a great time of year to visit as everything was so beautiful.
Adam left early Monday morning and I stayed until Wednesday morning. Monday and Tuesday were spent hanging out with my parents and Heather. Overall, a great trip home.
No comments:
Post a Comment