Bigfork, Missoula & Bozeman

We left Kalispell late Saturday morning for the run down Flathead Lake to Missoula. Because we had slept in, we waited until we'd driven a bit before pulling in to the Echo Lake Cafe for a late breakfast, early lunch. The place was packed, but we were thankful that we could sit inside, in the air conditioning, until our table was ready.

All of the employees were women, and the food was Homeric (large and epic). Chicken-fried steak with home-made sausage gravy, fresh-squeezed orange juice, an enormous burrito filled with eggs and home-made chorizo sausage, and the best cinnamon coffee cake that I've ever had. If you're ever in Bigfork, Montana make sure to stop by.

It was almost 1:00 pm before we got back on the road. Over the sound system, Dave Robicheaux said,

Suddenly I saw Flathead Lake open up before me, so blue and immense and dancing with sunlight that it looked like the Pacific Ocean. Young pines grew on the slopes of the hills above the beaches, and the eastern shore was covered with cherry orchards.

And there it was. We pulled over to one of the small mom-and-pop fruit stands that dot the eastern shore of the lake and bought two pounds of sweet red cherries for the drive. With Kathy driving, James Lee Burke on the stereo, and the outside temperature past 100 degrees, we made our way to Missoula.

We arrived in Missoula late in the afternoon. We stayed at the Comfort Inn at the end of Broadway, right at the freeway interchange. Out our window we could see the big M high on the hill above the University of Montana, and right below, the Clark Fork River, where families sat on lawn chairs in the cold slack water near the banks to escape the 100 degree heat, and sunburned teenagers on inner-tubes, inflatable kayaks, and stand-up paddle boards floated down to the faster water.

A week of driving, sometimes on dirt and gravel roads had turned our car into a dusty ghost. We looked for a car wash, but only found the u-wash hand-sprayer establishments. Twice we typed "car wash" into our GPS and were directed to houses in residential districts. Perhaps the people living there had a car wash business, but both of us felt uncomfortable ringing the doorbell. Finally, at a Conoco station where we filled the tank, a young man directed Kathy to a full-service Metro Express Wash where we drove through the suds and the swishing brushes.

Once we were presentable, we drove downtown, to Camas park by the river, and visited the Carousel for Missoula, a volunteer-built, hand-carved carousel.

And, like the carousels of years past, every child, and most of the adults, couldn't resist trying to grab the brass ring from the dragon's mouth.

Right in front of the park, there is a large standing rapid, named Brennan's wave. This late in the summer, the water is low enough to reduce it to a fun riffle. 

When the water is higher, though, you can actually surf on the wave that's formed. (I don't think that it's as impressive as the standing wave surfing in the center of Munich, however.)

On to Bozeman

We turned in early on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning we were ready to go by 7:00 am. We had a nice, self-serve breakfast at our hotel, and drove out Hellgate Canyon for Bozeman. The speed limit between Missoula and Butte was 80 miles per hour, so we made very good time. We didn't stop in Butte, but we could see the giant open-pit mine from the freeway. I had wanted to take one of the many historic tours, such as Underground Butte, but none of them operated on Sunday.

We pulled into Bozeman a little after noon. It was too early to go to our hotel, so we spent the afternoon at the Museum of the Rockies, a place our guidebook rated as a "must see".

The big pull here is the dinosaur exhibits which not only include some neat Triceratops fossils, but a fascinating movie showing the excavations.

And yes, they do have a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Very, very large. In addition to the dinosaurs, they also have quite a few exhibits on the development of Montana and Yellowstone, Native American and pioneer artifacts, and so on.

The also have travelling exhibits that have nothing to do with Montana. Today, it was the Vikings. I thought of my metal-smith daughter Hosanna Rubio when I saw this gold harness.

Outside the museum is the Living History Farm which represents a homestead typical of those found in southwestern Montana in 1890 – 1910. The Tinsley house itself is an original 1889 homestead.

Outback we found a hand-pump. I thought that I'd take a picture to illustrate my annual lecture on primed sentinel loops, but, in fact, this pump had no need of priming. Disappointing. 

By 3:30 it was late enough to head back to our hotel. On the way, we stopped by Smith's groceries to buy some picnic supplies for our three days in Yellowstone. All of the clerks here in Montana were so nice. We got a room on the ground floor so we could park right in front. (The hotel has a pool and an indoor water slide. I brought my trunks, but I hesitated when I thought about trying it out. All I need is to throw out my back in the middle of our vacation.)

After unpacking, we went looking for dinner and ended up at the Montana Ale Works, where I had the traditional Montana Schnitzel and Kathy had a wonderful burger and a salad.  Then, back to the hotel to update the blog. Tomorrow, Yellowstone.