Missoula freakin Montana

Katy had told me that everyone who comes to Missoula falls in love with it. My first night was great, but I was far from convinced. Yeah, it was gorgeous and the people seemed fine, but what's the big deal? Honestly, I can't put it into words. (Mainly because I suck at putting thoughts and feelings into words, good thing I have a communication studies degree...) But seriously, it is something that you have to experience for yourself. Here is my poor description of MY experience though...

I was fortunate enough to have Katy's sweet roommate (one of Destiny's best friends), Paige, to "babysit" me a couple days while Katy was at work. The first day we laid out by the beautiful river. Minus the rocky terrian, it was perfection: gorgeous scenery, wonderful honest conversation, and the warm Montana sun. The next day we hiked the famous M. At the top we were able to look out on the whole city of Missoula. Now, I'm not much of a hiker. Really I'm not huge on the outdoorsy stuff at all, but there is something about this place that forces you to appreciate it. It was so refreshing. After the hike we hit up a local brewery called Kettlehouse. I think this was the turning point that made me realize I was falling in love with this city. It had nothing to do with beer though (However, I did drink two beers, be proud).

A couple of my new ultimate friends were there and had made friends with this couple who was biking across the country. This is the stuff I just loved. My friends befriended these people and made them feel extremely welcome and comfortable. They made sure they had a place to stay, and my friend, Eric, even gave them contact info for his parents' house in Wisconsin in case they needed a place to crash. This is a simple thing, and I know plenty of people would offer to help, but most of us wouldn't befriend them in the first place. I know I wouldn't just start talking to a couple in a bar making sure they were taken care of in Memphis/Knoxville. It's just a different small town culture that really impressed me. But what was really unbelievable is how lucky I got... One of Paige's friends that she hadn't seen in weeks happened to be at Kettlehouse and they happened to start talking about how he was traveling to Portland on Thursday. Not to mention he hated to drive by himself and would be happy to drive someone for free... Hell yes. That sounded about 10 million times better than spending almost $200 and 20 hours for a bus and train ride back. As Katy said, "that's the kind of awesome shit that happens in this town."

The last day I was in town Paige went on a hike at 5am that I just couldn't bring myself to partake in. Luckily, Eric is working on his PhD and does it on his own time so he was able to be my babysitter for the day. We spent the early afternoon watching the kayak tournament that was happening in downtown Missoula. It was pretty incredible watching these people just throw their body and kayaks around on a man-made wave. If you want to see how awesome it really was check out Katy's blog.... http://katydidwhat-katydidwhat.blogspot.com/ where she posted a video.... However, that afternoon was possibly the best. Katy, Eric, Heather, two North Dakota guys (more guys that were just randomly befriended and invited on our adventure), and I climbed in a minivan with our tubes and a cooler full of beer. We drove a few miles and then hopped on our tubes in the beautiful river. We spent about 2 hours tubing down the river while sipping on some beer... or Mike's. :) That's a normal summer day in Missoula, MT. What the heck? I never wanted to leave.

My nights were exceptional too. We went to a minor league baseball game where we yelled "NUTS" approximately 2oo times. No, seriously we did. Apparently they were really pushing selling peanuts that night so the announcer yelled "PEA" and we had to reply by yelling "NUTS." "PEA, PEA, PEA!" "NUTS, NUTS, NUTS!" It was quite entertaining. The night ended with the most beautiful storm in the distant mountains right at sunset.

Katy wanted me to go out with a bang so my last night we went to karaoke at the Badlanders. Almost all of the ultimate team I played with the weekend before came, plus a few others. Maybe they just were desiring a night to make a fool out of themselves, but I was honored either way. It was pretty hilarious and a perfect end to a great week. My sweet Katy dedicated this song to me... absolutely beautiful, eh maybe just really sweet.





My dad said he is already looking for a plane ticket for me to come back to Missoula in February when it is bitterly cold and miserable. I know, I know. It's not always the dream city that I saw it to be, but regardless the community aspect is there. People genuinely care about other people. I don't think that changes with the season. But if you do ever visit Missoula make sure it is in later June or early July. I understand that is when it is the perfect weather and still very green.