Missoula: Henry wins an award and we eat

This may be the last of my catch-up posts. I really let this blog get away from me during the very busy month of May. For the first time since I had kids, I was gone more in one month than I was home. And it was pretty much all fun and games.

The weekend before we left for California and the weekend after I went to Jackson, the four of us traveled to Missoula for the International Wildlife Film Festival. I already told you that H won “Best Web Series” for his polar bear shorts (he looks really cute in them), well this is where he picked up the plaque.

PBI paid for his room, so the boys and I came along to play and eat our way through Missoula. Leaving the very brown and overcast Livingston, we were thrilled to see trees all leafed-out, flowers abounding and sunshine. They don’t call it the Garden City for nothing.

It was good for me to see Missoula in all its glory since when I lived there in 94-95, it was gray and cold everyday until I left at the end of May. The inversion layer kept the cold in and the sun out. Ice covered the streets and when I rode my bike to school, I’d slide across intersections whenever I used the brakes. There were a lot of things I liked about Missoula, but the weather wasn’t one of them.

We left early for the 3.5 hour drive over the Continental Divide and into the western part of the state. After dropping H off at the theater to attend workshops, the boys and I parked at the hotel and started walking.

It was a little bit of a junk show at first. Picture me pushing a double stroller, a dog leash in each had (with a big hyper dog at the end of each leash) and a four-year-old running amok near a swollen river.

Our first stop was A Carousel for Missoula. That’s what they call it. It’s a smaller, beautifully crafted carousel. And perhaps because it is small, it’s one of the faster carousels I’ve been on. You aren’t allowed to stand up, and you better hold on. We ended up riding it each of the three days we were there.

Anders knew immediately which horse he would ride.

Finn was a little nervous, so he and I sat on the bench for the first ride. But, he looked good doing it. We shared a horse the next two times.

The dragon playground is right behind the carousel, so we played there for awhile.

Next up was Bernice’s Bakery for lunch (something healthy) and cupcakes (something delicious).

Anders chose “Pucker Up” a citrusy delight that I did not get to sample. Finn had lavender something, which was superb, and I lucked out with the green tea cupcake.

After that, we needed a long walk, so we cruised down the path that follows the Clark Fork all the way to the Montana Natural History Center. The museum is kind of small, but they run a lot of amazing programs out of there. It was cool for the kids to see how big some of our local animals really are.

Tempting a pronghorn to bite him.

Grrrr

In case you were wondering how tall a moose is in comparison to a kid. They are freakishly big and much scarier than a bear when you meet them in the wild. Ask Rigby.

We took our time walking back along the river. We threw rocks, threw sticks, we threw leaves. We poked around in the mud and watched the river.

After some quiet time in the hotel where I let the kids watch PBS Kids so I could sleep, Henry returned. We went to a party downtown sponsored by the Montana State University’s Science and Natural History Filmmaking program, from which H recently graduated. Then we got some Mexican food.

I sense this is getting a bit long, so I’ll save the rest for tomorrow…