Missoula Memorial Day

I have a friend from high school who has a band. A couple bands, actually. Not play-on-the-weekends-at-open-mic bands, but world tour bands. He’s known as M. Ward now, but I still call him Matt.

Here’s a little bio:

“Matthew Stephen Ward, known by his stage name M. Ward, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who rose to prominence in the Portland, Oregon music scene. In addition to his solo work he is known as a member of She & Him and Monsters of Folk.”

Matt doesn’t usually play Montana, so when I heard he was doing a show in Missoula, I really wanted to go. Plus, it was a good excuse to spend a couple days in Zoo Town.

Friday night, Matt and I met at the Iron Horse for a couple beers. We got to catch up on each others’ lives and do a little reminiscing.

Run

I started our first full day in Missoula with a run up the back side of Mt. Sentinel. It was drizzling and cold. At first, I wanted to run back to our cozy hotel and sip tea, but I was soon glad I kept going.

I was passed by several uber-fit individuals, and I was the only one stopping to photograph wildflowers, but I didn’t even care. It was lovely.

Looking across the Clark Fork at Mt. Sentinel (that’s the mountain with the “M”).

Arrowleaf Balsam Root

Looking back at Missoula

Larkspur

Eat & Play

It wasn’t only huffing and puffing, there was also a lot of eating and playing. Missoula is good for that.

Breakfast at the Hob Nob.

Carousel bound.

Riding the world’s fastest carousel.

Water table at the Children’s Museum of Missoula.

Becoming raindrops in the water cycle.

I LOVE that H and I can hang out while the kids play.

So delicious…

Green tea ice cream for me.

My favorite tea shop west of the Rockies– Butterfly Herbs.

Music

We found a babysitter for Saturday night and Henry and I went out to dinner with Matt. We ate at the Pearl Cafe. I interviewed the owner earlier in the day for an article I’m working on, and couldn’t resist going back. It was so good.

After dinner, we walked over to the Wilma Theater, checked out Matt’s tour bus and went in through the back stage entrance. Even though it’s embarrassing to admit, we felt pretty cool walking out from the stage with all those M. Ward fans out there. Henry and I felt cool, Matt stayed back stage until the show started.

Matt and I in the tour bus. He wouldn’t make me an “I’m with the Band” shirt.

Hundreds of people waiting for Matt to play.

M. Ward live.

We got back to the hotel to find this:

You’d think two people could fit on a double bed.

A little more room on this bed, but you know you are going to get kicked all night.

Soaking

Big Henry and Mogie gave H a gift certificate to Fairmont Hot Springs for his birthday and we decided it was time to use it. We booked a room, got H a swimsuit, and drove through a rainstorm to Fairmont. More eating, some slide riding and lots of swimming.

View from our window. Notice how low the snow is.

A wild slide ride into a toasty pool.

Lunching

On the way home we stopped in Butte America for lunch and ate at the iconic M&M.

A Butte landmark.

Not a bad way to spend a long weekend.