Hilton Garden Inn Missoula

... there are places that I definitely don't want to leave without seeing. I plan on getting around by bus and staying at HI's and farmhouses. I'm most looking forward to hiking around Skaftafell National Park and seeing the glaciers around Jokulsarlon in the Southwestern part of the country. One of my lifelong dreams is to see the Aurora Borealis, cross your fingers ...

... flow. However, I didn't see the captive audience thing in the car coming. She's only covered thru 1984 in her file of things I haven't listened to since 1971. Also, Mrs. Congeniality has caused us to meet way too many nice people. Today at breakfast a cute couple married 60 years would still be talking to us if I hadn't given them my ...

... skinny, it took pretty much forever. Construction, and windy up hill roads don't equal speed. <br>We rolled our way into Missoula about 5PM, mountain time, and decided to check out the downtown area. There happened to be a music festival, with BEER, going on downtown. Some local bands were playing, and there were tons of people out and about. Missoula is a pretty cool ...

... The ride down I don't watch.<br><br> We arrived to at this nice park and it was raining (which it has done every evening since we have been on the road). The topic of conversation when you talk to a Montanian is the amount of rain they have had this year. They said that usually this time of year everything is burned up from the dry ...

... been privy to, on my adventure. The whole idea of couch surfers and trying to make the world a better place, one couch at a time, could be a nieve idea. But I have seen first hand, the love and kindness people can show to a complete stranger, and it can be overwhelming. I have become a full advocate of the couch surfing community and spirit. It's what people did before there were hotels and hostels, and in my ...

... were looking around at the life-size bronze statues of mammoths and bears and other assorted creatures in the yard, an old man with a cane came out of the house and opened the gallery for us. It was the artist himself. He is in his eighties or nineties and has been a farmer and rancher his entire life. He only started painting 11 years ago. His artwork is amazing and his ideas are so creative. It's hard to believe it is the work of an ...

... I met up with a few Missoulans ? and we went climbing at a local crag, though it was nothing crazy. Hanging out in downtown was very pleasant, many people were riding their bikes, pushing their longboards, and eating Fish Tacos: a true outdoorsy university town. Bomber continues to be a real conversation starter among middle aged women and the homeless. --Z

... low-cost, community-run water parks and an actually functional transit system (yes, I promise more on that later) in the Pioneer Valley's future?  Maybe.  Or maybe our successes will come in different forms.  Perhaps what I see in my own future is more important.  Am I going to wait and hope that other places can have Missoula's sense of fun and joy?  Or am I going to be like that forestry student thirty years ago, speaking out for ideas whose time has not yet come?

... been purchased and not grown or gathered on-site, and reading daily bulletins produced by computers. But we were teaching them the skills to do it otherwise. Every session's menu included at least some wild game and foraged plants, and campers were invited to learn how deer hides were brain-tanned. Most importantly, we were learning to live tribally - in close quarters, in zero-privacy tipis, figuring out how to negotiate conflict in a way that actually made the ...

... nice gig at my old favourite haunt: The Club Cigar. This is a great place and one of the liveliest joints around in Great Falls. Cool folks and stiff drinks!!!!! I love bringing sterling to America!!!!!! Hooked up with some old friends and discovered alot about people I only knew in passing in my residence, it's amazing how old faces seem closer the longer you spend apart!!! Had a typical family Christmas with lots of UNO ...