xythian

We dithered about whether we could take the train which would get us to the airport only one hour in advance. We decided to chance it, and in the end it was so smooth. We just breezed through pre-check. Then our flight took off on time, and there was room in the overhead bins for our stuff even though we hadn't paid for early boarding. The next flight was late, so we had an extra hour in Salt Lake City, but that wasn't terrible.

The rental car agencies want you to check-in in advance these days, but that's a really stupid idea, because you have no idea if you are actually going to get there on the right day, given the vagaries of air travel. I did check-in in advance from SLC, but only after the gate agent showed up and started making announcements that made it clear that we were actually going to be getting on that flight (like, the aircraft had arrived.) It does have the advantage that all of the up selling is done online rather than in person, so you can decline more easily.

Our Air B&B is a basement apartment, and it's a little funky because of how they had to shoehorn rooms in between structural supports for the house, but it's okay. After dropping our stuff, we hared off to the local grocery store to lay in supplies.

Sunday we did some outdoor exploring. We hiked to a large letter M that has been placed on the hillside above the University of Montana in Missoula. This trail is extremely well-traveled; we must have passed more than 50 people on the way up and down. They must have 500 people every day. Then we continued on for another (less well-traveled) mile to an old abandoned copper mine, which was kind of cool. You can't go very far in because they have filled it in, and also you kind of have to crawl for some of it. But it was "dark as a dungeon way down in the mine."

Then we wandered around on the university campus for a little bit looking at various historical markers and outdoor art, and had some lunch before our next adventure, which was to go to a natural Hot Springs in Idaho. (Not that far given that we are in Western Montana.) You never know what you're going to actually get when you visit a hot springs that you've only read about online. In this case the directions were slightly confusing at first because we went to the wrong parking lot, but after figuring that out and finding the right parking lot, we were able to walk up to the hot springs which was about a mile of mostly flat walking in the woods. The flora was very different because we had crossed over a mountain pass and were on the other side of it now with different weather, so it was dense pine forest, whereas in Missoula there had been some forested areas, but also a lot of grassy hillsides like you get in California. It had also commenced to rain (which we know about, so we were prepared. Also, we were going to a hot springs. What, we will get wet?)

First we had to find the actual springs. The first place you come upon is right next to a river, and too much of the river was flowing into the pool where the hot water was also flowing, so it was not actually hot. Fortunately someone who was already there gave us a report before we stripped. So we carried on to the next location. This had several different pools which were larger, and not right next to the river, so the only cooling was from the air (and the rain). There were some sites further on but we stopped here.

It was advertised as clothing optional, but when we got there, everybody was wearing swimsuits. Of course, we had not brought them because it was clothing optional. Before stripping, I mentioned this to a random older adult who was nearby, and he commented that he had intended to be naked but his kids had nixed that idea. I guess aging hippies are cool with nudity, but the younger generation is not? We forged ahead by stripping and just climbing in. Maybe some people were embarrassed but nobody mentioned it, and so we just hung out for an hour, and then dried off as best we could with our damp towels, redressed, and headed back to Missoula. It was a little hard to find a good place in the pool that wasn't just lukewarm, but we did find such a place to bask.

On the way back we stopped at a couple of historical markers and read about various explorers and naturalists who had been here in the 1800s. One of the places was a little park which somebody had done a lot of work on and was quite nice. I didn't actually remember in whose name it was, but some diligent Internet research eventually revealed that it is the "Devoto Grove Picnic Area & Trailhead". Recommended if you happen to be driving between Montana and Idaho on Route 12 and want to stop for 20 minutes. (Why would anybody I know be doing that? But you never know.)

At the visitor center at the top of Lolo Pass there were some educational materials about the Nez Perce and their struggle with the United States who was driving them out. This is the story recounted in the Fred Small song "Heart of the Appaloosa". It was interesting that one of the displays, which was about 100 feet from the main display, was all covered up in black plastic. I wonder if it was "too woke for Trump", and so they covered it up. We didn't try to uncover it and find out what it actually had said. I mean, the whole story was about the US doing pretty terrible things, and some of that was in the main display so I'm a little surprised.

Today is the start of Ken's conference, so he has headed off there on foot (it's about a mile), leaving me with an extra day because I'm just going to meet my cousin tomorrow in Butte MT, which is halfway to her house, and on my side of the Continental Divide. Unfortunately, while there seem to be a few interesting things to do in Missoula, they are closed on Monday. Dang. I will have another opportunity on Wednesday morning, and I'm going to go check out one of them before picking Ken up at lunch after the conference. For today, there is a nearby walking/bicycling self-guided tour of some outdoor things, and there are bicycles at the Air B&B, which we spent 20 minutes yesterday adjusting the shifters and brakes of. One of the bikes is totally not ridable, but another is okay. It's an upright, so I was concerned about how well I do on an upright.

Turned out it was sort of okay. I rode about 5 miles total I think, maybe it was a little more. Around the river walk, stopping at various little plaques telling us about the history of Missoula. Hit the grocery store again, and stopped to ride a carousel that has kind of a nice origin story, https://carouselformissoula.com/our-story/. My wrists were okay, my neck only hurts a little, my lower back is feeling it, and my crotch is sore. Last time I rode an upright, my wrists hurt a lot and so did my neck, and I didn't ride long enough for the other things to be a problem. Still, going to stick with the recumbent when I get home. Good to know that at least short rides are possible on an upright.

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The mine entrance and its sign

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There are benches on the way up to the "M" which has been funded by donations and so have plaques commemorating whoever they wanted to donate on behalf of. I liked this one the best.

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The M as seen from campus, along with a bit of the original first university building from the 1890s.

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The carousel, and me riding it. You can't tell but I picked a "horse" which was a dragon.