Hiking around Missoula
Here are some photos from two hikes Abby and I made around Missoula a few weeks ago. These first two are from a trail that goes along the Clark Fork river just off the U of MT campus. First is an osprey on its nest across the river from us and the second is Abby in front of some nice scenery.
These next two are from a trail that runs up the backside of Mt. Jumbo (for those who've been to Missoula, it's the mountain with the big "L" on it.) They're just us in front of a nice view of the valley. In the picture of me, I'm in my newest homemade kilt!
Wadeberries!
They say that poverty is the mother on invention. With Abby’s one and only brother turning 30 on Sept. 30th we were faced with a problem on the gift front. We are a little light in $$ these days. (We are still able to eat! I swear Mom, Gram, Barbara et al) But fancy gift money, alas there was none. So we decided to make Wade jam for his birthday, but not any jam, blueberry/huckleberry jam. We named it Wade-berry. I hope he likes it. Happy 30th Wade!
WFD Sign
Abby got a sign for her car windshield from a printer that's in the barter network that she belongs to. We applied it ourselves, and now everyone driving around Missoula can see who's in front of them.
Portland, OR
Two weekends ago, we drove over to Portland, OR for a little getaway. Aunt Martha and John and the girls were also in Portland for a wedding, so we were able to meet them for dinner on Friday night and again for breakfast on Sunday morning. It was great to see them and get to hang out and visit! Here are some photos of us at the riverfront.
On Saturday morning, we headed to the farmer's market on the Portland State University campus. It was a rainy morning, but we had a great time. The produce was incredible, and there were people sampling their hard cider, wine, and fruit sodas. We also tried some artisanal cheeses and had an incredible breakfast of biscuits and gravy, pumpkin bread, and lamb sausage in a blanket with cranberry mustard. Here are some pictures of the produce.
On Saturday afternoon, we visited a few breweries and a distillery. My favorite brewery was called Upright Brewing. They make some really cool beer and have an interesting brewery set up including open fermenters in a positive pressure room. We got to chat with the brewer about his brewery and his beers. It was a great experience, but unfortunately his beer doesn't make it to Missoula yet. The Clear Creek Distillery was really interesting, too. They make a bunch of different fruit brandies and liqueurs. We brought a small bottle of their pear brandy home with us. Here's a photo of their fruit crates stacked up outside the building.
We ate dinner at a great little restaurant called Navarre that was recommended by our friend Sarah Thomas. We sat at a table on the sidewalk and watched Portland go by. We couldn't decide what to order, so we chose the "you feed us" option of three courses with wine pairings. Everything was delicious and we'd recommend it to anyone going to Portland.
After dinner we drove over to the world-famous Voodoo Doughnuts and got some dessert. We each got a maple bacon doughnut and Abby also got one with Cap'n Crunch and I got one with Froot Loops. They were quite a treat.
On Sunday, we went to Saraveza for the Packer game. It's a bottle shop all decorated with Wisconsin memorabilia. It was a great place to watch the game--even if they lost. I was also able to pour some free samples of Big Sky beer for the customers. It's funny how friendly people are when you're giving them free beer!
Sunday afternoon we visited Portland’s rose garden where they grow a ton of different kinds of roses. They have prize winning roses, heirloom roses, and experimental varieties, too. Here are a few pictures.
We ate a delicious barbecue restaurant for dinner. As a bonus, they had our favorite beer from Upright Brewing on tap so we could enjoy it one more time before we left. For dessert, we picked up a petite fours from Pix Bakery, yum!
Hay Maze
Last weekend, we went out to the Missoula Hay Maze. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we had a great time going through the maze. We even found our way out! Here we are deep in the twists and turns of the maze.
I think that we’re finally caught up on our blogging. We promise we’ll try to do better in keeping up with it.
Hope everyone is well.
Love,
Abby and David
1 comment:
Yay for pictures! Yay for blogging! It's funny how seeing a few pictures makes me feel closer to you two way out there in the wilds of the west.
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