Exploration! Destination: Missoula, MT (or basically the entire contiguous United States)

Ahoy from the road! Our first "real" stop outside of Washington State (on our way driving cross country) is Missoula, MT. Jack has family who live in town and there's the old Flynn Family Ranch,  which is still owned and maintained by Jack's family.

But before we get actually get into Missoula, I HAVE TO stop at the 50,000 Silver Dollar Store, partly because it's roughly in between Spokane and Missoula and by that time I would need to stop and pee, but also because it's tradition. I have a thing for "traditions." The store touts itself as Montana's largest souvenir shop, what they don't tell people is that it is also home to Montana's largest collection of the Three Howling Wolf shirt and plentiful turquoise tchotchkes--what I'm saying is that you should visit the 50,000 Silver Dollar Store.

Anyways, Missoula is a quirky little college town nestled all nice in between the mountains; it's like the Austin of Montana and while there's the family farms and ranches, there's also plenty of hippie types to go around.

Tell me this doesn't kind of look like Portland to you. Even the graphic design trends are similar!

We were lucky enough to get into Missoula on the weekend, so we spent Saturday wandering around the farmer and craft markets in town, shopping in the downtown stores, and experiencing the weirdest bout of cognitive dissonance. You'd expect Montana to be all rough and tumble with ranchers, cowboys, and other more tough alpha males, but walking around in Missoula you'd think that you were in Seattle (minus the hipsters) or Portland (Montana has no sales tax!).

Another fun attraction in Missoula is hiking up to the "M", which is basically a giant M on the side of the mountain behind the University of Montana. The view is nice and when we hiked up wild flowers were blooming so it made pretty boring hike into a mildly interesting one. I say it's boring because the trail is basically made of switchbacks, if you've been on a hike with me once before you know how I feel about this. Going on a switchback feels so futile because you're basically zigzagging back and forth as you gain elevation. Oh, I also hate elevation gain (or too much elevation gain over a short distance, thus requiring the use of switchbacks on trails).  And now I have climbed the M, so you don't have to! Here's the view from the top:

They don't call it Big Sky Country for nothing.

ADDENDUM TO THIS POST (AND REALLY, I SHOULD BE HUNG FROM MY HEAD FOR NEGLECTING TO MENTION THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE):

While we were in town, we HAD TO stop at Big Sky Brewing, because they make some delicious beer. I'm sure they offer a tour, but I've never been on it, usually whenever I find myself in Missoula (which is 3x's more often than you'd think) I head to the brewery for their 4 daily free samples and at least two growlers of beer. Beer is much better if you get it directly from the beer cow.

'Tis the season!

Decorations up. Presents wrapped. Bring on the Christmas.

I like to think that my friends and I have built up our various little traditions. Traditions like making breakfast on the weekends before doing something as a group, Kate's on Tuesdays, celebrating New Year's at Jen's place (not because Jen is a willing host, but because we demand it of her), and, for a while at least, dinner and Settler's on Wednesdays. Usually doing anything at least twice will be considered in the running for a "tradition". Like the "tradition" where Christy and I (or anyone else) go to McMenamin's happy hour before a PNW Ballet show because it's so affordable to eat there and their cheeseburger goes really well with their Vanilla Nitro Stout.

So, it occurred to me the other day, when I dragged Jack out shopping for Christmas presents, that the girls and I did not get to do our usual holiday tradition--shopping at the outlet malls and making our way down to Alderwood Mall and finally to HoSoonYi (or any of that area's fine Korean dining establishments) for some soft tofu soup to warm us up.

I'm the type of person that easily gloms onto traditions (or, most like, repetitive habits), real or imagined, because of the sense of security they give me and it's a chance to find some meaning (however tiny) in our increasingly busy schedules. It's nice to know that if I was having a bad day, I could always look forward to having a drink with friends at Kate's. Similarly, the shopping trip to the outlets was just another way to spend some form of the holidays with friends before we all split up to celebrate Christmas with our respective families. Plus, there were always shopping deals to be had--hello, LeSportSac store and thank you for my $20 overnight bag!

It also occurs to me that perhaps I am only nostalgic for these traditions because Jack is such a terrible shopping partner in contrast with the girls. But those shopping trips were always a fun way to spend the day--especially since none of us had cars then and getting the Zipcar to get out of the city to go to the suburbs was a big friggin' deal.