Missoula pt. 2 - Everything Else

The rest of our time in Missoula was a blur of activity punctuated with moments of nothing.

Without getting all wordy on ya, I'll just point out some highlights.

Having survived the trip out there without having my tires blow-out, we went to Les Schwab and got my wheels aligned and a couple of new tires... for $200 LESS than I was quoted in Washington before I left.
It paid to make the trip there instead of waiting to have it done before we left.

Hotness's brother was in town for a couple of reasons.

1) He was there to attend their mother's 'living wake'.

2) He had to have some surgery done, and came back to Missoula to have it taken care of.

While he was there, we went out for sushi:

and ice cream:

and lunch with their mom and friends:

Hotness and I had crepes again at Liquid Planet.

Yummy!

We also hung out at her mom's and acted like idiots:

Me more so than the others I guess.

We got an endorsement for Obama from Hotness's mom. (She's a big supporter)

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One night, Hotness and I went to a bar (actually it was kind of a 'dive') to get a drink.
It was a particularly weird afternoon so we thought we'd cap the day off by adding alcohol to the mix.

I was able to sample something I've been wanting to try for quite some time.... ABSINTHE.

(Also known as the Green Fairy.)

It was definitely something you want to try before plunking down big wads of cash to buy a bottle.

I liked it, but Hontess did not.

To me it was sort of reminescent of Jagermeister (but not as 'syrupy' or sweet) and it sort of burned as it went down like tequila.
In fact, Ouzo is probably a better example of what it was like, except the anise flavor was amped up to 11 so it kind of stuck with you the rest of the evening.

Unfortunately I did not experience any hallucinogenic dreams, but I was feeling mighty good after three shots!

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Last year we were surrounded by wildfires that settled into the Missoula Valley and left a smoky haze the whole time we were there.

Not so this time. It had been a nice wet spring, so things were very green when we got there and the skies were clear and blue.

That is... until some kids were playing with fireworks and set the side ot Mt. Sentinel on fire.

Hotness and I were leaving the house we stayed at late one afternoon when I noticed smoke billowing up to the sky.

We took a detour and followed it until we saw where the fire was.

In about 2 hours almost 300 acres were burned.

The firefighters were streched thin due to the other fires in California that are being battled, but they managed to get it under control by the next evening without anybody getting hurt and no property damage involved.

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Our last full day in Missoula was finished off with a 'living wake' for Hotness's mom.

She's battling ovarian cancer and has decided to opt out of chemo to fight it off.
She wanted to see all her friends and loved ones before she dies (which to be honest may not really be all that soon so this could be the first of many 'annual living wakes'... but I digress).

All went well.
There were about 100 people that showed up and she got to talk with almost all of them.

Some people sang songs while others played music in honor of her.

I met a few new people as Hotness and her brother introduced me to them.

The 'wake' lasted for a few hours, but finally we had to call it a day and head home.

Hotness and I retired to a motel outside of town for the evening, as there was a marathon the next morning and several local roads would be closed, making our exit from town kind of problematic.

We said our goodbyes and then left early the next morning and got back home in the late afternoon.

We had an enjoyable time, but it's good to be back home again.