We made the 2.5-hour drive from Glacier National Park to Missoula. Traci changed into her running clothes during the drive. We arrived in Missoula at 5:45 PM. The first running event of the Missoula Marathon weekend began at 6 PM. I dropped Traci off as close as I could to the start line and then drove off to find a parking space. Traci was able to make it to the start of the run in a nick of time. Whew!
Traci thought that this was supposed to be a 1-mile run but when she looked up the information just before we got to Missoula, she realized that it was a 5 K (approximately 3.1 miles). She had to adjust mentally for this extra distance, but she did fine.
This first running event of the Missoula Marathon weekend was a social run called the Beer Run. One of the sponsors of the event was the Big Sky Brewing Company. They were offering free beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) at the festival in Caras Park where the run began and ended. The festival included several vendors and a runners expo pavilion.
We ran into several of Traci's running friends from around the country at the festival. Even though I am not a runner, I enjoy traveling with Traci on these runcations for the reunion factor. Traci and her friends keep in touch online and coordinate the race meetups. Almost all of friends are working on completing their 50-state running goal or have already completed it.
We checked into the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Missoula - Edgewater (Room #254). It was the hotel recommended by the Missoula Marathon. The hotel was undergoing renovation at the time. The lobby had been temporarily relocated and there was construction all over the place. Our stay was fine. I loved listening to the flowing creek behind the hotel each time I walked outside. Knowing what we know now, the Doubletree was not the best hotel for this event weekend. There was a $20 charge for parking. It was not as centrally located as the Holiday Inn which did not charge for parking. I will discuss the Holiday Inn a little later.
The weekend in Missoula was a blur. I purposely did not plan a sightseeing itinerary for this portion of the trip so as not to interfere with Traci's running events and time with her running friends. That first evening, Traci and I had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Tamarack Brewing Co. It is located next to Caras park where the running events took place that weekend. Rather than do the 20-minute walk from our hotel, we decided to drive to the restaurant. We were among the last patrons to leave that evening. I was still blown away by how much daylight there still was at 9 PM.
The next morning, Traci ran the Tony Banovich 5K which began at 8 AM. We met more of her running friends after the 5k. I was starting to think that perhaps this Montana trip was supposed to be a girls' trip. None of Traci's friends brought their husband on significant other. As the only guy, I became the default photographer anytime the ladies wanted a group photo.
As was the case the previous evening of the Beer Run, there were vendors in Caras Park after the 5k. Additionally, there was an impressive farmers' market. Traci and I both got breakfast at the farmers' market and then made our way back to the hotel.
We drove back to the park later so that Traci could attend the seminar of a runner who was presenting his book. Afterwards, Traci and I walked around downtown Missoula a bit. It is a nice area with a river that runs through it. We walked in and out of local shops. Whereas Butte has a copper theme and Kalispell has a glacier theme, Missoula seems to have a huckleberry theme. We saw many huckleberry products being sold. We made our way to the outskirts of the city where we saw shopping centers with familiar chains. In fact, we had lunch at Chick Fil A.
For dinner, Traci and I were to join her running friends at 5 PM at an Italian restaurant called Ciao Mambo. I was hesitant about the dinner plans because I felt like I would be crashing a women's social event. Traci convinced me that it would be fine. Traci and I were a little late arriving and were shocked to see a long line that extended outside the restaurant. We should have expected this because runners normally carb-load on pasta the night before a race. Traci's friends had arrived early but were still waiting in line 45 minutes later. They had already reached their 28-person limit for the table they had reserved; therefore, Traci and I had to add our name to the waitlist for a table for two. The hostess gave us an estimate of an hour to an hour and 45 minutes before we could be seated! We were number 72 on the waitlist! By the time Traci and I were seated, her friends were finished with their meals.
Our meal at Ciao Mambo was excellent. Traci and I were seated near the kitchen where we could watch the chefs make their creations. There was so much activity back there that I was wondering how no one collided with anyone else. The restaurant has a super-efficient team of chefs.
We awoke at 4:45 AM the next morning so that Traci could catch the shuttle to the start of the half marathon. The shuttle pickup for the runners was at the Adams Center building at the University of Missouri. I thought I could drive Traci there but ended up back at our hotel after being blocked by all the street closures in preparation for the race. Fortunately, the shuttle pickup location was a short walk on a path from our hotel. I began to realize why the DoubleTree was the recommended hotel for the Missoula Marathon.
Traci finished the race but said that her legs just did not want to move that morning. As a result, she finished 18 minutes slower than she normally does for a half marathon. The fact that she was able to will herself to run 13.1 miles when her body was not feeling it was an amazing accomplishment to me. Next time, we will try to save all the sightseeing for after her running events so that her legs are fresh.
Traci at Mile 13 of the Missoula Half Marathon
I had a bizarre incident that day. After taking a photo of Traci crossing the finished line, I was walking to the runners exit to meet her when I saw a man trying to line up a selfie in front of the Missoula Marathon sign. He accepted my offer to take the photo for him. Afterwards, he introduced himself and said that he was from Chicago. When I said that I live in Virginia, he told me that one of his former clients lives in Virginia. He told me that he is a running coach. When I asked if his client was Traci, he exclaimed, "Yes, that's the name!"
What made this meeting so bizarre is that Traci had never met the coach face-to-face because his program is remote. Traci had used his program the previous year to help prepare her to run the New York City Marathon. Each week, the coach designed custom workouts for each person in his client group. Each of the members had to upload their results and then dial into a teleconference in which the coach reviewed each person's progress and offered motivation. He always did teleconferences and not video conferences. Therefore, Traci had never seen him. I could not believe that I happened to meet him at an event where there were more than 3,000 runners and even more spectators. Traci still never got a chance to meet him because he had to hurry back to his hotel to pack up for his flight. I took a picture of him and showed it to Traci. Small world!
After the half marathon, we checked out of the Doubletree so that we could check into the Holiday Inn later. Before we did that, we still had one more sightseeing destination on my itinerary. We had to skip it two days ago because we were so behind schedule getting to Missoula from Glacier National Park. Our destination for the day was the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas. It is located near Arlee which is about 30 minutes north of Missoula.
The Garden of One Thousand Buddhas was an interesting stop, but I do not consider it a must-see. It is a large property with 1,000 Buddha statues and other relics of Buddhism. I originally thought this was a tourist attraction until I saw people praying and burning incense. At that point, I realized that it is more than a tourist attraction. It is a religious place. It was a hot day which was not ideal for doing a lot of walking. Therefore, we took a few pictures of the statues and then visited the air-conditioned gift shop. The gift shop contained mostly Buddhist merchandise. We had a quick look around and then drove back to Missoula. On the way back, Traci had me stop at a few shopping centers so that she could do some 'retail therapy'.
We checked into the Holiday Inn (Room #406) and instantly regretted that we had not stayed there the entire weekend. They had free parking. They had signs in the lobby welcoming the runners. They were located in walking distance from Caras Park where most of the running events took place. Additionally, there is a good variety of restaurants in walking distance. The only negative that I had about our one-night stay was that the USB ports were not working. This was not a big deal because we could use our adapters to charge our devices via the electrical receptacles.
Now that the running events were behind us, Traci and I were looking forward to trying out a BBQ restaurant called Notorius P.I.G.. It is a play on words for the late rapper, Notorious B.I.G.. The food always smelled so good when walking past the restaurant, but Traci was trying to avoid anything heavy like BBQ before her running events. We were so dejected when we arrived at Notorious P.I.G. to find that it had already closed for the day. The sign indicated that they close at 4 PM on Sundays or whenever they run out of food. Darn!
Since our hopes of dining at Notorious P.I.G. were dashed, we searched for other restaurants and ended up across the street at Top Hat. The food was good. I was trying to figure out if our waitress had ESP or if there was a hidden microphone at our table. It seemed like every time I made a comment to Traci, the waitress would show up to give us an explanation. For example, when I mentioned to Traci that it was taking a long time for our food to be served, our waitress came to our table and apologized for the wait. After we got our bill, I mentioned to Traci that there was an error. Immediately, our waitress appeared out of nowhere to let us know that she just realized that she made a mistake on our bill and that she would take care of it right away. Wow!
The next day was our departure day; however, we had one more thing we wanted to do before leaving. I had heard that THE thing to do in Missoula is to "Hike the 'M'". As I mentioned earlier in this trip report, the cities in Montana seem to like to put a large letter on a nearby mountain. Missoula actually has two mountains containing a letter. One mountain contains an 'M' for the University of Missoula. Another mountain contains an 'L' for the Loyola Sacred Heart Catholic High School. I don't know if people hike the 'L'.
Traci and I awoke early so that we could do the hike before the sun became too intense. We parked in the Adams Center parking lot at the university and by 6:30 AM, we began our hike. It took us about 30 minutes of walking on the switchback trail. We took our time stopping to read the dedications on the benches along the way. The hike is not ridiculously difficult, but it is no 'walk in the park' either. It was definitely enough to elevate our heartrates. Doing the hike in the cool morning air before the sun made it over the mountain was a smart move. I was astounded by the people who I saw running up the mountain. At times, just walking had me breathing hard. I cannot image trying to run the trail. The runners definitely looked like they were struggling though.
The concrete 'M' did not look like a letter when we arrived because of its large size and angle. On the other hand, the view of Missoula from this vantage point was magnificent. Traci and I chatted with a lady from Michigan who had run the Missoula Marathon the previous day. It was her 43rd state in her quest to do a marathon in all 50 states.
the 'L' on the adjacent mountain
the 'M' up close
deer
The walk down the mountain to the parking lot took about 30 minutes. Again, we took our time. We stopped to take a bunch of photos. We even saw a couple of deer along the way.
After hiking the 'M', we had breakfast at a local diner called 4B's Restaurant. We arrived there and saw a note on the door indicating that the diner would close for good that day. The note went on to explain that the owner had died suddenly and that the decision was made to sell the business. I could tell that the diner was loved by the community. I saw people coming in to hug the staff and to say goodbye.
Traci and I were seated by a window that overlooked the rushing waters of Rattlesnake Creek and had a view of the mountains. I thought to myself as I enjoyed my delicious breakfast of waffles, eggs, and bacon that in any other city, scenery like this would probably be the location of some fancy restaurant or hotel. However, this simple diner with incredibly cordial staff shared a parking lot with a Motel 6 and was across the street from a Burger King. Traci and I enjoyed our breakfast. We wished the staff well. The cashier gave Traci a card containing the recipe for their famous tomato soup.
After breakfast, there was not much else to do other than finish packing up and head to the airport for our flight home. Our flight back to Washington Dulles would include a 3-hour layover in Denver. I liked the simplicity of the Missoula airport. We parked the rental car in the return lot and then walked across the street to the terminal. The car apparently gets scanned automatically when you enter the return lot. We did not have talk to an attendant. We did stop by the National car rental booth inside the terminal only because Traci had a question about something, but I don't remember what. I do remember how surprised we were when the young lady at the booth told us that we had driven 991 miles during our 6-night stay! When I checked our road trip itinerary on Google Maps, I realized that that number of miles was about right. It was a great trip. Main Page
State #29 is in the books.
Magnet Purchased At This Destination: (click to enlarge)
Entire fridge magnet collection...
Other Road Trips:
