A week in Missoula, Sept 24-Oct 2

  We started our week by going on Monday to pick up our next car. It is a Subaru Crosstrek like David’s.  Monday was a quiet day. Maura had the day off, we had a lot of wash to do, too. Mark made a lovely chicken soup and salad for a light meal.
   The next day, Tuesday, we drove around town as the sun came out. We drove around and took some photos from one of the hills outside town. We bought David a new phone to replace his old and cracked one. We went to the Good Food Store, which we love and had a nice lunch and got the fixing for a nice fish dinner. We also hiked up 1.5 of the switchbacks behind David’s house with Deniro and Maeve - whew! Mark and David went back to TMobile to work out the kinks in the phone and to get it up and running.
    Wednesday was sunny and beautiful. We took the dogs on another walk up the Jumbo trail behind Maura and David’s house. It is quite the climb! Then, we drove to Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge outside of Stevensville in the Bitteroot Valley. It is about 25 miles south of Missoula. The refuge is alongside the Bitteroot River. The first spectacular bird that we saw was a soaring golden eagle. On the way in, we saw lots of dabbling ducks, the majority of which seemed to be coots, but there were lots that we did not identify. We saw lots of nuthatches, including the Pygmy nuthatch, a new bird for us. We took about a mile long walk through the forest and came across several white-tailed deer very close to us. We saw lots of woodpeckers, including downy woodpeckers and flickers. Mark heard a pileated but we did not see it. We came across a fly fisherman who had seen it, though. We saw quite a few birds across the river that we could not identify, but there was also a magnificent and very still bald eagle perched on a branch. We saw a striped bird that may have been a sage thrasher, but we are not sure. (Could have been a fox sparrow?)  We were pretty sure that we saw a Western Wood-Pewee, but again, without help, we could not be definite. And, we also were pretty sure that we saw mountain chickadees. And, on the way out, we saw an osprey perched. We see a lot of magpies which are also beautiful birds, but not much appreciated here. We stopped at the visitor center and Mark got t-shirt and we got a little bird guide for David and Maura. We stopped in Stevensville for a bit to eat at a cafe and then drove back and picked up a pie from Bernice’s Bakery, which  is rather famous.
      We were supposed to get 2 pies - a peach and a strawberry/rhubarb to take to Ken and Terry Olson’s but the bakery made a mistake and gave us a really large peach pie in a glass dish that has to be returned. So, we took just the strawberry/rhubarb one to the Olson’s and left the peach one home. That was a bit of a mistake because, it turns out that Ken doesn’t like rhubarb! But, we had a lovely evening. Terri made homemade chicken and dumplings and salad from their organic garden. Barbara got some beautiful cards made from Terri’s paintings. She had one (Trillium) recently accepted for an exhibition in Bigfork.
     On Thursday, we took another hike up Jumbo behind Maura and David’s house. It was a lovely sunny day. We take the dogs and work on Deniro’s leash training. Then, we took a bird walk A- to the Maclay Flats by the Bitterroot River just south of Missoula. We took a really nice 2 mile walk through the Ponderosa pines, grassland and along the river. Afterwards, we went shopping at Costco to leave Maura and David with a supply of things like paper products, olive oil, some meats. Mark made a very nice dinner of steak, baked potatoes and Brussels sprouts.
     On Friday, we started our day with our biggest hike up Jumbo yet - up to the third switchback. Mark went further than Barbara did. (We forgot the hiking poles and Barbara started to feel a little unsteady - it is steep and high and the trail is sometimes quite close to the edge. Anyhow, it was challenging and we feel quite accomplished. After that, we went into downtown Missoula to walk a bit. Again, the day was sunny and warm - our last, I am afraid, according to the forecast.
      Saturday turned out to be a nice day, just 20 degrees colder. We went with David and Maura to the wonderful outdoor farmers’ market in Missoula. It is so tempting to just buy, but.....as we are leaving.... Then, Maura and Barbara shopped for clothes at a lovely store. Maura got a beautiful blue silk dress for a family wedding as well as a gorgeous pair of dress boots. Meanwhile, Mark and David strolled and moved the car a bit closer. David and Barbara took the dogs up to the first switchback in the afternoon and in the evening we all went to Top Hat for dinner and then to the university campus for a performance of the Missoula Symphony. We had terrific seats and saw three pieces in the theme of Starstruck. The first piece was from the movie Vertigo, composed by Bernard Hermann. The second was a complication of violin concertos from Erich Korn who composed a lot for Hollywood. The soloist was Mayuko Kamio- excellent. The last piece was great - The Planets by Gustav Holst.