Missoula, May 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

 May 13

Mark was sick all night, so we rested today.

May 14- Mothers' Day

     What a lovely Mothers' Day! Mark felt better, for one. We got texts from Nick and Sebastian, as well as Jennifer Wilson. Jecca called. It is the night of Hank's prom and Jecca was a chaperone. He went with Grace, a junior and daughter of a faculty member. They have known each other since pre-school.

    At around 1:30, David and Maura picked us up and we went to the MCT - Children's Theatre where they had bought us tickets for "Matilda" based on the Raoul Dahl book. It was very enjoyable, full of energy.

  

Afterwards, we went to Porte Rouge restaurant. It is a favorite of David and Maura's and we understand why. It was great. Barbara had an amazing chicken dish with a mustard glaze over kale as well as a mushroom quiche. Mark had onion soup and a steak sandwich; he is trying to take it easy on his stomach, so had two appetizers. David had a pork dish with a horseradish and milk sauce and Maura had steak frites. We shared a butterscotch pudding.  Barbara gave Mark an early birthday present of a new, small camera. She had it mailed to David and Maura's. (Wish we had had it when we were in Big Fork.) 

   May 15 

This was the warmest day yet and, after our morning exercises which we are trying very hard to keep up, especially the P.T. parts, we went to Costco and Mark got a new pair of shorts. He did not bring any and the weather warranted them. Then we drove to Good Foods, a favorite grocery store and got some organic veggies etc. Amazingly, we ran into friend Jen Olson who was on her lunch break from school. What are the odds? Other than David and Maura she is the only person we know in Missoula. We went for a coffee at Petit Outre coffee shop and split a croissant.

  Later in the afternoon, we went birding by Waterworks Hill. It wasn't the best time of day to go birding, but we did manage to hear and then locate two Western Meadowlarks. We didn't get a great look at them and they were too far away for the new camera.

May 16

   David got a bolt in a tire, so we picked him and the tire up and took it for repair. Then the three of us went to Petit Outre for coffee and a pastry. Once we got back to David and Maura's the tire shop called that the tire was done, so back we went. Then we went to a spot that they call "Two Miles" as it's the closest swimming spot (for Dutch) on the Blackfoot River. (We saw yellow warblers) We also visited Milltown State Park.  Then, we dropped David off and went back to "our" apartment to have lunch and to fiddle with the new camera.

Along the Blackfoot

Milltown State Park

Milltown State Park

Milltown State Park

 We went to David and Maura's for dinner. Mark marinated chicken and grilled it along with asparagus and rice. 

Maebe climbing the hill

Behind David and Maura's house

May 17

   We did errands in the morning (Walgreen's, groceries etc). We went to Pho Vi for lunch. Afterwards we tried to find the other side of Milltown State Park, but failed. So, we took a walk along that side. There is a haze in the air due to forest fires in Canada.

May 18 - Jecca's Birthday

     Barbara seems to have picked up the stomach bug that Mark had earlier, so spent much of the day in bed.

     Maura left soup on our doorstep which was considerate.

Dutch retrieving sticks in the Blackfoot