Around Missoula

As our time here grows to a close, I wanted to get more photos of some of the outstanding buildings and sights around Missoula. This first photo is of the Missoula County Courthouse, constructed between 1908 and 1910. Its dome is visible for a long distance.

Probably the most noticeable landmark is the old St. Francis Xavier Church. The church was built in 1889, the year Montana became a state, and is noted for its graceful steeple, paintings and stained glass. The paintings were done by a brother of the Society of Jesus, a kitchen helper, who painted them in his spare time and turned out to be a master. This same man painted the inside of the St. Ignatius Mission, near Ronan, pictured in an earlier post "Trip to Glacier National Park".

Here is the First Presbyterian Church, where we attend. You may have seen the movie "A River Runs Through It". The founder and builder of this church, Dr. John Norman Maclean, was the father of the man who wrote the book, later made into a movie starring Tom Skerritt, Brad Pitt and Craig Sheffer. This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the church, and a stone monument honoring Dr. Maclean will be put in place this fall on the church grounds. We've enjoyed being a part of this large, flourishing congregation.

Missoula is called "The Garden City". One reason is that the streets are lined with large trees, mostly deciduous varieties. These are most prominent in the university district, many of the old downtown areas, and along the river. It is a beautiful sight, and I can only imagine what it must look like in the fall when the leaves turn.

I couldn't resist this one! A street named after my husband! We barely noticed it beneath the leaves.

Trivia

I put up a picture on an earlier post of a taffy shop in Keystone SD where we stopped often to enjoy our favorite candy in the Black Hills. Now we have found, and visited twice, a shop that sells 58 kinds of licorice, in Arlee MT, which is about 25 miles from Missoula on the highway to Glacier Nat'l Park. Great licorice, so much to choose from! OOh! Black teeth!

We continue to look for the biggest "doodoos". Traffic was busy on this highway to Glacier, slowed by much construction, so we couldn't stop and get out to holler in this doodoo.

We couldn't figure out why this edifice was right here. Doesn't seem to make sense. We thought maybe it was going to be one of those overpasses for animals that we've been hearing about. Somehow they get the critters to cross the highway on the overpass instead of risking their lives on the road. Maybe that's what this is, still lacking the fill on the side where you see the cars. Just a guess.

Contrasting Emotions!

It's been awhile since I posted, so I thought I'd just include a couple of very contrasting photos. Our poor little Focus has suffered another injury in the same place twice! The last crash was 16 months ago, in Wenatchee. This time, in Missoula, I ran into a pick-up who didn't give right-of-way in an intersection. No one was hurt except my car. It'll soon be fixed as good as new!

This is too precious not to share. My beautiful red-headed, freckle-faced granddaughter is holding her pet rooster, Ernie. Wish I could be there!

Grant-Kohrs Ranch

We had an outing to Deer Lodge, Montana where we visited the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, a National Historic Site. Here is our granddaughter standing by a tipi on the property.

From the website, "The Grant, Kohrs, Bielenberg, and Warren families tell the story of Western ranching, from the herds trailed into the valley in th 1850s, to the last cattle sold in 1988. They represent the cattle industry from its inception through modern times."

"Wide open spaces, the hard-working cowboy, his spirited cow pony, and vast herds of cattle are among the strongest symbols of the American West. Once the headquarters of a 10 million acre cattle empire, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site is a working cattle ranch that preserves these symbols and commemorates the role of cattlemen in American history."

Here at this chuckwagon we had a cup of "cowboy coffee", made in a big pot over the campfire. Delicious! We discovered this chuckwagon reproduction was built in East Wenatchee WA and transported to Deer Lodge.

A flower among flowers! This garden was next to the very large original ranch house, built 150 years ago.

A few fun things

We are having a wonderful time with our 11 year old granddaughter as she stays with us for a couple of weeks. What fun! Missoula has what they call "A Carousel for Missoula". It's a beautiful merry-go-round, the dream of one man, put together by many who shared the dream. We rode it several times.

We have new kitties! Here is Montana, a rambunctious 10 week old kitten. He is great fun.

And Mia, a 1 year old torti. It's funny the positions a cat can get into. We love them both and have enjoyed watching them settle into their new home, and get used to each other and us.

Garnet Ghost Town

Our trip to Garnet, northeast of Missoula, is one I'd been looking forward to for awhile. Garnet was established in 1895 after gold was discovered in the area. It's up in the hills at the end of curvy, bumpy, dirt roads. The side hills are strewn with all kinds of wildflowers at this time of year. This first building was a saloon, always a prominent feature of the old mining towns.

Here we have a miner's cabin, put together quickly as the miners had more important things to do than fix up their homes. They must have been short guys! Actually, I think this cabin and others like it are rotting into the ground. Most of the ghost town is maintained just enough to keep it fairly intact, a process called "arrested decay".

We found this bird's nest on one of the cabins.

Here is a 'photo op', wildflowers against the wall of an old building. Notice the low window. Apparently the miners slept on the floor and they could more easily look out this low window.

I had never seen so much beargrass as I did on this drive. It was almost as prolific as the pine trees.

Last, but not least, we found this "porta-potty outside the ruins of a cabin. It must have been a summer potty, as they didn't bother to put up walls around it.

Trip to Glacier National Park

Flathead Lake, below Kalispell, is the largest natural body of fresh water west of the Mississippi. It is truly beautiful with clear, cold waters. We dipped our toes into the lake to say we had done it!

In 1854, St. Ignatius Mission, located between Missoula and Polson, was founded to serve the religious and educational needs of the Salish and Kootenai people. Father Hoecken and his Jesuit helpers built the original log cabin with still stands on the north side of this church. Within 35 years the mission included a large school, a sawmill, printing press, flour mill, hospital, farm, and the present church.

The renowned murals in this church were painted by Br. Joseph Carignano, S.J., the mission cook. In 1973, this mission was declared a national historic site.

The 'Going-to-the-Sun Road' follows along a nearly vertical cliff in some places. I can't imagine the tremendous, back-breaking job the very early road builders must have had! Now there is construction all along the way with modern machines, much easier.

This is Reynolds Mountain, right behind the visitor center at Logan Pass. Myriads of wildflowers were in bloom, scattered over the whole area. Gorgeous! The most prominent, the yellow ones, are glacier lilies.

The views are so awesome, we felt we'd died and gone to heaven! This is Heaven's Peak.

Here we are, stopped for construction, looking down on the road we'd just ascended. Wow!

Keith has a contest going with our daughter—who can find the biggest doodoo. Here he is hollering into a tunnel. "Doodoodoodoo". A family joke!