A Week in Missoula
A short visit to one of my favorite places with some of my favorite people. Made even shorter by a weird and really painful throat issue.
Montana Rock Climbing
We aren’t in sandstone country anymore. Single and multi-pitch climbing near Missoula and Bozeman.
It was lovely to be back in one of my favorite states climbing with some of my favorite people.
Missoula Weather
Thursday is ping-pong night. I was working at school and it was time to bike the mile to the Union Club. A few minutes before departure I observed it was snowing outside, hard. After a bit of mandatory complaining I figured the snow wasn’t letting up and ping-pong was awaiting. Besides, snow was bound to be more pleasant than the 7:30 am soaking I received biking to school in the rain earlier in the day.
After a few blocks biking in the squall I was off campus and crossing the Madison Ave pedestrian bridge. It was still snowing hard, but sunlight had started to stream all around me. Looking west out over the river the sky was bright blue, while to the east it was still completely grey. I spent the next 5 minutes standing there observing the blizzard get sucked into Hellgate Canyon. White was quickly replaced with blue.
I have a tendency to whine about the weather in Montana come April, as I can count on one hand the number of days the high has been above 60 degrees so far in 2011. However, the variability of the weather in Missoula is exciting. Not knowing whether to expect sun or snow 10 minutes in the future forces you to be vigilant.
Yesterday at the University of Montana
When you teach at 8am the week after daylight savings time you get to see remnants of the sunrise. Combined with the light snow overnight made for a pleasant bike ride to campus.
Built to Spill @ The Wilma 11/17/10
Built to Spill rocked the fuck out at the Wilma last night. This was my 5th time seeing them. I don’t have the setlist but I remember they played Dystopian Dream Girl , an awesome cover of the Grateful Dead song Ripple, The Weather, Carry the Zero, You Were Right (totally boss crowd sing-along), Kicked it in The Sun (hell yes), Conventional Wisdom, Hindsight, and The Wait. Basically the best songs in the universe. Before the encore Doug came out by himself and played the first 2 songs off his solo album acoustic, Offer and Dream. The crowd was enthusiastic and appreciative, as is typical with the shows I have been to in Montana.
Also, I had an encounter with Doug (the bearded man in the pictures below) downtown before the show as he was walking to his hotel with some carryout from El Cazador. I was at the Wilma breifly buying my ticket with a small hope that I would run into him, and I did. It was one of those times that makes me feel like there is some greater design than just existence.
