Eastman Westward Odyssey: Messin’ Around in Missoula

So, I have no idea what a BFF is – but Kirsten had one in high school and her name was Natalie. So, as Kirsten tells the story – she started exchanging emails with Natalie right before we left on this grand adventure. As Natalie knew that we were going to be in Montana, she invited us all to come stay with them in Missoula, Montana for a few days. So, this was a mini-High School reunion for Kirsten.

Turns out that Dave and her husband Steve would have a bit of a High School Reunion as well, as Steve graduated from the same High School as Dave and even graduated from the same MBA program at UConn. More importantly, Steve loves dogs and we hit it off. He was an excellent scratcher behind my ears.

Natalie and Steve also have two children Sydney, 10 years old and Eric, who was 2½. Their kids and our kids also got along famously. Caleb and Eric enjoyed chasing each other around and I enjoyed chasing them both. Caleb also taught Eric the valuable skill of making goofy faces. Steve was also quite proficient at this skill.

Sydney also could do her fair share of goofy faces.

The kids got along so well they even slept out under the stars together on the porch over-looking the mountains and Missoula.

Although Steve did love dogs he shared none of the amazing smelling meats that he cooked up over our stay. Steve is a successful hunter and had prepared, flavored, and cured many varieties of venison sausages. I think they ate some delicious variety at every meal. But, did I get any of this... Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Look Steve even taunts me with his amazing grilled pizza complete with Italian venison sausage.

In addition to eating, the family did get adventurous and floated the Blackfoot River in inner-tubes. And contrary to the calm water shown in these videos, I am told there were portions of the river that were Class IV and even Class V rapids.

At one point Kirsten’s quick motherly instincts were called into action as Anika was launched from her tube and grabbed by her mother before she went down the rapids without her tube. But, everyone survived and a good time was had by all.

In case you were wondering whether there was wildlife in the area – the answer is yes. The white-tailed deer were a bit hungry as you can see. This one grabs for an apple.

In addition, Dave just wouldn’t have survived this portion of the trip in the neighborhood of where the movie, A River Runs Through It took place, without some fishing. Steve took Dave to Rock Creek to catch brown trout and Dave’s first Bull Trout. That makes Dave’s 5^th trout species caught while on our trip.

Here is Steve in the process of catching more fish than Dave:

Our last evening in Missoula, both families left me behind, (I needed a rest from chasing Eric), and went out for dinner. The boys were all decked out in their green shirts…

… and the girls got all gussied up in pink and green:

Many in these families rode the world’s fastest merry-go-round. Luckily they did this before dinner as I am sure the results afterwards would not have been pretty.