An Ice Cream in a Winter Wonderland

Okay, calling Missoula a "Winter Wonderland" might be an overstatement, but after the 80 degree weather in Whitefish, the 60 degree, cloudy and rainy weather here feels a bit winterish.

Today was a bit of a slow day. I had an airport visit in the morning, and then we hit the road going south. We've started the the voyage back home with this leg of the trip.

It rained nearly the whole ride to Missoula, Montana, which is about 150 miles from Whitefish and Glacier National Park. We rode along Flathead Lake for awhile, and it's also the bluish green color of the lakes in Glacier National Park. The clouds actually drooped over the mountaintops, which made for an interesting view.

We made a little stop at the St. Ignatius Mission in St. Ignatius, Montana. Here's a bit of history:

"St. Ignatius Mission was founded in 1854 by Jesuit missionaries, notably Father Adrian Hoecken, SJ, and Father Peter DeSmet, SJ. The mission, and the town that grew up around it, were both named for the founder of the Society of Jesus - St. Ignatius Loyola.The history of this mission dates back even further, though to 1831, when a delegation of four Flathead Indians traveled to St. Louis in an attempt to bring back missionaries for their people."

I had been there on the last trip and wanted to see it again. The kids and I made a run for it in the rain - very glad I packed raincoats and rain ponchos for the trip. I've included three pictures of the mission: one of the exterior, of he murals throughout the mission, and a picture of one of the altars with a teepee on it.

Jeff hung out the RV and got some work done. Then he did his third conference call of the day, and then we were off for Missoula.

Along the way, I counted about 11 coffee booths/shacks - it's become a bit of a habit. I've seen one shaped like a teepee, one like a Chinese pagoda and a couple that look like wood cabins.

We found our campground, and then went to get some dinner in town. Letting the kids see the Jellystone campground was a bit of a mistake, because they wanted to get out immediately and go to the pool and play miniature golf. We told them they had plenty of time, which partially worked.

Maybe not for them, but for Jeff and I the effort was worth it. I found an italian restaurant in a Fodor's book that said the owners were from New York and they had the best pizza in Montana, plus other homemade Italian dishes. It was outstanding! We split an order of fried calamari, and the kids shared a pizza. I had eggplant parmesan and Jeff had chicken marsala. (I can't help it, I have to note that the menu said marsalla, and yes, it bugged me.)

Honestly, it was a dinner worthy of a restaurant in Little Italy in New York City. I ate until I could not fit one more bite in. The sauce was obviously made from scratch and you could taste the ripeness of the tomatoes.

Undaunted by the rain, the kids went to play a round of miniature golf when we got back. They weren't impressed by the gameroom, so then we went to the ice cream social. Sadly, the kids opted for vanilla instead of the very delicious local huckleberry ice cream. I went with huckleberry, of course. I will be sad to see that go.

So now, we're all off to the showers before bed. It's an early day tomorrow - I have another airport visit and then it's a 4.5 hour drive to the Craters of the Moon National Monument (really a park) in Idaho. It should be a pretty drive down Route 93 - if I remember correctly, part of the route goes along the Salmon River.