We visited Missoula in September 2020, as part of Big Trip #3.
Here’s something exciting! On the drive to Missoula from Sandpoint we heard a big bang! And one of the Airstream tires had exploded! Woo! We were able to change it on the side of the road and get all new tires (shout out to Les Schwab for replacing all the Airstream tires quickly!) but holy cow that was something.
Anyway. We stopped in Missoula for a night because one of our best friends grew up there and we wanted to see her hometown! We loved seeing her house and high school, but kind of struck out on food and drink establishments.
The most impressive thing we came across in Missoula was the Saturday morning farmers markets: there are two! Both have lots of produce, and the market by the river is bigger with meats, coffee, and pastries.
Campground
We stayed at the Missoula KOA; it was a nice one. It’s only 10 mins from downtown, and we enjoyed sitting by the firepit at our site.
Eating and Drinking
We had a good beer at one brewery, and then struck out on several other breweries because they were not dog friendly. What the heck, Missoula? So we went home. Big Friday night!! Here’s what J says about our Missoula beer experience:
We think we saw enough of Missoula to have had confidence that we chose the best brewery as our first stop. Imagine Nation Brewing not only served up yummy beers, they also seemed like the only dog-friendly place in town. We sat outside on their large patio overlooking Missoula’s Mount Jumbo with Bugsy and enjoyed our IPAs – Lauren a Mango Milkshake IPA and I a straight New England IPA.
The nice proprietor there also gave us some awesome recommendations for our upcoming Hamilton and Bozeman stops: sushi in the former, and the state’s greatest brewery in the latter.
After Imagine Nation we drove by a few other breweries, but none of them would allow poor sweet Bugsy on the patio; we weren’t so disappointed as none of them seemed all that appealing.
When we got home, we ordered Uber Eats from Five on Black, a small Montana chain serving Brazilian street food, with bowls of veggies and meat and our new favorite treat, pao de queijo. YUM. Alongside our bowls we enjoyed a crowler from Matchwood (our favorite brewery in Sandpoint).
If only Missoula had been more dog-friendly, we may have been able to experience more of it! At least it produced a wonderful person in Cheenius.
Along with a couple of friends spent two weeks cutting timber outside Missoula in 1961.. Used my high school class ring to pay for a one room dump that we loved and our food consisted of what we could beg from folks eating in the local diner (there was only one in those days) and their beer was Bud or Oly and there was no IPA, whatever that is… We drank out of cans or bottles and no crowlers.. Same effect after a few I imagine though.. (what the hell is a crowler and why is it better than a bottle??).. Anyway, it was an experience of a lifetime … There is some superbly beautiful country in that part of Montana—Not so much I thought in the eastern part of the state.. Can’t wait to hear about Idaho.. I soooo want to visit there before I get too old to remember it.. Guess I better hurry.
I love hearing your wild adventure stories! Idaho was incredible. We’ll meet you there!