A Rather Blustery Day

Springs in Montana never fail to produce it's fair share of windy days. So as the wind howled Bryce & I took our kites back out into the wind. It was windy enough to get the dragon kite up this time.

However, we accidentally packed one of the sticks for the kite into another kit so I sacrificed flying my turtle kite to use the stick for the dragon.


We did however have a new Spiderman kite from the dollar store!

First Friday

     First Friday is a Missoula downtown tradition. Year round, the first Friday of every month is celebrated down on the hip strip from 5-8 pm. Participants vary each month, but usually include art openings in galleries, museums, retail stores, and coffee shops. The main objective of these art openings is to show and sell art, and give the public a chance to meet the artist. The evening is also an extremely social event, often including wine and food, musical performances, poetry readings, dance, gallery lectures, and more. In the summer, street performers and street vendors commonly appear as well. For visitors, its a great way to experience local culture. For locals, its a fun night to run into friends.
     This was my first First Friday since my return to Missoula. Bryce & I set out for a walk down N. Higgins to check out local art & a special gallery containing photography by my friend Steel Brooks. One of the venues (The Montana Photo Booth) had a free photo booth set up...

Go Fly A Kite

     Springs in Montana are like springs anywhere else, just a little colder. The temperature's have been hanging in the 40's all week & the winds have been blowing. Bryce & I have been talking about flying kite's for a few weeks now so yesterday we packed up a little picnic & headed out into the wind.

We trekked down to a park that connects to the practice fields of a local high school. It has plenty of open space to fly a couple kite's at a decent height. Except there wasn't much wind. Not down in the valley anyways.

After our first failed attempt at flying kite's at a park only a few blocks away from my condo we trekked back to my house, grabbed the car, & proceeded to the base of Mt. Jumbo. The only flat spot (besides the top) of Jumbo resides just a short hike up the side & is open all year (a huge portion of Jumbo is closed during the winter to proved safe elk habitat). It's almost always windy up on Jumbo & that wind didn't fail us this time either. Well, it kind of did. There was enough wind to put up my simple sea turtle kite but not enough to put up Bryce's more technical dragon kite. Perhaps next time we'll have a little windier kind of day.

Run for the Luck of It

Not having run a race since Karina & I ran the Muddy Foot Trail Run in Ohio together back in November, I decided it was time to jump into one just to see where I was with my training (I have full intentions of running in & am registered for the Missoula Marathon on July 11th). So I talked my friend Bryce into doing his first race & we registered together for the RWM Run for the Luck of It.

Bryce of course killed it (he finished ahead of my by a few minutes so I don't know his time) & I finished w/ a 31:04 time. Running is probably one of the first things that I don't do competitively. I do it for myself b/c I feel amazing after a run, no matter the distance or time. I've been keeping a 10 min mile pace for the past few weeks now & am really happy w/ this time.

Since I'm still currently job hunting I won't be doing any more races until after I've secured a job. I will try & keep everyone updated w/ my marathon training tho.

UPDATE 3/15/11: Bryce finished overall male #84 w/ an official time of 26:58! I completed overall female #158 w/ an official time of 31:04. There were over 500 people registered for this race. You can also CLICK HERE to watch a video of the race by my friend Brooke (who also just happened to be the #1 female finisher!). I'm in the video about to cross the finish line @ one point too!

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

When Bryce returned home from work tonight, this was the door he returned to. His neighbors decided to take matters into their own hands and gave him a little payback for our snowman army. I'm very happy that they do not yet know when I live. :-D

Snowman Army

     After a heavy snowfall last night my friend Bryce & I decided to wake up before the sun & create a snowman army to greet one of his neighbors on his way to work. Taking a lesson from the pages of the great Calvin & Hobbs we set to work to create a couple dozen miniature snowmen.

Snow Shoeing Holland Falls

     In desperate need of spending some time in the wilderness of Montana, my friend Bryce & I set off to do some snow shoeing in the Swan Valley just north of Seeley. Bryce had never been shoeing or seen the beauty of the Holland Falls so we wanted to accomplish both in one day.

     The weather was overcast as a storm was rolling in, but the hike was peaceful and the falls were beautiful as always. I'd never seen them in the cold of winter so this was a new experience for me as well. I believe them to be even more beautiful in the winter.

A bonus to this three mile hike is that the Holland Lake is frozen over this time of year and can be crossed as opposed to taking the trail back for the return trip offering panoramic views of the Mission Mountains (sadly for us, the storm that was quickly dropping in on us on the return hike doused any views of the scenic Missions).