What a week! My friend Jeff, whom I used to work w/ @ the Pet Palace back in Ohio, came out for a little visit to Missoula this week. After dragging him across the country at New Years I was pretty sure I had scared him away from going on any more of my "adventures." But alas, he proved to be tougher than I first thought him to be and he came back for round two.
And round two it was. He flew into the airport here in Missoula during a horrible snowstorm that almost re-routed his plane to Spokane, WA at the last minute. His first impressions of Montana were pretty typical to Montana. Negative temperatures, white out snow, and all of us crazy locals out loving it. I made him go to Big Dipper for ice cream his first night here when it was -9 out.
Only two days into his trip I left him to fend for himself as I was flown down to Atlanta, GA for a last minute interview w/ Delta. [To catch everyone up to speed on that, I'd been interviewing for a flight attendant position w/ Delta airlines since early December. Over 120,000 people applied for the position. I was one of 4,000 chosen to fly to ATL for in person interviews at the corporate office. I received word on Saturday that I was (sadly) not chosen for the position. Bittersweet.] He was still alive by the time I made it back from my blitz trip to the deep south. I promised to make up for his boredom (I don't own a tv, something not heard of on the east coast). Jeff was nice enough to let me sleep pretty much all day Friday by hitting up our local ski resort, Snow Bowl. He got to ski the powder of the Rockies while I got to catch up on some much needed sleep from my 24 hour blitz trip to Atlanta.
Saturday we rented some snowshoes and headed up to Lolo Pass. We've had a bit of a warm spell this week so conditions weren't ideal for shoeing, but they most certainly were for building snowmen! When we got to the top of the mountain we stopped to rest and build Snow Holly & Snow Jeff. Can you see the resemblances?
Sunday was a slightly more relaxing day. We hung around town for most of the day before venturing to Jerry Johnson hot springs as the sun was setting. I was excited to take Jeff to these as I'd been talking his ear off about them on our x-country trip. We had a quiet little hike to the first pool where we (in usual fashion) me a group of hippies already hanging out in them. Some tea lights were lit inside one of the caves creating a soft glow over the pool. The moon was shining so brightly and the stars were out in full force. It was one of my favorite trips to the springs.
