MT-ID-WA

We drove across a large swath of Montana yesterday and across the top of Idaho to get to Spokane. We attended Mass in Bozeman and stayed for lunch (not at the church, though we were invited to their parish picnic later that afternoon). It was another beautiful church and great Mass. Bozeman was having a car show downtown yesterday, so we strolled a few blocks of Main Street among the cars before landing at Plonk, a very cool wine bar and restaurant. We both had a great tomato basil bisque and a funky but good pizza. The soup was just what we needed as our bones were still a bit chilled from the night before. The pizza was based on a thin “cracker” crust and had pesto, cheese, some veggies (including red onions, much to Paul’s consternation), and some sort of meat (that doesn’t sound right – it was legit meat, I just can’t remember if it was ham, salami, pepperoni, or what). It was good. The only problem was they dumped a salad on top of it. It was a great salad, but I prefer my salad and pizza separate, so I ate them that way. Paul seems to think this is a trendy thing right now; I think lettuce on pizza is goofy. (This is why Paul writes the food reviews.) Anyway, fat and happy we hit the road.

It was a driving day – we covered about 450 miles. There was one quick diversion in Butte, Montana when we stopped to see the visitor’s center for the statute of Our Lady of the Rockies. The statute is 90 feet tall and stands on a ridge overlooking the city (she sits on the Continental Divide, according to their literature).

It takes several hours to visit the actual monument because they drive you up and back, so we settled for the shop in the mall where they explain the statute and how it got there. It’s pretty amazing, particularly the shots of the various pieces being flown by helicopter up to the site. The picture of Mary’s head flying over the city of Butte was pretty cool, if a little odd. Butte itself looks like a very humble town, and calls itself as a mining town. There’s a huge copper mine that dominates the landscape to the east of the city. There’s also a University, too, so it’s probably more of a college/mining town. The visitor’s center info suggested building the statute was a community effort, and they had shots of regular folks (including off-duty police officers) mixing concrete and assisting with the construction. Pretty cool.

Montana was nice. It definitely has a Big Sky, and while I see what they mean I have no idea how to explain it. The weather was funky – sunny and rainy all day (sometimes simultaneously). The mountains were beautiful, and the ride was pleasant. Weird western trend: putting huge letters on hillsides/mountains outside of cities. Both Butte and Bozeman had big “M”s on the hillsides, presumably because they both have campuses of the University of Montana. Another town we passed had a huge “F” on the hillside behind it; the letter was nearly bigger than the town (the name of which, of course, starts with a “F” Frenchtown). Not waiting for this to catch on back east.

We crossed into Idaho and the Pacific Time zone. Somewhere in Idaho I looked up and saw a jet contrail, which was slightly startling. We haven’t seen anything in the sky since South Dakota, so it’s been several days since the sky’s had anything but clouds in it. We’re so used to seeing the lines across the sky in Northern Virginia – the last time there were no jet trails back home was in the days following 9-11, and no one wants to see that again. So, I guess we’re getting closer to civilization again, or at least in between two points of civilization!

An hour after crossing into Idaho we were in Spokane, Washington. We were both pretty beat, so we dumped our stuff in the room, Paul started a load of laundry, and we ventured out for food. Our hotel was adjacent to the University of Eastern Washington campus, and the first few restaurants were college dives. I liked the one with the sign on the window that read, “High Prices. Warm Beer. Lousy Food.” We passed that one by and ate at a local joint. We both had pub food: fish and chips for Paul and a chicken wrap for me. The food was fine. No pictures, no review this time, though. It was a nice night so we ate outside. Afterwards we walked back to the room and crashed. The trip caught up to us a little last night.

I got up for a short run this morning, and discovered that Spokane actually has a very nice downtown. There’s a river running through town, and they built a beautiful bike trail along the banks (it goes for miles – I passed mile post 22 on my run). There’s a great park downtown where the Spokane River drops in elevation (they call it the ‘Spokane Falls’, but think ‘Great Falls’ not ‘Niagara Falls’). There’s a carousel, a Ferris wheel, an IMAX theater, lots of trails and benches, public art and fountains – it’s really quite beautiful. We caught daily Mass at St. Aloysius Church on the Gonzaga University campus across the river from us. Another beautiful old church (built in MCMIX according to the cornerstone – need a little help here!) and another great Mass.

Sorry, not many pics of Spokane. No camera on my run, and no camera at the church. Took a few shots downtown while we were circling madly looking for a Post Office on the way out this morning.

We grabbed breakfast at a local(ish) place this morning. Paul had something that closely approximates a Cheesy Western, so he's in his happy place again (though they need "Mojo Sauce" according to Paul). We’re on the road to Seattle right now. It looks like we’re back in the Plains again (flat and brown as far as the eye can see), though we have to cross the Cascades to get to Seattle so there are more mountains in our future!

Ugh, gas is $2.99 a gallon. Ouch.

Recent Mass Intentions:

Friday: YA Community at Mt. St. Mary’s in Maryland

Saturday: our families

Sunday: personal intention for a friend

Today: GMU, VT, and Marymount College Campus Ministries and their staffs as they prepare for the new school year