I walk a lot, so I encounter a fair number of beggars. I used to think Jacksonville, Fla., was bad in that respect. There, it’s a rare stroll where I don’t get accosted at least once. But Missoula takes it to a whole other level. This time of year, you can’t go a single block without encountering at least a cardboard sign and semi-aggressive pitch from the […]
Doing a marathon the easy way
Today we went out early to watch the Missoula Marathon. Tess, who has run a couple of half-marathons herself, takes great joy in cheering on the runners. I do too, although I take special interest in people who look as if they have no business on the course: the overweight, the elderly, the very young, the halt and the lame. Let’s just say I admire their moxie. […]
The girls with their summer pom poms
This morning we were out walking past the University of Montana and came upon a large group of pretty girls practicing cheerleading moves. The amplified voice of the instructor, also a pretty girl, carried across the open lawn: “One, two, three and four; five six seven eight… don’t flex your hands.” The girls moved with a charming lack of unison; maybe it was early in the course. […]
A poseur in the Capitol of Cool
We have arrived in Missoula, Mont., after trekking 2,600 miles or so across this great nation of ours in a red Nissan Altima. The car is slightly worse for the wear; yesterday a chunk of wood detached itself from a logging truck on I-90 and knocked out the passenger-side mirror. So at least part of Day One in the Coolest City in the West will be spent […]
Congratulations, Jim. You’re still famous
I don’t know which surprises me more: That legendary actor Jim Nabors has married a man, or that he his, in fact, still alive. Seriously. I was under the impression that he had died four years ago. About the same time Abe Vigoda passed on. And now it appears Vigoda is still alive too. But you know the really remarkable thing about this? It’s that a Z-list […]
It’s all about the altitude
Today I joined a couple of old friends for a hike up to Mount Aeneas, a minor peak overlooking the Flathead Valley on one side and Jewel Basin on the other. It’s a six-mile round trip with a view at the top that makes you think you’re pretty fit for an older man — until you encounter a half-dozen or so 8-year-olds running up to the same […]
A casino on every corner
I‘m probably wrong about this, but it seems to me Montana was an early adopter of the legalized gambling craze that has since overtaken the rest of the country. Keno parlors and poker rooms are everywhere around here and have been since the ’70s. I used to take it for granted. Only after moving away and returning here on visits do I appreciate how pervasive and pernicious […]