How to spend a day in Missoula, Montana
It was Friday just before the 2021 independence day weekend in Missoula. This was our last day on our 10 day trip of Montana and Wyoming before we head back home. So we decided to roam and chill out in the city.Missoula is a mountain town nestled right between mountains and national forests. This is one of the places that I see myself living in.
M Symbol on top of M Trail near University of Montana
Our previous night was in Hampton Inn in Missoula , so we started our day with free breakfast and loads of coffee. But if you are willing to try some local breakfast place, I would recommend Shack Cafe or Montana Jack's. Our first stop in the city was driving towards the University of Missoula and climbing the M trail. It was fun , easy hike with a lot of switchbacks , so make sure you fuel , rest and then start this.
After completing the M trail, we decided to roam the U of M campus. If you are not the type of person who loves visiting random stores in a city, I would recommend you to drive towards the Lolo National forest . There you can enjoy the hot springs. Jerry Johnson Springs is a good option, but given we visited Missoula in hard core summer , we opted out of the Hot springs.
So going back to the random stores, our next stop was Rockie Rudy's . This originally was a record store which is now repurposed as a general store that has literally everything! You could easily spend 45 minutes to one hour here. We grabbed huckleberry syrup and a banana toffee to enjoy on our way home the next day.
Since we had visited four national parks over a period of 8 days, we had to splurge on food to celebrate this. So we treated ourselves at fine dining Mexican place in Missoula downtown by the name of Camino. The tacos were top notch here and the whole credit goes to their sauces. Do try the pork taco for sure here.
U of M Campus
After a full belly, we decided to get in some steps by doing some window shopping. So we hit the Southgate Mall and walked for an hour. Post that we decided to watch our first movie in the theatre after the pandemic started. Somehow it hit us that we were ready to sit in a theatre hall with 10 random people equally spaced from us. I truly believe that one should only do things whole heartedly when one is comfortable. It doesn't matter how far you are in achieving something because there is always someone going to be ahead and behind you.
After the movie, we called it a night with some Indian take out at Indian Masala. The vindaloo and saag paneer here was unexpectedly authentic. If you are with a family and craving some large servings, Biga Pizza and Pie hole are good food options here.
