By PAUL WHEATON
I have family coming to visit me. I go on and on about how great Missoula is, and now the time has come for me to prove it!
Naturally, most kids are not interested in the things that I think are cool. And my kin think I’m something of a weirdo. So I’m trying to think of what these folks might be keen on. There will be three adults, five kids and me. For seven days. The kids are 1, 4, 6, 8 and 16.
I sent an email out to my Missoula posse and collectively we came up with the following list:
1) So, the beginning of this list has to be … the Missoula carousel. Complete with the Dragon’s Hollow park next door.
2) Hiking to the M.
3) The Saturday Market is always cool, but I’m not sure how wowed kids would be by that. Except for sugary treats I suppose.
4) Lolo Hot Springs (I know this particular batch of kids enjoys swimming pools).
5) Spectrum Science Center at the University (wow – I never even heard of that one before).
6) “My Clay Studio” (this friend is a potter, so this could be a fun thing just for me and not for all the rest of you. I believe etiquette requires me to say: “neener, neener”).
7) Currents indoor water park at McCormick park in Missoula.
8) Cool Splash Montana.
9) Missoula Children’s Museum.
10) Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in Missoula.
11) “There’s a park in Florence that’s kind of like Dragon’s Hollow too, no carousel but a fun park for younger kids.”
12) Blue Mountain Observatory.
13) “Westside Bowling Lanes on Wyoming off of Russell – by the Good Food Store – it’s the best family bowling alley in town.”
14) A trip to Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park.
14a) The House of Mystery
14b) The Fun Zone
14c) The Itty Bitty Ranch Petting Zoo
14d) The Bison Range
14e) The big water slides in Columbia Falls
15) Garnet Ghost Town.
16) Rockin Rudy’s.
17) Big Dipper Ice Cream.
18) Biga Pizza (especially for the cherry pizza!).
19) Lewis and Clark Caverns.
19a) Butte pit
19b) Dinosaurs in Bozeman (Museum of the Rockies)
19c) The old prison tour in Deer Lodge
20) Out to Lunch.
21) Philipsburg: the ghost town, the soda fountain shop, the candy store and the Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine.
22) Something with hang gliding?
23) Hot air balloon stuff?
24) Fishing!
There is no way we can do all of this stuff in seven days. But! I can present this list of spectacular awesomeness, and they will be so overwhelmed that they will have to concede that Missoula is, indeed, a city worthy of superheros!
*******************
BIO: Paul Wheaton is is the tyrannical ruler of two on-line communities. One is about permaculture and one is about software engineering. There is even one for Missoula. Paul has written several permacutlure articles starting with one on lawn care that he presented at the MUD Project 17 years ago, including articles on raising chickens, cast iron and diatomaceous earth. Paul also regularly uploads permaculture videos and permaculture podcasts. In his spare time, Paul has plans for world domination and is currently shopping for a hollowed out volcano in the Missoula area, with good submarine access.
See all of Paul’s contributions to MakeitMissoula on this Blog Homepage here