Mermaids, Pearl Jam, and Big Smokey Skies - long weekend road trip to Montana

It's been a busy week, thanks to Wil and these guys:

But I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual.

On Wednesday we went to see Pearl Jam at Safeco Field. One huge highlight for me: we rode the light rail down to the Stadium station and, as we were still in the tunnel, someone started singing "Better Man". A few people joined in, and then by the time he got to the chorus half the train was singing along. Then he went into the second verse, and by the time he got to the second chorus the entire train was singing along. As I am a sucker for singalongs, this may have been my favorite point of the evening.

Which isn't to say that the show wasn't fun and good and all that. We had arrived early, and spent time wandering around Safeco before the show, drinking "Home Show Lager", eating garlic fries marveling at the growing lines outside, and enjoying the energy. We got a great view from the front of the 300 level as the crowd was filling in:

And were excited when, after the sun had dropped lower in the sky, they rolled the roof open. Here's the view from our seats:

When the show did start -- later than even the delayed start planned, as there were so many people still trying to get in -- the sound was great, the crowd was fun, and I enjoyed myself despite not knowing many of the songs.

Always nice when people do the "flashlight" thing en masse:

The final encore was played with the bright stadium lights on -- fun to see everyone dancing and cheering:

We even managed to get home pretty smoothly -- we squeezed onto a #5 bus and just walked down the hill from Greenwood.

Wil actually also went to the show on Friday, which ran even longer than Wednesday's show, and didn't have the same good luck getting home. But regardless, on Saturday morning we loaded up the car and were on the road heading east to Montana before 7am.

Why Montana? Well, we were going to see Pearl Jam again in Missoula on Monday .... but our weekend destination was Great Falls... where I had wanted to go for years. Why? Well:

MERMAIDS!!!!!

We arrived at the hotel a little before 8, and then went upstairs to the fabulous Sip 'n Dip lounge. Fun fact: though the hotel was constructed in the 60's with the pool windows behind the bar, the mermaids were only added in 1996. Till then it was just a bar with a view of the swimmers in the pool!!!

Wow, I'm ahead of myself again...

En route we stopped off in Wallace, Idaho, for "brunch" (okay, a very late breakfast!) and a visit to the Center of the Universe:

Then another stop in St. Regis, Montana, where we fueled up the car, as well as ourselves with a huckleberry shake... and a photo opp:

An onlooker said to me, "He's very patient, isn't he?"

Eventually, we arrived in the weird setting sun that looked like a fireball due to the smoke, checked into our room, and headed immediately up to the Sip n Dip. We lucked out and got good seats... and waited. "Are the mermaids swimming?" "They were earlier ... the lightning scared them off... but hopefully they'll be back." In the meantime we ordered a large tiki drink in a "souvenir fishbowl", and waited. And, suddenly, MERMAIDS!!!

It's rather embarrassing to say, but I was pretty overwhelmed by it all. I mean, sure, it's a small hotel bar in a small town... but ... mermaids! And the mermaids did a super cute thing of "blowing kisses" underwater, with released a big bubble against the glass. Honest, it was effective!

We drank, we watched the mermaids, and we watched the crowd... many of whom weren't really watching the mermaids at all! But it was really fun, and we spent over an hour just relaxing from the drive, drinking sugary, fruity cocktails, and watching the mermaids. It was Worth It.

Oh, and at some point the maids were joined ... by a MER-MAAAAN!

After a while we left the bar and wandered around Great Falls ... a surprisingly large town. We had simply been sitting too long -- I mean, it's more than 10 hours of hard driving from Seattle -- so we needed to get some air and move our legs a little. 

The next morning we got up and had a MASSIVE  breakfast at the 5th Street Diner, former Woolworth's luncheon counter turned into a free-standing diner. Great food, really great service. The perfect way to start the day!

Real eggs, real cheese, and real potatoes. Real good. 

We should have gone for a long hike, but with the smoke and the heat (did we mention it was 103 degrees?) we decided to walk along the river in town for a long walk to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Passing the Great Falls was one of the most difficult stretches for the Lewis and Clark expedition... it took them nearly a month to portage around them. For us it was much easier... we walked along the Rivers Edge Trail, a volunteer-built and -maintained trail along the river.

I was surprised that this was the Missouri River, which I think of as being much farther east... but this stretch of river has multiple dams along it. It makes it difficult to appreciate how challenging it must have been for L&C to move up it, but I do love the built environment more than most people! This is the Black Eagle Dam ...

The path was surprisingly quiet, though we did see the occasional cyclist or runner. But for the most part, we had the path and the river to ourselves.

Oh, until we met up with this lot.

"We need to keep going that way. That's a pain."

Eventually we arrived at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center ... which we *wanted* to love, but was just okay. 

We did like this painted buffalo, however...

We couldn't face a long, hot walk back... so decided to grab an Uber back to the hotel. As we waited, I proposed that we get in our own car and drive out to an overlook to see the actual "Great Falls", since we hadn't seen that. A nice drive in the country, a little walking, and BAM.

Wil: "If I hear 8 short blasts, I will probably also evacuate my bowels."

It's still pretty overwhelming even with the dam, but, DAMN, can you imagine coming up to this???

We drove back to town, got our cozies on, and SWAM LIKE MERMAIDS. Well, we swam in the pool and wondered if anyone was in the bar to watch us.

Tiny highlight: finding a "mermaid scale" next to the pool:

We dried off, cleaned up, and then headed out for a "night on the town"... a mini pub crawl of sorts, stopping in at the Mighty Mo Brewing Co (nice beer, nice staff)...

... and then out to the MacKenzie River Pizza Company for dinner. No, no pictures. Hell, you know what pizza looks like.

We then walked out to Ford's Drive In, which we had spotted on our way into town the previous night. Glorious neon ... and a delicious chocolate malt...

On the way back into town we stopped in at the Celtic Cowboy, a handsome Irish pub where we somehow had 2 pints for $10. Then back to the hotel, where we poked our head into the Sip 'n Dip, but the mermaids weren't swimming, so we just went back to the room to relax.

The next morning we had breakfast in Clark & Lewie's, the hotel restaurant. On Sunday we'd seen
that is was packed, with a waiting list -- nice to see a small business with three separate revenue streams: the hotel, the bar, and the restaurant!

Then we headed off to Missoula... a pleasant drive along highway 200, where I made a special stop in Sun River to see the public scale sign I had noticed on our drive in to Great Falls. Seriously, this sort of sparkly arrow sign nowadays denotes a hipster bar, so it's a real treat to see:

Finally, Missoula. Where we attempted to get PJ merch (crazy! no!), and then checked out the amazing range of ciders at Western Cider.

Then we checked into our motel, went for a walk and bought random things for the garden, then had a nap. Oh, and a photo op... more special since the M Trail was closed!

Turns out our friends Jeremy and Karina were RIGHT NEXT DOOR! We had a quick drink with them, then headed out. We got to the stadium -- much smaller than Safeco, despite being a football stadium -- and wandered around for a bit before the show.

We were pretty close, though I kept drifting back...

Eventually I decided to go find a place to sit ... I was just too tired to stay standing anymore. I found a good spot on the side ... the sound was good, even if I couldn't really see the band all that well.

I could, however, still spot Wil in the crowd, dancing wildly:

isn't it funny how easy it is to spot Wil, even in a crowd this large? 

It was actually a pretty great spot from which to watch the action:

Eventually the show finished, I found Wil, and we made our way back to the motel. We reconnected with Jeremy and Karina, had a nightcap, and went to bed.

The next morning we were up early and to make the long drive home. At Karina's recommendation, however, we stopped briefly at Soap Lake for a dip in the healing waters .... and s smear of the healing mud. I keep thinking about a random weekend trip there so we could really soak it all in!

Our only other stop was at Ellensburg to stretch out legs ... and visit Dick and Jane's Art Spot, of course!

The weekend was fun, if tiring -- and the longest "trip" we have taken since going to AFRICA last year.

Am I a converted PJ fan? No, not really, though it was fun to go to a couple of big shows and see passionate fans. Would I return to Great Falls to see the mermaids? Oh yes.