Missoula, Montana

Sure, Missoula is beautiful, set on a river in the mountains. But the phrase I kept saying in my head was “Missoula is community”. No matter where I went in town, it just felt like a cohesive community.

On the streets:

On the University of Montana campus:

On the great hike to the big M (that you can see everywhere in town):

On University Ave, the quintessential college town street:

Lined with beautiful old homes with large decks & patios, and that I’m certain were owned by professors, fraternities, and sororities:

At the $6 burger stand in the lovely little town (and that had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had in my life)

At the Missoula Public Library:

Which had an amazing maker space:

And fantastic outdoor deck to work (where you could of-course see the ever-present M):

At the brewpub:

Where the corner dart board “wall” was lowered by a crank to become the stage for the band:

And most of all the Missoula Paddleheads minor league baseball game I went to ($9 tickets; $8 beers).

The pregame was an event that gave dozens of local developmentally-challenged kids the chance to swing at some pitches, and field some balls:

Each kid was paired with one of the Paddlehead players, who helped them hit & field the ball:

They let them “play” for about an hour, and even delayed the game for 30 minutes so they could all get several turns at bat. It was so sweet, especially because it just seemed so normal — just locals coming out on a beautiful night to kinda watch a game, and mostly to enjoy each other.

I don’t know if it was all the Olympic pride I’ve been feeling, but I shed some happy tears during the national anthem, because everything was just so perfectly, small-town nice (it was also probably egged on by the fact that it was sung by one of the mentally challenged kids, and he was terrible, but it’s probably the best national anthem I’ve ever heard).

The Bikers Against Bullies even made an appearance:

The stadium itself was perfectly sized, with mountain views:

And the players & umps had to walk down the stairs in the stands just to get to the field 🤣:

It was tie-dye night, so all the players wore tie-dyed shirts, and they gave out free bucket hats and provided lots of tables for you to tie-dye them:

I really wanted to wear mine, which means it stayed pristinely white:

Even the bus station got into the community spirit, and offered free donuts:

Reflection Tim thinks Missoula is the best of what America is, and might be one of the nicest small college towns he’s even been in ♥️

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