Road trip season is upon us. We are loading up our cars with tents, hiking packs and our favorite 6 packs of beer. And we are also loading up our vacations with plans. Here at Paws For Beer, we love a great road trip, especially one that involves driving a road through alpine views hugged by aqua-colored lakes pairing up with the thrill of wildlife sightings around every corner. Here is our list of the top things to do in Glacier National Park this summer:
A few years ago I saw a list of the Top 75 Things All Idahoans Should Try At Least Once. As an Idaho native, I was curious about the list and scrolled through the 75 different things I should try. One of which was driving along the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.
Another travel year in the books! Here is our Paws For Beer Travel Round Up 2016.
Our 2016 travel schedule started early this year with a January trip to Thayne Wyoming to pick up the newest addition to our family, Jovi. Jovi had been patiently waiting for about a month for us to come and get her from the shelter she had been at for about 6 months. With a break in the weather Boomer and I took a quick three day trip to pick her up. I could not have asked for a more perfect match for Boomer. Jovi and Boomer are the best of friends. Which made the treacherous drive through a snowy Montana and Idaho in January worth it!
The phone rang with the question “Are you enjoying your beer at Beaverhead Brewing?” I quickly looked around the tap-room perplexed, looking for my dad. His voice was on the other end of the phone. He was of course not there, but he did have a very detailed itinerary that I had left with him, as I do before any trip I take. I leave the itinerary with him just in case I go missing. So far, so good. I have not gone missing and apparently I show up to where I am supposed to be at the time I scheduled myself to be.
Mary stands atop the Continental Divide overlooking the town of Butte Montana. She is not hard to miss and always draws in a look from me while driving into Butte. Mary is of course the Virgin Mary. She stands at an impressive 90 feet (27 m) keeping a watchful eye over the town of Butte. Mary also overlooks the Berkeley Pit, a former open-pit copper mine. The pit is a slight eye sore but is one of Butte’s many signs of a classic mining town.
It is no secret that I have an infatuation with Missoula Montana. My blog has been around for just over three years and I have written about Missoula 18 times, with this being the 19th. There is one thing that I have neglected to write about however, the Missoula food scene. I am not much of a foodie hence when I actually do post about food it involves often the food offered at the breweries I am at.
I was asked the other day at work “what’s your favorite food”. I paused and could not come up with any answer. It was embarrassing as you would think by the age of 35 I would know by now what my favorite food is. On the flip side I have no problem answering what beer is my favorite and I could go on and on about why said beer is my favorite. It’s the Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA from Firestone Walker, just in case you were wondering.
I like to visit Missoula Montana often. I have written about it a lot, as well as my fondness for Montana in general. If I ever decided to move it would most likely be to Montana and most likely Missoula. My love for Missoula centers mostly around beer and I consider Missoula a beer town. As of 2016 there are 66,788 people who live in Missoula and there are nine breweries with ten locations. That is a pretty decent saturation.
Fort Missoula was established in 1877 by the United States Army. Anglo-settlers were moving west and the army had started building forts throughout the Northwest to help protect the settlers, who were new to the area and gathering their bearings. The area was originally inhabited by the Nez Perce, a fairly peaceful tribe, however by 1877 they were reluctantly being pushed onto a reservation, causing tension in the area. Major battles between the Nez Perce and the Army erupted in 1877 at Whitebird and Big Hole along with a previous battle in 1876 at Little Big Horn.
2015 was a record breaking year in the Northwestern part of the United States. Although some records are not always highly sought after. This record for 2015 was for worst recorded wildfire season since 2006. As of September 2015 8,821,040 acres of land had burned during the 2015 fire season. Fire season usually starts around April and ends around October each year for the Northwest.
Big Sky Brewing in Missoula Montana was my unicorn. I had visited Missoula Montana an uncountable amount of times and had been unsuccessful in stopping at Big Sky Brewing every time until my last visit. In all fairness I had only made one real attempt to go to the brewery before, letting my dimwitted GPS Samantha, lead the way to the brewery. Samantha can always be relied upon to get me lost and on the first attempt to visit Big Sky Brewing she did just that. I got frustrated and decided that the winery that she had led me to would be sufficient. I am sure it was her apology to me for her lack of providing the service her company promised me, giving me directions to where I ask her to take me.