oh missoula, how I've missed you....let me count the ways

I am still reeling from a LONG FUN-FILLED trip to Maine & Cali, and although I'm homesick for my family and friends...it is so nice to be back in MisSOULa during my favorite time of the year...  Also I'm not sure I could have taken the sedentary life I was leading much longer.  For three full weeks I turned to mush.  I had hopes of getting out and running while I was gone (you know, train for that half marathon I signed up for which is in less than two weeks), but the one chance I gave myself I was suffering from a migraine quality headache that pounded for 5 days off and on.  I'm not happy about this - but I am very happy about the important things that I found time for....  Namely, time with my Mom and my Grammy Folsom while I was in my hometown.  Ok, so I have a crappy finishing time in the race.  Big deal.  I already finished first in the important stuff.

I'm banking on muscle memory...

I have been on Mount Sentinel twice this week already, and I'm hoping that the weather will cooperate this afternoon (doesn't look likely though) so that Astrid and I can get up there again...maybe this time we'll make it to Dad's tree at the top.

Oh, Missoula how I've missed you!  Let me count {some of} the {many} ways:  Larkspur, Death Camas, Indian Paintbrush, Balsamroot, Deer, Ponderosa pine trees, the end of the Shooting Stars, the start of the Bitterroots (pods), Glacier Lilies, Pasqueflower, Crazy Weed, the Missoula Panorama, Red Winged Blackbirds, Sparrows, Robins, Clematis, Fairyslippers, the pounding of my heart, the deepening of my breath on the steep parts, and that sweet sweet smell of something in the air that I just can't seem to pinpoint.

But still, I MISS this: