Snowshoe Hike To Hill, Bozeman Breweries, Bookstores, Pants Surpris...

Yesterday morning I was up at 6 which is 5 my time, which is perfectly normal for me and when I looked out the bathroom window to the east I saw the killer pink glow of sunrise on the clouds.

I had to go to Walmart to find my protein drinks which I had to ask for help to find but found. They are a godsend for me and help to keep my body working a lot better when I am traveling. Hell even daily they help. But I ended up getting to the meeting spot at 8:30 so had to wait the half hour for everyone else to arrive. The wind was blowing like mad and when I pulled up there were a few MASSIVE bulls in the pen of the ranch. They looked like buffalo from a distance until I saw their long horns. I'll get pics of them.

I am REALLY happy I brought my snowshoes with. It is a really vital tool for the hike up. I could boot it but it would suck. The 5 of us set out a bit after 9 am and got to the top of the training hill after an hour of hiking. It is a bit of a schlep but will be well worth it.

I am also glad I had a bunch of layers with as I had to have two layers of pants to combat the insane winds. My gortex jacket handled the winds just fine. Today I found the pants I have been wanting.

This is dropping down from the crest of the hill by the cattle pen. The hill is off in front to the right.

This is our training hill. Well, one of them. This direction drops down into the small valley below and the reverse direction drops out over a steeper drop and you fly towards some small grain silos. The hike back is going to be the pain in the ass for each flight, likely a half hour hike per flight.

We hit the top of the hill and saw that there was little snow so we can launch with no problems when the winds are good. It was all of 5 minutes on the top and we were hoofin it back to our vehicles. This was the schlep up the fence line back to the "road" which is all snowed in. The total hike was 2.55 miles and 1hr31min. Tomorrow morning we are meeting at 9am again for the same hike only this time carrying wings for flights!!!

So it was only 10:30am and I had the rest of the day. I went to Goodwill first but found little good tech wear. I found a few sport tek type shirts and the key was I found a junior hockey stick for $5! The boys have been bitching about the half sticks they have that I found at the arena in the garbage. Now they will have one full size and if I can hit up a pawn shop I saw I think I can get another one.

I then went to Map brewing for food and beer. I got their spinach salad with grilled chicken and it was incredible. The beer was quite good with the mountain IPA being very crisp and clear and very tasty.

Once done I headed for a bookstore. This is the best one in town. It is all hand made bookshelves and every shelf is stuffed with books. I found a few that I wanted but saw numerous that would be cool to have but not needed.

This LEGO cat is huge. I don't even know if it is for sale but it was amazing and I could only imagine the new set would be a few hundred dollars at least.

Below it the floor was papered with Calvin and Hobbes comics. It was a bit sad but also cool. How could someone do that to Calvin, but also it is cool that someone did it.

I found this book and I could NOT resist getting it. I stood in the store reading it and trying to not laugh out loud. It took me a few minutes after finishing it to compose myself enough to continue browsing the store.

So I left that book store and headed over to another one in downtown. This one is more commercial and most books are full price but they have a good bargain area where I found a book for J.

I put the books in the truck and as I walked around the corner towards another brewery I saw the outdoor gear store. I went in and found that they had a rack of 40% off winter gear and lo and behold there sat a pair of Mountain Hardwear softshell pants. The EXACT thing I was wanting to find in my browsing Bozeman. So stoked especially after the wind on the hill.

So after putting my new pants in the truck I went over to the brewery Shred Monk which is a coffee house and brewery. I had a glass of their double IPA which was super smooth and I could see drinking a lot of them easily.

My last place for the day was Bourbon. It is a bourbon bar and bbq eatery. I couldn't see spending the money on bourbon when a bottle is way cheaper per ounce. I did get their house salad with brisket added on. OMG the brisket melted under my fork. It was SOOOOO good. The beer was a Fremont Kraken IPA which was really good and lighter.

The brisket was so good I had to have more meat so I got the happy hour ribs. I touched them with my fork and knife and the bones fell out of them. So amazing and really delicious.

I am not exactly used to being this active all day long, like going various places one after the other all day without home time. I ended up back at the room a bit after 6:30 and began to wind down quickly.

My new softshell pants. I am so stoked. I can't wait to see how they work today. Hopefully they aren't TOO warm as they aren't vented.

We are going to be hiking to the top of the hill again, meeting at 9am. I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope I get to fly! The winds are looking to be calm till after mid day so there is a really good chance of flights.