The hills just to the north of town are basically open grasslands with a few pine trees popping up here and there.  But, if you head up there on a beautiful day with a bright blue sky and puffy white clouds, you can get some really nice shots.  The first image above is one of my favorite landscapes from the summer.  I took these in early August near the end of the Summer Intensive course at RMSP.

Every Thursday in July, they hold a kayaking competition at Brennan’s Wave in downtown Missoula.  This was the last one of the summer.  They use the big blue raft in the middle of the first picture to take spectators out to the island in the middle of the river.  I think they’re nice enough to bring them back too. :)  I think it’s cool you can sit and watch stuff like this in downtown Missoula.

I took a lot of pictures during this event and even shot some video.  I haven’t done anything with the video yet.  Maybe someday I’ll put together a little video/still image montage and set it to music…maybe.

I arrived in Missoula, safe and sound, on Thursday night after two very long days of driving.  I left Chippewa Falls at around 11:30am CDT on Wednesday morning and arrived in Rapid City, SD at 9:30pm MDT for a total of 11 1/2 hours (with the time zone change) behind the wheel.  After spending the night, I left Rapid City Thursday morning at 7:30am and arrived in Missoula at 7pm, completing my second 11 1/2 hour day behind the wheel.  I believe that’s about my limit.  I was pretty exhausted.

The drive from Wisconsin to Western South Dakota is one of the most boring drives ever.  There really is nothing to see until you reach the Badlands (and it was dark by the time I got there).  I’ve done this drive several times when visiting my brother and his family in Rapid City, which makes it all the more boring.  What little there is to see, I’ve already seen before.

The drive from Rapid City to Missoula, on the other hand, is incredible.  It starts in the Black Hills, briefly degenerates to open grasslands, but then jumps into one mountain range after another.  It just keeps getting better.  Even though I was tired from the previous day, I still really enjoyed it.  I tried to take pictures while I drove (not that safe, I know, but there was very little traffic and I shot everything one-handed without looking through the viewfinder) and I ended up with a few really nice ones.  This is my favorite:

You can view the rest in my Flickr stream starting here.

I officially have an apartment for the summer.  I talked to my future landlord tonight and confirmed he had received my check for the security deposit and rent so it looks like everything is set.  The apartment is located in downtown Missoula, just three blocks from RMSP’s office/classrooms.  On days when we have classes there, I’ll be able to walk.  RMSP also uses some of the University’s facilities, which are about a 10 min bike ride away, so with any luck, I won’t have to drive my car most days. 

My apartment is pretty small, only 290 sq ft.  It’s basically an old motel room.  The owner converted a motel into an apartment complex.  The unit I will be in doesn’t have a kitchen, but the rent is so cheap that I can afford to eat out more often and still spend less over the summer than if I found a place with kitchen and cooked for myself.  I’m pretty lazy when it comes to cooking anyway.  Luckily, there are a number of small cafes/sandwich shops in the downtown area.  I should have plenty of options to find a relatively quick and inexpensive meal.  Otherwise, I can live on sandwiches and cereal for the six months.