We slept in a little bit today, though the sun always finds a way to creep through the windows and wake us up around 7. We had to be out of the Air BnB by 11, but would have to kill about eight hours before our scheduled flight time. We had no desire to go back into Kalispell for any reason, so we hit the road bound for Missoula.
Enroute we stopped at a place called the Garden of 1000 Buddhas. It seemed very out of place in Montana, as well as the clientele who were visiting it. The few visitors we did see were putting something on their faces, dare I say it . . . a mask? I haven’t seen any in so long, I’d almost forgotten what they look like. What happened since yesterday? Is the pandemic back on?
It was a project started over twenty years ago by a Tibetan Buddhist. It is hard to believe that such a person exists in Montana, but I suppose it’s plausible. Furthermore, the site is actually located on the Flathead Indian Reservation making it (unsurprisingly) the only Buddhist place of worship on Native American lands.
AND to make things even crazier, there are actually 1000 Buddhas at the site. I don’t like false advertising. I am, however, merely trusting that the description on their signage is accurate. I didn’t take the time to count. Buddhists seem like trustworthy people, however, so we shall assume there are 1000. There are also 1000 stupas encircling the site, like a wheel with the Buddha statues as its spokes. We walked around clockwise, as one is supposed to do with all things Buddhist.
We moseyed back to the car before getting back on the road toward Missoula. We initially drove an additional 30 mins out of our way in hopes of seeing a ghost town, but the road to get to it was inexplicably closed, so that was that. We ended up parking at the University of Montana campus in Missoula to regroup and kill time. We sat in a parking lot next to a dorm fashioning a lunch out of leftover muffins, granola bars, and pieces of fudge. We have given up on trying to get food in this state. Though, things may be a little different in Missoula. We walked a bit around the campus to discover that people were wearing masks, so I guess the pandemic is back on. Shoots.
The weather was a challenge to dress for. It was high 60s, but very windy. I was shivering and sweating at the same time. Or maybe I have covid. In all seriousness, we should probably get tested back in LA. Anyway, after exploring the campus for a spell, we got back in the car and drove to downtown Missoula.
We parked next to a park by the river, and chanced upon these river surfers. We haven’t seen such a spectacle since Munich. I’m not sure which river appeared cleaner. They both had a similar hue of brown. From there we drove to the airport to drop off our rental car and head through security. It was a small airport, so none of this took very long. After killing another hour, we were boarding the plane back to LA. We got a warm chocolate chip cookie before our descent, which was a nice treat for these weary travelers. We both had a few days before work to relax and reflect on our brief sojourn in Montana.
passports & pepto bismol 