16/6/13 – USA Fathers’ Day with Bikes and Bacon

This morning we hiked the ‘M’ - a huge ‘M’ constructed by the University of Montana on the side of the mountain (Mount Sentinel, originally known as "Mount Woody” is a small mountain located to the east of the University of Montana in Missoula). At a height of 1,958 feet and an elevation of 5,158 feet, Mount Sentinel features the hillside letter "M", a large concrete structure 620 feet up its western face.

Apparently the students of the University of Montana used to put a big ‘M’ made of white washed rocks on the hillside every year at graduation, so eventually the town decided to put a permanent concrete one there instead. The path up to it is now a popular local walking activity – a bit like Perth’s Jacob’s ladder. 

After the walk (which featured spectacular views of the Missoula Valley) we called into one of the local restaurants so the guys could have complementary fathers’ day beers and a ‘Hangover Burger’ (it had no evidence of vegetable content – just bread, meat patty, eggs, cheese, ketchup, mustard and of course that great American staple - bacon).

It is here I would like to pause the story of the day and share with you a tribute to the ubiquity of motor bikes and bacon in US culture.

 

We have seen, and I have photographed, bacon chocolate, bacon chips, bacon stacks,

 

bacon bits on potatoes,

bacon tacos,

bacon baskets, maple bacon donuts

and today I have seen Missoula’s famous Bloody Mary Bar where there have bacon rasher swizzels! I kid you not folks, the citizens of the USA love their bacon and will eat it at every opportunity.

Now as you know I have been amassing a collection of photos of cool bikes that guys in NYC ride when they want to escape the city. But having been in Missoula for even a few days it was clearly evident that had only collecting the ‘baby bikes’ of the USA. Many men and women travelling through here have matching road bikes.

Nate tells me that some know how to ride them but the ‘yuppies’ and ‘dinks’ from Washington and California ride them for show and like most of us with our DVD don’t really know that much about how they work or really live life on the road. Easy tell – everything is clean and new and the woman has a worried look on her face!    

 

So back to the story, we finished the day with a short visit to sample the various beers at Montana’s Big Sky Brewing Company. This was followed by an afternoon nap, a walk in the park and family BBQ with friends where Nate put some elk steaks on the Barbie for us!

We sampled the other micro-brewery beers including Wheatfish, Moose’s Drool, Trout Slayer, Big Sky IPA, Bayern amber lager, Dopplebock lager, Dragon’s Breath, Scape Goat Pale Ale and my personal favourite Pig’s Ass!

It was great day for the Mountain Men, especially for Nate who opened all of the beers with his reef sandals – they have a bottle opener embedded in the sole. Brilliant design feature!