20+ Things For Kids Visiting Missoula

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I have family coming to visit me.  I go on and on about how great Missoula is, and now the time has come for me to prove it!

Naturally, most kids are not interested in the things that I think are cool.  And my kin think I’m something of a weirdo.  So I’m trying to think of what these folks might be keen on.   There will be three adults, five kids and me.  For seven days.   The kids are 1, 4, 6, 8 and 16.

I sent an email out to my Missoula posse and collectively we came up with the following list:

1)  So, the beginning of this list has to be … the carousel.  Complete with the Dragon’s Hollow park next door.

2)  Going to the M.

3)  The Saturday Market is always cool, but I’m not sure how wowed kids would be by that. Except for sugary treats I suppose.

4)  Lolo Hot Springs (I know this particular batch of kids enjoys swimming pools).

5)  Spectrum Science Center at the University  (wow – I never even heard of that one before).

6)  ”My Clay Studio”  (this friend is a potter, so this could be a fun thing just for me and not for all the rest of you.  I believe etiquette requires me to say: “neener, neener”).

7)  Currents indoor swim park at McCormick park in Missoula.

Cool  Splash Montana.

9)  Missoula Children’s Museum.

10)  Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in Missoula.

11)  ”There’s a park in Florence that’s kind of like Dragon’s Hollow too, no carousel but a fun park for younger kids.”

12)  Blue Mountain Observatory.

13) “Westside Bowling Lanes on Wyoming off of Russell – by the Good Food Store – it’s the best family bowling alley in town.”

14)  A trip to going to the sun road.
14a) The House of Mystery
14b) The Fun Zone
14c)  The Itty Bitty Ranch Petting Zoo
14d) The Bison Range
14e) The big water slides in Columbia Falls

15)  Garnet Ghost Town.

16)  Rockin Rudy’s.

17)  Big Dipper Ice Cream.

18)  Biga Pizza (especially for the cherry pizza!).

19)  Lewis and Clark Caverns.
19a)  Butte pit
19b)  Dinosaur thing in Bozeman
19c)  The old prison tour in Deer Lodge

20) Out to Lunch.

21)  Philipsburg:  the ghost town, the soda fountain shop, the candy store and the Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine.

22)  Something with hang gliding?

23)  Hot air balloon stuff?

24) Fishing!

There is no way we can do all of this stuff in seven days.  But!  I can present this list of spectacular awesomeness, and they will be so overwhelmed that they will have to concede that Missoula is, indeed, a city worthy of superheros!

By: Paul Wheaton