An update from North of the Wall

Winter is coming...

Ha, kidding! Kidding. Winter has been here for-eva. It started back in mid-September when the weather dropped to the low 50's and then it just never got warm again. I know, that's what we used to consider "normal" back when I was growing up. The leaves would change, the weather would get cooler, then colder, and then we would have this season where it would snow and stay cold until Spring. But it has been a long time since I've seen those weather patterns, and not just because we'd been avoiding them in Mexico. Living in Colorado for the past 12 years, I've seen the weather shift strangely and the warm winter days now outnumber the cold ones. I think there's a term for that...but anyway.

I thought I'd love Missoula right away, and that it would feel like home, the way I remember Boulder immediately feeling. And I did love it. Walking to Cafe Dolce in the morning, hiking up the M-Train, receiving a high-five from a stranger while trail running, in many ways this is a dream town. But after about a month, I started to feel a bit homesick. Then, a lot homesick. For my friends in Boulder, and the ease of the familiar. Learning a new town is exciting, but can also be a bit exhausting. And settling into a new house, for me, it wasn't a home just because we'd bought it. It was a box that needed a lot of good meals, parties, and friends over to truly feel like home. 

But over the last month, something happened. Like any long term relationship, I've moved on from loving Missoula for what I want it to be (a food scene on par with Boulder and Oaxaca, and having an Anthropologie) and have started loving it for what it is (a fantastic small mountain town with wonderful people, epic and accessible mountain biking, and a really open minded, inclusive community). And then I remembered how Boulder also felt lonely at times, until I made some really close friends.

​Here in Missoula, I honestly can't believe how lucky we have been to have met such incredible people already. It feels like we already have many friends for life, and seriously, that is the best gift. 

​Last week we hosted a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner and had a bunch of folks over (including a few from Boulder!) for food, games, and mezcal. It was a happy holiday indeed, and fun to carry on a favorite tradition with both new and old friends in my new favorite place, the last best place. ​

Coming soon...house pictures! The tour is long overdue.