We camped with Yogi Bear on this trip to Missoula. It was a nice campground and only about 7 miles from the city. We found a bagel shop so headed downtown on Sunday for Einstein's Bagels. We were amazed at the crowd that was downtown. Investigating we found that we were near the finish line for the marathon, and everyone was at the finish line cheering on the participants.
Since I had 2nd degree sunburn on my face, and since I am now super-sensitive to the sun, we went shopping and bought some sun protective clothing and better sunscreen. We limited our activities on Sunday to walking after dinner when the sun was setting. Monday was overcast, so we went to the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula and enjoyed both the indoor exhibits and the historical structures that dotted the 32 acre site.
The outlying structures and the exhibits they hold are centered around 4 main themes: Early history of the Missoula Valley, the history of Fort Missoula, the forest products industry in Montana, and Fort Missoula's unique history as an Alien Detention Center during WWII. Of course there was a train depot, a shay engine used in the forestry industry, and most interesting to me, a library car with a full time librarian who lived in the car which contained book shelves, a pot bellied stove, and a large table and chairs for the library patrons.
In 1941 Fort Missoula was transferred to the Deptartment of Immigration and Naturalization for use a an Alien Detention Center for no military Italian men. It housed over 1,200 Italian internees and after Pearl Harbor, 1,000 Japanese-American men. Neither group were American citizens. Fort Missoula was also used as a prison for American personnel accused of military crimes and others waiting ours martial after WWII. The post was decommissioned in 1947.
From Missoula we went up Hwy 93 to Kalispell, MT
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