Today was our day off in Missoula so we got to sleep in until 8am! We were all laughing about how excited we are to be able to sleep in until 8 when we would normally wake up at 11 or layer on a normal weekend, but we are all used it it already and we enjoy what we are getting up for. Breakfast was provided by the University of Montana associate chapter of Pi Kapp (a chapter that is still being established on campus) we ate in the gym that we are staying at in Hellgate High School and killed some time playing basketball and before heading to our friendship visit they showed us a local coffee shop in downtown. One of the Montana Pi Kapps was telling us Missoula is all about local shops, Starbucks does not do very well in town, they had a lot of push back from the community when they first tried to open up here. I love local coffee shops so it was fun, good atmosphere and good coffee. When we walked through I didn't notice a single chain restaurant or store in all of what we have seen of downtown.
Our friendship visit was with a group that has been working to build an accessible playground in Montana, they broke ground last month and have started laying some foundation and the concrete around the perimeter. Once completed it will be the first in Montana. The lady who started Jenna has a 5 year old son with cerebral palsy. Three years ago she asked the parks department to install just one swing that would be accessible to people of all abilities, what she got instead was assistance from the parks department and land to build an entire playground. To design it they used input from focus groups with kids of all different abilities to design something that fits what they wanted and need. They really did cover so many different levels of abilities and made it fun for everyone to enjoy. Some of the rides like the teeter totter even incorporate a need for social interaction and building friendship. Her son Heath was so fun, the kid loved Batman so after lunch he was Batman and a bunch of us were all different villains like The Joker and Two Face, he knew them all, and he was jumping around beating all the villains it was so fun, he was laughing and smiling the whole time it was really hard to leave. Heath even knew everything about the playground and was pointing out all the play features for us as his mom explained them to us. They are calling the park Silver Summit which emphasis this central summit that they built to give people in wheelchairs the opportunity to climb up and being above the ground like other kids on jungle gyms and play sets. The park opens right after we get to Washington on August 4th,i hope I get a chance to come back and visit Heath and Jenna at the park. Check out the plans here http://www.allabilitiesplayground.org/
Following our time at the park we had a sponsor open uwher hone to us all evening and we hung out, napped and played lawn games from 3 to 7:30 at her house. The made us a ton of food, sausage and beef brisket that was delicious, her husband who is recovering from a back injury helped barbecue it all, he used to own 3 barbecue joints in Texas so he k ew his stuff. Tonight we are doing soobike maintenance and icing some joints and muscles so we are at 100% for the 80 mile ride tomorrow to Philipsburg which is well known for its 3 story candy store that we all plan to visit.
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