Independence experience

IN MISSOULA, YOU DO IT YOURSELF. When local cabinetmaker Chuck Kaparich got a bee in his bonnet in 1988 to own a carousel horse, for instance, he undertook to make his own. “His wife gave him some tools,” said Theresa Cox, executive director of the Missoula Convention and Visitors Bureau, “and he sort of bludgeoned out his first horse because no one told him to sharpen them.”

From that undistinguished beginning sprang a full-fledged, community-wide love affair, and by 1995 some 50 volunteer carvers had turned out enough figures to form the first hand-carved carousel built in the United States since the Depression. More than 100,000 volunteer hours went into A Carousel for Missoula, now a fixture in Caras Park along the Clark Fork River.

But Missoula wanted more. So, armed with the input of area schoolchildren, 4,000 community members constructed Dragon Hollow Playarea — a three-headed dragon looming above an obstacle course, swings, musical instruments and five slides — over the course of nine days in 2001.

“It’s a very generous community,” Cox said. “One of the things that’s so cool about Missoula is there are so many different types of people here, and for the most part everyone gets along.”

There might be so many different types of people because there are so many different things to do here. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, you’ll find plenty to choose from.

Our visit to Missoula — its name derived from the Salish Indian word for “near the cold, chilling waters” — began east of town near Seeley Lake. The Seeley-Swan, the two valleys formed by the Clearwater and the Swan rivers, lays out such a bounty of recreational activities, there’s not much reason to leave.

The chain of lakes along Highway 83 only hints at the dozens more accessible by Forest Service roads and trails — and the camping, hiking, backpacking, horseback riding and fishing they afford.

If your idea of a hike is a “good walk spoiled,” as Mark Twain may or may not have described a day on the links, you’re in luck. The Double Arrow Golf Resort’s 18-hole course stretches out in the shadow of the Swan Mountain Range, distracting golfers with some truly spectacular views.

Originally built in 1929, the resort hosts a number of conference groups as well as tourists in its guest rooms and cabins. The main lodge’s dining room, Seasons Restaurant, earned awards of excellence from Wine Spectator in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

“It was kind of a haven for Dutch royalty at first,” said Dianna S. Plum, assistant general manager. “Now we get people from all over. A lot of our customers are return guests. One thing we hear a lot is the friendly service they get here. I think Montana in general is known for good customer service.”

If the log cabin where we stayed is any indication, Plum’s right. It exuded a Grandma’s-quilt, wood-stove hospitality, with a tastefully executed sunflower theme and little touches like books and a jigsaw puzzle clearly intended to make guests feel right at home.

Despite the temptation to wallow in our very nice digs, we headed out to see what else we could see.

My fiance, Tom, harbors a peculiar fascination for elk, so the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s Wildlife Visitor Center in downtown Missoula registered as a must.

It didn’t let him down.

There’s an elk gift shop. An elk video. Interactive elk exhibits. Recordings of various elk noises. And many, many stuffed elk with some quite astonishing antlers.

According to Dale Olinger, visitor center assistant, Tom is not the only one who enjoys this sort of thing.

“We get more than 100,000 visitors a year,” he said. “The little kids really like the diorama.”

That particular display features more than 30 animals — mountain lion, porcupine, mink, grey wolf, tundra swan and more — common to elk habitat.

Since its establishment in 1984, the foundation has completed nearly 3,000 conservation projects on more than 3 million acres across North America. Members hail from every state in the nation.

Having exhaustively explored the many facets and nuances of elk life, it was high time, in the interest of fair play, to pursue one of my interests: coffee.

Here again, Missoula residents display their characteristic self-reliance.

“Everyone asks if this is a chain,” said Jill Myer-Mills, bar manager at Liquid Planet. “But we’re locally owned, which is huge in this town.”

Part cafe, part wine and beer shop, Liquid Planet serves sweet and savory crepes, and espresso drawn from a classic La Marzocco machine they’ve affectionately named Isabella.

“She came to us straight from Italy,” Myer-Mills said.

Open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Liquid Planet lures customers with seemingly anything the enthusiastic staff can think of — live music, poetry readings, seminars on wine, coffee and tea, and a cushy sofa perfectly situated for dog and people watching.

To hear Dusty Sveum, wine and glassware manager, tell it, Liquid Planet is just a microcosm of the city itself.

“Missoula offers something for everybody,” he said. “There’s art galleries all over, some sort of live music or concert every single night of the week. Downtown has great things going on. There’s the farmers’ market on Saturdays with excellent fresh, organic vegetables, artists and people with their crafts. Every Wednesday in the summer, we have Out to Lunch in Caras Park with live music and food booths.”

There was more, but you get the idea.

The people who live here like it. A lot. And they’re fairly certain you will, too.

If you should have any difficulty at all finding something to please you, Karen Liechty has an answer.

Over the course of about a 10-minute conversation, she fired off enough suggestions to keep us occupied for the rest of our natural lives.

As the owner of Adventure Connections, that’s Liechty’s job and boy, does she do it well.

“We help people find fun things to do in Western Montana,” she said. “Fly fishing, horseback riding — horseback riding is a huge thing — rafting and kayaking in Alberton Gorge. And you have to stop at Ninepipes Museum. It’s an early American cowboy and Native American museum. All these wonderful artifacts were personally owned by the Cheff family, an original homesteading family in the Flathead Valley.

“And if you want a mystical experience, go to the Seth Diamond Wilderness,” Liechty continued. “There’s a virgin western larch stand estimated to be more than 800 years old.”

Whew.

A little worn out contemplating our many, many choices (and Liechty hadn’t even mentioned hang gliding, a popular activity in the hills above the city), we opted for a stroll down one of the many riverfront trails running along the Clark Fork through downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods to the University of Montana campus.

Then we ducked into an alley off Front Street for dinner at Red Bird.

In the spirit of a good Missoula resident, Laura Waters bought the restaurant — her first — three years ago with her husband, Jim Tracey.

“He’s the chef,” Waters said, “We keep him in the back.”

The waiting area showcases ironwork stools and tables created by one of Red Bird’s servers, metal smith Jadyn Fisher. The artistry extends into the kitchen, too. Waters and Tracey call what they do “edible artwork” and our meals were, as advertised, inventive, delicious and beautifully presented.

We ended the day on the deck of our cabin, listening to the creek below and the kildeer above, drinking wine out of coffee cups and thinking of all the things we’ll do — ourselves, mind you — next time we visit.