are there predators in lakes?

Whenever I think I might be on my way to well-traveled, I talk to more interesting individuals who casually say things like "When I used to live in ___" or "When I was going through ___" or "Oh I loved ___" and I'm put back in my place. My Airbnb host and fellow guests are those such interesting individuals. Currently scheming ways to live the rest of my life the way I've been living it in the last months of summer.

I'm not sure what I planned to really do in Missoula for an extra day, but I'm so glad I booked it anyways because Flathead Lake would not have fit into the schedule otherwise. Wendy (host) suggested driving up the East side, which was more scenic and straight. And my general plan was to just drive and see what caught my eye. And to find reasonable kayak rentals. Success. I turned off at Finley Point to start, which turned out to be just a small camping spot. So luckily for me (and I guess unluckily for the kid in the booth) the credit card machine wasn't working, and I got a complimentary MT State Parks day pass... that I didn't end up needing to use at all. Also luckily for me, finding Valley Wide Seakayaking was easy and kayaks were $10/hr with 2hr minimum. I was a little skeptical of the dude's Trump sticker on the car he was working on when I pulled up, but he was nice and his daughter was cute and eating soaked Graham crackers (btw, originally promoted as a way to curb alcoholism and masturbation) and who am I to start a convo about politics with a stranger?

Thank you to Abs for the hat. And thank you to Midwestern log rolling events for randomly giving away non-sponsor Sam Adams hats.

MT has a lot of license plate options

Believe it or not I had my first real meals today.. not counting Minny, I guess. I'll have to backtrack to that weekend. Up until now, I had been snacking on my giant bag of pretzels, leftover papaya salad, chocolate, and gas station purchases (like SD jerky when I was at least trying to sample the local cuisine without sitting down at a restaurant).

Anyways, my body still thinks 6:30am MST is 7:30am CST, so I was up and about and trying to explore Bozeman before anything was open. Bust. So I got second breakfast at Nova (first one was free/included courtesy of hostel). I'll get all the seafood in Seattle. Being patient for Asian/Mexican in SF. And trying to loose some of that Wisconsin weight by avoiding winter comfort foods. So I'm in the great mountainous northwest for the bison. Bison chorizo omelette with Spanish rice, green onions, and pepper jack cheese to start. Which looked great. That bright orange oil. Eggs were as fluffy as they looked. Rice was undercooked. Bison chorizo was kinda grainy.. or is that how bison meat is? But I was an instant sucker for the merch. The eggs and bacon skull and cross bones thing. And I impulsively bought an $18 dish towel because.. I'm on vacation.

Love a restaurant with great artwork