2020 Road Trip, day 2, part 2

So I realize I am writing this on Day 3 of our trip, but day 2 was filled to the brim with adventure, so I am carrying over yesterday into today.  After our ghost town follies, we decided to come back to the hotel for a bit and then went downtown Missoula to see what we could see.  We had briefly driven through the downtown area the day we arrived but didn't stop anywhere.  We did notice that there were a few spots where you could see the river and some cool old buildings.  Therefore, we parked on the South side of the bridge, walked over, and walked around a bit.  Below are some of the images we took along the way.

Cool old tower downside Missoula.

I have always loved the intrigue of old alleyways, especially if they have a seedy past.

The river certainly looked inviting on such a hot day as yesterday.

I also love when the history of old alleyways are shared.

Again, the river truly looked like THE place to be on such an auspiciously hot day.

Exploring downtown was a bit of a treat for the most part.  It was interesting, though, to see the number of homeless people camped out near the river.  I am not well educated on how Missoula is addressing homelessness, but it would definitely be nice to see solutions to the homeless concerns that seem to have wracked all of our communities, especially during the times of Covid-19.  I would really like us all to figure out ways to implement solutions that are more permanent and humane rather than just ignoring the problem in hopes that it will go away.  I don't know the answer, but I have seen some people's solutions in other cities that seem reasonable.  This is just one of the things that struck me while exploring Missoula.  Below are a few more pictures that we took on the way back to the car.

I loved the intricate "cover" over the stairwell up to the bridge.

Noi posing with the downtown sign on the bridge

Looking from the bridge at the hill behind U of M.

Another angle of the river from the bridge.

Well, that's it for Day 2 part 2.  In a bit, I will post pictures from today (day 3), Museum Day.  It was another active day; we are currently resting up in our hotel, as we have a long day of driving through the mountains tomorrow.  I suspect we will see some really beautiful vistas tomorrow.  For now, enjoy this pictorial display of our second day in Missoula.