Day 7 - Smoking Birds and Sword-Free Tacos

Day 7
Miles Driven - Just a few
Total Time in Transit - Not long!
View out of hotel room - Still the I-90 

In case you wanted to see the view out the hotel window.

It looks slightly better framed like this. Just slightly.

We had NOTHING TO DO today.

It was wonderful.

We had a relaxed breakfast, punctuated only by the constant ringing of the phone at the front desk. It would appear that, because college move-in day is tomorrow, there is not a single available hotel room in all of Bozeman.

Alex wanted to take some time to walk around campus today so he would always be able to find the closest dining hall if he were to suffer some sort of waffle-related emergency.

Off we went.

Here is a brief tour of Montana State University for you:

We saw several of these unfamiliar birds around Bozeman. This is the only one that seemed to have a smoking problem. It needs to clean up its butts, too.

Warning sign on the student union building. No grizzlies. Take that, Betsy DeVos.

I"m not sure what this research material was and Kerri flatly refused to let me go poking through the damp, lumpy bags to find out.

There is a separate door for the bakery and salad department. I'm not sure why.

Somebody failed very badly at locking up his bike.

Don't get sent to "Room 3". Seriously - what the heck is that?

Here is a quick picture inside one of the dining halls at school. It's amazing! They have fresh, local food, a Mongolian BBQ, hand-tossed pizza, and an ice cream parlor. When I was in college, my roommate and I had a fridge with a half eaten can of baked beans and a couple packets of ketchup.

Students apparently send the dining hall (Miller Commons) thank you plaques to celebrate the fact that other students ate their pets.  

Thanks for eating Mr. Oinky.

Some students moved in a day early, including this girl, with an entire cart full of fuzzy things.

Signage in place for tomorrow's big day. 

We decided to go get some lunch and found a small, hipster taco place with excellent house rules.
If I were still a classroom teacher, these would be my class rules:

Tacked on at the bottom, "No swords". You just KNOW there's a reason for that.

After lunch, Alex went to get his student ID card. I hovered in the background and humiliated him by taking pictures.

Mug shot #1.

We wandered through the engineering building and I was fascinated by The Chair of Shame. At least, I assume that's what it is.

After wandering around the campus and having sword-free tacos, we stopped at the grocery store for some fruit and veggies. Alex noticed the small print on the U-Haul pick up parked next to us.

Do not wash or rinse interior with water hose. Like the "No Sword Policy", there must be a reason for that sticker.

Back at the hotel, we discovered the tree where the smoking birds must all hang out.

Hidden Picture™ time! Can you spot the 3 dead birds under the tree?

Here are two of them. They REALLY should stop smoking.

For dinner, our buddy Corey at the front desk recommended a new pizza place with a wood-fired oven.

It's like he KNOWS me.

Soooooooo delicious.

Awwww, look at our little baby boy.

We headed back to the hotel and Alex asked Kerri for a quick trim before move in day tomorrow.

Hotel hair cut? Why not!

For some reason, Alex was unwilling to let me cut his hair.

It was a blissfully relaxing day, completely free from grizzlies, swords, or waterlogged trucks.
And we needed that.

Tomorrow is move in day and Alex will finally meet his mysterious, elusive room mate, Colton.

Maybe...