So the whole purpose of this little adventure is to try and find a home. And what we're discovering is that it's hard to do. Missoula is an expensive place to live. And we're pretty certain we want to live within easy biking distance of downtown and the university area. AND... we need a house that can accomodate a dinner party with 40-60 people. It's that last little criteria that makes things really tough.

We looked at 15 houses on Saturday, and found two with potential. This was the first one [MLS# 604561]. It really has a lot of character, and it's in pretty nice shape inside. Outside it even has pear, cherry, and apply trees - Micah spotted some little tiny apples on the branches and remarked, "Look at that! Little apples! All we need now is a guinea pig and we could have a luau!" Mindy was rolling on the floor laughing after that one (I'm sure she was thinking, "Who ARE these people!?!?" :-)

The downside of this house is that it actually has less usable square footage (about 1200) than our house in Philly (1400). And they want $260K for it. Ouch. Plus, we'd have to rebuild the detached garage (to add an office), and probably expand the living room to make it big enough to hold enough people. SO... it wouldn't be cheap. But it's a possibility.