Missoula Travel Forum

My family and I are excited to visit Missoula in mid July. I have a 3 year old, 5 year old, and 7 year old traveling with my wife, and I and we are looking for fun and adventures in your region. We will be in the area for 2 days and are looking for trip ideas that will enhance our experience. We want to use our time in the best possible way, and are an adventurous family looking for the best use of our time. I am looking for your input on anything and am looking for detail suggestions on the following areas: 1- best places to visit 2-best family hikes 3-places to eat 4-best places to water river rafting (company to recommend) 5-best scenic horse rides that are family friendly (company name) 6-best places to fish or guide to recommend (what do we need for gear and equipment) 7. unique shops or places of interest 8. places to rent bikes and places to ride them. 9. any other ideas you can suggest : )

How long is your trip? 2 days here, 2 days there, it is 6 hours from Yellowstone to Missoula, it is at least 4 hours to Glacier from Missoula. Sun Valley is who knows how far from here, I have never been there and I have lived here 15 years. Plus driving with kids I can tell you, you are trying to do too much. I do not know where you are coming from (no profile) but on our first visits out here from the east coast, we went to both Yellowstone and Glacier via Hamilton where I now live and made a big loop through the country taking 3 weeks to do it.
Mt advice is to forget Idaho all together this trip, spend more time in each place and less time driving (especially with kids). Glacier is a drive through unless you are a serious hiker and kids usually are not but it is beautiful. Yellowstone is very kid friendly and you will have more then enough to do there without bikes or horses. If you can get a room at Old Faithful inn I highly recommend it. It is probably all booked up but there may be cancellations.