Montana

Great place to visit- HORRIBLE place to live. This is an escapist place. College kids come to Missoula to get away from Minneapolis or Chicago or Connecticut. Crazy people live in the woods. Horrible backwoods hillbillies everywhere. Missoula is an oasis with the influx of liberal college kids, but the rest of the state is a strange kind of conservative. This creates a horrible tension in the state. Terrible economy, the reservations have severe problems. Bozeman has bigots. As for a place to visit- it is beautiful. Lots of hiking, skiing, biking, camping. Just watch out for the crazy people.

Glacier National Park and "Going to the Sun Road" is a must-see.

It has some nice scenery. The sky areas are getting trendy with a lot of Hollywood and media types moving in. That is always a sign of trouble.

Glacier National Park alone makes this state worth visiting...but it's not the only positive, by far.

A beautiful state with lots of wide open spaces and dramatic landscapes. If you really want to see and feel the old "West" come here. Missoula is a nice little city with a true college town atmosphere.

Too bad all those Hollywood types found BIG SKY country first or we might have moved there. Now the Big Sky is still free but Big Land is pricey in western end of state. Love the privacy, love to visit, but maybe not so great for young and restless. Sure, it's a land of topographic/demographic, love it/hate it extremes, speaking of which, it had room for the two Teds--Kaczynski and Turner--so I guess there's room for 'em all. Aside from the state's scenery and sporting opportunities, Bozeman has great food (not just Buffalo burgers) and upscale shops; Whitefish, quaint chalets and 7,000-ft. Big Mountain Ski Resort; Kalispell, popular Flathead Lake and Glacier Park; Missoula, the university, if you're academically inclined; Livingston, a Lewis and Clark history, Yellowstone, etc. We touched down in Kalispell for 1st time in Feb. '97 and moonwalked on an eerie, endless, timeless snowscape. We were reeled in like a bass in the Bitterroot. We drove a 600-mile loop the first full day... Read more

Great vistas that alternate between grand palins and mountains- but culturally barren.

Montana is absolutely beautiful. Some of you said that it's too far right, which isn't even the case. It's a red state in terms of national elections but the governor and a us senator are both democrats in addition to more on local levels.

Physically beautiful, from stark plains in the east to the rockies in the west, Montana does have beauty. Climate is rather harsh however, and urban amenities lack. Cowboy attitude- for better-or worse. Too conservative, too much in the way of anti government groups that tend to be extremist.

IMHO rated too highly here- bleak landscapes- that some may find appealing- but too stark and empty for my tastes. The few 'large towns' offer little in the way of cultural ammentities. Politically too far to the right-

Mostly wide open plains in the east- the rockies in the west. Very large state with low poplulation density. Some nice scenary to be sure. But few urban amentities- and lacks diveristy.

This state is bleak and has an end of the world visual look to it- rating it at 17th is silly and without any kind of objective reasoning.

Montana is a great state if you care too live an isolated kind of life. Skin heads abound- as well as other right wing scary types. Cowboy tough guy mentality-largely forced. Some wonderful scenary to be sure- but this state rates low on emotion and feeling. OK for cold and sociopathic types.

In my opinion, a truly underrated state. I had to drive through it once going to Cali and it was one of the highlights of my trip. The scenery is breathtaking and you get a true sense of culture here (unlike SD where everything has been spoiled by tourism). Didn't get a chance to do more than getting gas, but did get the impression that it would be a good place for outdoor rec.

Great scenary! Big Sky....peaceful with many recreational possibilities. Downs are anti government groups that are down right reactionary and scary. Also the winters tend to be harsh. No major cities-a western cowboy culture- for better or worse.

Where seldom is heard..... yes, i'll give it that, if you are looking for a home on the range, or you just wan't to visit a real old west town, Montana is the place to do it. Otherwise, move on!

I'm a Montanan, and I love this state. With the exception of oceans and people, we got it all. I can leave my house and be in one of 3 National Forests within 10 or 15 minutes. 2 National Parks (Yellowstone is mostly in Wyoming, but we claim it too), rivers, lakes, mountains, plains, wildlife...it's great! Please visit, spend your money, stay awhile and enjoy yourself then go home. We've got enough people.

I like Montana's beautiful mountains.

This place sucks! I have never seen uglier women.

Will be there every chance that I get. If you can get past the the Lawyers pretending to be Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It and their bazillion dollar fly fishing get-ups, you will love it. The people are incredibly nice, polite, and educated. Life in Montana is about living every day, not keeping up with the Joneses. The Rainbow Lodge south of Bozeman is beautiful with great folks running it. Sample the local brew Moose Drool on the back porch overlooking the Gallatin River. God Bless Montana!

I have never spent a significant amount of time in Montana but every time I pass through it I am amazed by its beauty (so far it's always been in the Summer). The mountains, lakes and scenery over all is diverse and fascinating.

Too far away for me to visit. Blue sky. Open space for more than 100 Rhode Islands put together. 2/3 plains, 1/3 mountains. Bitterly cold in the winter. Desolate in the center and in the east, except for Billings and Livingston. Very sparsely populated. Missoula and Bozeman are the state's prominent university and college towns. Highly literate population and well-educated in proportion to its small number of people. I refuse to travel 120 miles one way just to get gas or buy a bag of Funyuns. Too many tourists in Glacier National Park in the summer. Montana was the last state to impose a speed limit on its major highways, from what I understand. I'd visit, but I wouldn't live there. It's an OK state.

A couple summers ago I took off alone for a camping trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone (in Wyoming) and Glacier National Park (in Montana). The entire trip was amazing, but Glacier was definitely the highlight. This park is tucked in the upper left corner of Montana, right on the border with Canada, and I saw a large part of the state when I drove there from Yellowstone and then headed over to South Dakota. The entire state is beautiful, with huge open plains framed by towering mountains. Glacier is especially scenic. The mountains there have a unique look, with steep vertical faces and a mix of smooth and jagged edges. I saw all kinds of wildlife, including tough-looking white mountain goats, elk, and a large grizzly bear (the last one through binoculars, thankfully). Glacier has great camping sites and all kinds of trails, from easy hikes to serious multi-day journeys. At some point I'd love to learn how to fly fish and make another trip to Glacier. If you have a chance to ... Read more