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I felt like I was transported back to Berkeley, Ca. All that's missing now are the dancing Hare Krishna's, but I'm sure that will be next.
Haha, you're about 40 years too late... dunno where they are today but back in the hippie era, there did used to be the occasional orange-robed Hare Krishna in Missoula!
Is Calgary the only major city in that part of the country?
Pretty much. Montana doesn't have any big.... anything. If you want to be near a major city, don't live here. Seattle is the next closest. Look at the map, that is insane. I'm from a town of only 8,000 originally and enjoyed the country life, but I was also only two hours away from Minneapolis/St. Paul and I didn't need my passport or a currency exchange. I don't hear of many people cruising up to Calgary to go clubbing on the weekend. hehe
But that is exactly the appeal of Montana to some people. That "our own little planet" appeal.
Pretty much. Montana doesn't have any big.... anything. If you want to be near a major city, don't live here. Seattle is the next closest. Look at the map, that is insane. I'm from a town of only 8,000 originally and enjoyed the country life, but I was also only two hours away from Minneapolis/St. Paul and I didn't need my passport or a currency exchange. I don't hear of many people cruising up to Calgary to go clubbing on the weekend. hehe
But that is exactly the appeal of Montana to some people. That "our own little planet" appeal.
Having lived in Montana, and having lived an hour from Los Angeles.... yeah, if you're into clubbing and "culture" and such, then some major metro is where you want to be. And if your business involves selling to folks with disposable income, you can make a living in CA but not in MT. (Which is why I'm sadly here and not there.)
But one of the most annoying things about CA is all the things that were readily available in MT, but not in Los Angeles!
Some that leap to mind:
Shakespeare in the Parks. A regular summer event all over MT, free for all and not so large that it's a zoo. No such thing in CA. Yeah, there are similar events that cost $10 or more to get into (plus usually a parking fee), but not in any of the smaller towns. You still have to go into LA for anything like that. And in CA they're not about the event, they're about the commercial booths. This isn't my idea of "culture" but it's what's available to the CA masses.
Ordinary small farm tools (fencing tools, chain parts, and the like). You'd be amazed the things you can't buy in CA, or can only buy Chinese junk at about double the price of anywhere else. You'd never guess CA is still a major cattle producing state. Finally found a place that carries cold shuts and they're two bucks apiece!! Can't buy a decent swivel at any price.
Fresh eggs. If you're not a Costco member, you're SOL. I've yet to see grocery eggs in CA that were less than 3 months old, and some were a good deal older. (Eggs will keep about 9 months, and you can judge age by how much air they've gained and solidness they've lost.) Never saw eggs that old for sale in MT, except for surplus sold by the crate from the Hutterites.
Decent buttermilk. Trader Joe's finally started carrying a Meadow Gold product (all northerners will recognise that name) that's the real thing, but everywhere else it's like a carton of rotten milk artificially thickened, and tastes like it too.
Dry curd cottage cheese. Sugar-cured bacon. Not available anywhere in CA that I've ever seen. (Actually there is a regulation against the bacon.)
And a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten exists, because I've long since given up trying to find it in CA.
If you ask me, "Culture" isn't really a good trade for so many good and useful little things in life, nor for the accumulated annoyances of their absence.
Having lived in Montana, and having lived an hour from Los Angeles.... yeah, if you're into clubbing and "culture" and such, then some major metro is where you want to be. And if your business involves selling to folks with disposable income, you can make a living in CA but not in MT. (Which is why I'm sadly here and not there.)
But one of the most annoying things about CA is all the things that were readily available in MT, but not in Los Angeles!
Some that leap to mind:
Shakespeare in the Parks. A regular summer event all over MT, free for all and not so large that it's a zoo. No such thing in CA. Yeah, there are similar events that cost $10 or more to get into (plus usually a parking fee), but not in any of the smaller towns. You still have to go into LA for anything like that. And in CA they're not about the event, they're about the commercial booths. This isn't my idea of "culture" but it's what's available to the CA masses.
Ordinary small farm tools (fencing tools, chain parts, and the like). You'd be amazed the things you can't buy in CA, or can only buy Chinese junk at about double the price of anywhere else. You'd never guess CA is still a major cattle producing state. Finally found a place that carries cold shuts and they're two bucks apiece!! Can't buy a decent swivel at any price.
Fresh eggs. If you're not a Costco member, you're SOL. I've yet to see grocery eggs in CA that were less than 3 months old, and some were a good deal older. (Eggs will keep about 9 months, and you can judge age by how much air they've gained and solidness they've lost.) Never saw eggs that old for sale in MT, except for surplus sold by the crate from the Hutterites.
Decent buttermilk. Trader Joe's finally started carrying a Meadow Gold product (all northerners will recognise that name) that's the real thing, but everywhere else it's like a carton of rotten milk artificially thickened, and tastes like it too.
Dry curd cottage cheese. Sugar-cured bacon. Not available anywhere in CA that I've ever seen. (Actually there is a regulation against the bacon.)
And a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten exists, because I've long since given up trying to find it in CA.
If you ask me, "Culture" isn't really a good trade for so many good and useful little things in life, nor for the accumulated annoyances of their absence.
Surely they have to have farmer's markets at least. Well that's obviously the polar opposite. I'm someone who has a little bit of city AND country in me both. I love the country life, but now and then I like to break out and have some big city fun... easily.
And we're right outside the Blue Hills, great hiking and what not. It's not all flat farmland like some might suspect.
YouTube - /XP/THE BUTCHER/XP/ and Matt's Trip to the BLUE HILLS
I'll never forget my science teacher got lost up there and there was a big announcement that we were not to make fun of her when she got back... lmao... Ignore the rednecks in the video. I don't know them, but they could totally be friends of my young uncle's.
This is Christie Mountain ski area in Bruce. It's not big mountain slopes... but good skiing. The whole area up there is famous for winter sports. Snowmobiling, ice fishing, you name it.
http://www.christiemountain.com/ski.html (broken link)
And Madison is only four-five hours away. Milwaukee a little further. Madison to my hometown is about the same distance from Great Falls to Billings. Duluth a couple two or three hours north, depending how fast you drive. Minneapolis two and a half hours west.
As you can see from the videos you'd never know you were near any major cities. Hell, even Chicago, if you want to drive a little further. And of course Green Bay if you're a football fan.
It's got the best of both worlds that's why I love it.
Montana has it's good points and there ARE stuff I will miss. I'm not completely miserable here, home is what you make it, and although it's not my preferred place of living I've managed to find things I like. I will miss chinooks. (In Wisconsin when snow falls, it ain't goin' nowheres! haha) I will miss the dry heats. Upper midwest is humid. And more mosquitos. You need to stock up on bug repellant there more than here. You take the good with the bad. I wish we could've lived in a prettier part of Montana than Great Falls, but... I will also miss things here in town too. Hastings. Barnes & Noble. (They have Barnes & Noble everywhere, I know, but I like the Great Falls store.) Howard's Pizza. Taco Treat...
Haha, you're about 40 years too late... dunno where they are today but back in the hippie era, there did used to be the occasional orange-robed Hare Krishna in Missoula!
Surely they have to have farmer's markets at least. Well that's obviously the polar opposite. I'm someone who has a little bit of city AND country in me both. I love the country life, but now and then I like to break out and have some big city fun... easily.
<snippola>
It's got the best of both worlds that's why I love it.
Yeah, Los Angeles has a farmer's market; one is right downtown. You should see the size of the rats and how bold they are even in broad daylight. Oh, and it'll cost you $20 an hour to park (unless you want to walk a mile or more through downtown, or park in a slummy lot; those are as little as $5/day) Not to mention the hour in traffic just to get near it.
The parking is an issue pretty much all over except at the malls (and the state is muttering about forcing malls to install parking meters so no one can evilly park for free); that and another hour standing in line to get into most any "event". That's the downside of just about ALL the "culture" in a big city.
To some people it's worth it. Obviously to a lot of people or these outfits wouldn't do the roaring business they do. Or <cynical little voice> maybe life in the big city is so much more boring and stressful that people need these things more?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minnesconsinite
Montana has it's good points and there ARE stuff I will miss. I'm not completely miserable here, home is what you make it, and although it's not my preferred place of living I've managed to find things I like. I will miss chinooks. (In Wisconsin when snow falls, it ain't goin' nowheres! haha) I will miss the dry heats. Upper midwest is humid. And more mosquitos. You need to stock up on bug repellant there more than here. You take the good with the bad. I wish we could've lived in a prettier part of Montana than Great Falls, but... I will also miss things here in town too. Hastings. Barnes & Noble. (They have Barnes & Noble everywhere, I know, but I like the Great Falls store.) Howard's Pizza. Taco Treat...
I've lived in Moorhead MN and I have relatives all over the state It's pretty country but I really don't miss being able to carry my air in a bucket nor the twin-engine mosquitoes nor the solid snowpack all winter. If I gotta have winter (you can have my share!) then I gotta have chinooks!
Before Barnes & Noble there were local bookstores, especially usedbook stores. That's another thing that's severely lacking in CA, but were all over MT!! A good usedbook store has a selection that puts B&N to shame, at half the price.
Actually that's probably a good generalization -- you know your town has become a "big city" when you lose all those local businesses and everything pretty much goes to chain stores and malls.
I was wondering how long it would take for you to get over your grumpiness before you wrote something to make me laugh, Reziac!
There are fresh eggs all over the golden state that are sold pronto......my uncle ran a huge egg laying facility kinda near Stockton for many years..... My grandpa owned a Foster Farms for many years, too......
I was raised in the San Joaquin Valley where everything is FRESH! I never ate no stinkin' egg that was 6 months old.
Try the applewood smoked bacon from TJ's......yum! I cook my bacon outside so that the whole neighborhood will think I'm camping!
I can't give you a rep right now for making me laugh, so I'll just give you a hug today.....and now, back to reading about Bezerkley, oh, I mean, Missoula! (Being from CA, when my husband and girl were there checking out UM in March, that's exactly what he told me that Missoula would remind me of so it's interesting to glance through these posts......)
I was wondering how long it would take for you to get over your grumpiness before you wrote something to make me laugh, Reziac!
There are fresh eggs all over the golden state that are sold pronto......my uncle ran a huge egg laying facility kinda near Stockton for many years..... My grandpa owned a Foster Farms for many years, too......
I was raised in the San Joaquin Valley where everything is FRESH! I never ate no stinkin' egg that was 6 months old.
Try the applewood smoked bacon from TJ's......yum! I cook my bacon outside so that the whole neighborhood will think I'm camping!
Evenest-tempered man in town... mad ALL the time!
Oh yeah, there are fresh eggs and such out in privateville (tho not like it used to be... last time I went up the central valley, I was appalled to see so many fields and orchards lying fallow and dead), but not in grocery stores. Has to do with the modern warehouse distribution system. You shoulda heard my meatcutter friend rant about the condition of meat that came into the grocery where he worked... as a rule they had to pitch a third of each carton because it had been in the warehouse and transit system too long, and had gone slimey.
I had some low-salt bacon a while back that ruined me for regular, can't eat it anymore... I love bacon but not the strong-flavoured kinds. Used to get sugar-cured from a friend's packing plant in Idaho (now gone... the packing plant, not Idaho!) that was to die for... I'll check what TJ's has (we have a nice little TJ's, albeit 30 miles away) tho their prices on meat are stratospheric. Good selection of cheeses you never heard of before, tho! I go there to taste food I can't identify.
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That "our own little planet" appeal.
Can't buy a decent swivel at any price.
nor the twin-engine mosquitoes nor the solid snowpack all winter. If I gotta have winter (you can have my share!) then I gotta have chinooks!
