Hungry Horse MT. / Kalispell area (Great Falls, Whitefish: condo, motel, house)

[mikoyan]

I'm considering moving to Montana within the next two years and I just had a few questions about the state and it's people.

I've been looking at a few small towns in the northwestern section of the state, Hungry Horse and Kalispell to be specific.

I researched those the state and those areas but I wanted to hear what the residents of the state had to say. I'm curious about the local culture, traditions, religion heck even music tastes.

To let you know where I'm coming from. I myself am from a small town in south jersey. Dominantly composed of Italian Catholics (quite a few from the old world). And from what I gather mostly Republican politically (if that matters). Local cuisine is almost entirely italian with some hispanic options. Biggest town celebration is the Mt. Carmel festival (Catholic also).

I love where I come from and my family has lived in town since the 1860s. But recently development has been occuring throughout the region and much of the woods that I grew up with as a kid were lost.

Montana seems to be very nice place naturally. Although I've heard some bad things about it. But being from New Jersey I've heard alot of bad things about my own state, so I know it's better to get it first hand.
I've also heard that small towns are rather uneasy of outsiders. Can't really say anything about, I grew up in one so I was never really an outsider.

Two last things as disclaimers:

(I don't plan on building a house in montana, even If I decide to live there permanently. I hate to bring in developers , when I left because of them in the first place)

I assure you just because I am a new jersey italian, I am not trying to escape the mafia

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by [LEFT

mikoyan[/left];15260970] I assure you just because I am a new jersey

italian

, I am not trying to escape the mafia

Sure yea right , Nobody moves here unless they are running from something, you can tell us it's OK.
Just joking with ya, welcome to the CD Forum. One thing you should know is that most of the state is uninhabitable or protected. The few livable areas left are already fairly well developed. Another thing is that in some areas you may not feel very welcome at all at first because of your accent. If they accept you then you will have nice friends and neighbors.
I have heard that a few unruly people up there are getting real fed up with the developers and are doing some very bad things to make these out of state developers lose lots of money on their projects with sabotage and worse.

[Mt-7]

Funny post.
I second Rickers welcome.
Will you need to find emplyment? Do you want lots of snow or snow and ice?
Make sure you take a trip or two out here.

[Rickers]

Plan on doing a bit of driving in the winter with the road looking like this. Sometimes it's best to stay home but when you have to be somewhere and the weather patterns do what they do, driving can be dicey.
We are in our driving lane and the opposing lane looks more like a road because the plow cleared that lane a minute or two before I took this picture.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_9a8nDInPVGE/TFMhQIP3hTI/AAAAAAAACks/vPESrhmP8FY/s512/294%20pics%20091.jpg (broken link)

[mikoyan]

Thanks for the info, Jeez when did you take that picture? Winters in New Jersey really weren't that bad. The first time I moved to Ohio though , Jeez I thought I was going to freeze to death. How often is the weather that bad in the winter?

I don't think it will be a problem if the few towns there are rather developed. What I'm looking to avoid is a type of urban sprawl. Small towns are fine.

I didn't really consider the whole accent thing, I don't got one as far as I know and neither does anyone around me (but then again I guess thats all relative)

Also I hadn't heard about the local people taking action against the developers , can't really blame them (couldn't really blame anybody back home if they did the same either) . As long as they don't attack or terrorize outsiders minding their own buisnes. I really not one to provoke any sort of thing that would warrent that kind of action.

[mikoyan]

I am looking at potientially taking a trip up sometime during mid december this year, maybe.

I will need to find employment if I decide to move up there. I am currently attending school to get a degree in advertisment and marketing. Normally most people assume that it is best to head for a large urban center for that type of career, however even though my hometown was relatively small and isolated we even managed to have at least two or three ad firms in town.

I'll have to see though when I get out there.

[Rickers]

The weather here can be very unpredictable. I'm in the extreme western part of the state right now and we have more rainy days lately than sunny ones it seems. Last Fall I was living about an hour north of Great Falls when we had a hard cold snap. It got down to 31 degrees below zero F. that was three weeks before winter started.
One time we were driving along the high-line and it was wailing sideways snow. We were four miles east of Browning on the Blackfeet reservation and our air filter iced up and we were stranded. We had no cell phone and had our dog and parrot with us. Some guy pulled into the spot to make a call that we managed to pull into before our engine quit and when I approached him to ask if he could call for help for us he looked scared and drove away in a hurry.
I managed to dry out the filter in the rig while sitting there and after I put the filter back in we managed to limp into browning to a really filthy vomit stinking motel room that we were way overcharged for.
Montana has nice scenery but it can be a rough place to live at times. Lack of work is the major problem here. I know a lot of people here with degrees that are about as useful as TP and work at jobs they thought they were "above" because of the lack of employment in the fields their degrees are for.
I would think that it would be wise to line up a job before moving here, we didn't and we really struggled for a while on temp low pay work until we got our own business set up. Good luck.

[Mt-7]

Originally Posted by mikoyan

I am looking at potientially taking a trip up sometime during mid december this year, maybe.

I will need to find employment if I decide to move up there. I am currently attending school to get a degree in advertisment and marketing. Normally most people assume that it is best to head for a large urban center for that type of career, however even though my hometown was relatively small and isolated we even managed to have at least two or three ad firms in town.

I'll have to see though when I get out there.

That is a good time to visit, that way you will get a feel for the weather. I came here from Oregon and even though I had been here in the winter, well I had a tough first year. Surprising what you get used to .
Do you have any get by skills? That is a beautiful area, keep talking. We will try to help

[Redraven]

I grew up in Hungry Horse.
I still try to get a chance to spend a few days in a campground on Hungry Horse Reservoir each summer.
Would I ever move back to Hungry Horse? NO!
the town has changed. Drastically!
I think there is only one tavern there now (The Dam Town Tavern). the fanciest night club is now a Baptist Church! the VFW Club is now a souvenir shop. The Elkhorn Bar and cafe burned down. The Spillway bar is gone. the Vista Club is gone (no great loss, it was an awful dive). The Mint Bar is gone. The Log Cabin Bar and Cafe is gone. Everybody in town is (to me) a newcomer. I doubt there are half a dozen people in town that I remember.
The house I grew up in (and helped build) is gone.
There used to be three "service stations" in town. They are all gone, and there is one fuel stop/convenience store.
The drug store has been replaced by a combination grocery/video/etc. store.
It has been said many times, "you can't go home again": In the case of Hungry Horse, it is certainly true.
As for Kalispell, we have family there, and once they are gone it is doubtful we will ever return except to drive through as rapidly as possible.
Columbia Falls? I graduated from High School there, and lived there for a few years. I don't know what it is like now, all I have done for years is drive through.
For advertising/marketing, I would venture to guess Kalispell or Whitefish would be your best bet for jobs. Many people commute from the outlying towns to "the city" on a regular basis. You learn to cope with bad weather and bad roads, or you don't stay!
Good luck.

[cumminszhere]

Hwy 83 south between Condon & Seeley Lake, April 29, 2010.