Quote:
Originally Posted by GEORGIAINMT
Billings....you either love it or you hate it! I guess it's that way with anywhere you go. I, myself, love it! I've been here for 13 years now, moving from small-town Wyoming. If you are from a metropolis area Billings will seem small to you, but to us it's big. It is the largest "city" in Montana, with about 120K population. There are smaller towns in the surrounding area as well. Billings is the medical hub of the region with 2 good hospitals and specialists in every field. It is the home of two colleges, Montana State University-Billings, and Rocky Mountain College. MSU-B also has a College of Tech. campus. If interested in colleges you should check out their websites. Shopping is the best in the area, but not like a big city. All of the big box stores are here of course, as well as a mall. Everything we need is available. The only thing I wish we had that we don't is an outlet mall! There are most of the well known chain restaurants as well as some nice local eateries and all the fast food you could ever want. The weather isn't bad, but I guess that's a relative statement, depending on where you are from. Eastern Montana is in the high desert, so the climate is very dry. We get some rain in the spring, but once summer arrives moisture is hard to come by. There is more moisture in the nearby mountains. Winters can be windy and cold, but the extreme cold temps (down to 20 or so below zero) are usually short-lived. Billings doesn't usually get a lot of snow. We're lucky to see a white Christmas. Most snows come later in the winter with some nasty wet snowstorms in the early spring. Summers can get hot, around 100 degrees and dry, but summers in Montana are comfortable. With mountains about an hour's drive away and Yellowstone Park just beyond that there is the opportunity to be out of town and enjoy the beauty of the state. Billings has some trees, but not the evergreens that Western Montana provides. Billings also has the area's largest airport. I have found that people in the area are friendly and are good neighbors. I teach in Laurel, 10 miles from Billings. I don't know if you have children, but if you do, Billings has 3 public high schools, 4 public middle schools, and 20-something elementaries. There is also a Catholic high school, middle & elementary as well as a few Christian schools. If you have any more questions please let me know, or leave me a personal message & we can email. Good luck in your new venture!
Georgia
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Georgia, I noticed that you are, or have been, a longtime resident of Billings so, perhaps, you can shed some light on a few questions that I have. If corporate funding comes through for a project that I am currently working on, I will be moving to
Billings, perhaps in the spring of 2010. I have found previous threads on this topic to be quite helpful, so I will focus on the following matters which have not been discussed extensively:
1. Health care. I have references for health care providers, ones compiled by a former acquaintance who lived in
Bozeman and
Helena, for the latter two cities. I could certainly rely upon those for services rendered immediately after relocation and obtain referrals for practitioners in Billings from them. However, I would much prefer to have recommendations, if possible, from residents of Billings for practitioners with the following specializations: general practitioner, optometrist, dermatologist, dentist and chiropractor/massage therapist. I really don't have a gender preference; a competent health care provider is a competent health care provider, but trust, needless to say, is an important consideration in this arena.
2. Rental properties. I would anticipate living in an apartment complex for the first year, that is until I have established sufficient familiarity with the city of Billings to purchase property there. Can you offer specific recommendations, pro or con, with respect to the major apartment complexes in Billings? Please be specific with regard to location.
3. Health clubs/gyms. Fitness is important to me, so I would appreciate any recommendations pertaining to the largest and best equipped fitness centers in Billings.
Additional considerations will undoubtedly come to mind, depending on the response to this thread. I look forward to hearing from you and, hopefully, calling all of you my neighbors in the near future. I fell in love with Montana the first time I visited your state more than 30 years ago, but employment opportunities in my field (anthropology), ones that would afford me the opprtunity to live in
Big Sky country, are exceedingly rare.
Incidentally, I am just now becoming familiar with the navigation features of this forum. How do I submit personal messages to you or other residents of Billings whose opinions would be particularly germane to anyone specifically looking to relocate to Billings? Finally, can you recommend other contributors to this forum who have also been longterm residents of Billings? Thanks for your insights.
Doug
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