Missoula winters (Helena, Kalispell: buy, living in, shop)

[jimj]

Originally Posted by delta07

Okay, so the time is finally here!! I am leaving on Wed. for my trip to Missoula. What is the weather is supposed to be for Wed. through Sun.? We will be packing our ski gear, but want to know what to expect. Thanks.

Cold and snow off and on. It's supposed to be between 25 and 34 degrees during the day and teens to twenties at night for the next week or so with intermittant snow. Now remember they're wrong at least half the time so it could snow all week or not, but I wouldn't expect temps to be any higher than 34 or so but can definately be a lot lower without notice.

[delta07]

Originally Posted by jimj

Cold and snow off and on. It's supposed to be between 25 and 34 degrees during the day and teens to twenties at night for the next week or so with intermittant snow. Now remember they're wrong at least half the time so it could snow all week or not, but I wouldn't expect temps to be any higher than 34 or so but can definately be a lot lower without notice.

Great! Sounds just like home right now. I will pack my normal clothes.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by delta07

Great! Sounds just like home right now. I will pack my normal clothes.

Pretty much exactly like where you're coming from! I don't understand why you'd leave there to come to this little 'ol place....

[delta07]

Originally Posted by jimj

Pretty much exactly like where you're coming from! I don't understand why you'd leave there to come to this little 'ol place....

I hear that all the time! Not sure we will end up moving to Missoula, but we have always loved it there. Colorado is becoming (as I'm sure Montana is seeing also) one massive urban sprawl with no character. We would like to live in a place where we have easy access to the outdoors, a vibrant (yes, Missoula is vibrant compared to where we are in CO) nightlife, and a smaller, westernish feel. It really fits the bill. Anywho...I can't wait to get there.

[jimj]

You might want to look a little farther north, like maybe around the Flathead. While we're growing we're still smaller than Missoula by a darn sight and not quite as "citified" yet.

[JoeJoeMan]

delta07 wrote:

Colorado is becoming (as I'm sure Montana is seeing also) one massive urban sprawl with no character.

So is western MT....so make sure you get out to Reserve St and north and south on Rt 93...........you'll probably think..."argh, why did they do this in montana...but you should see it in colorado"...........but then realize that all that MT sprawl has happen within the last 5 or tens years....and project what it will look like in another 5 or 10........it's a pretty dismal outlook.

And comments like the following (someone on this thread just posted) really don't help...

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TAKING A LOOK AT MISSOULA!

[delta07]

Originally Posted by JoeJoeMan

delta07 wrote:

So is western MT....so make sure you get out to Reserve St and north and south on Rt 93...........you'll probably think..."argh, why did they do this in montana...but you should see it in colorado"...........but then realize that all that MT sprawl has happen within the last 5 or tens years....and project what it will look like in another 5 or 10........it's a pretty dismal outlook.

And comments like the following (someone on this thread just posted) really don't help...

I have been to Missoula several times over the past 10 years. My sister lives there and is very active in the community. She fight for smart growth, affordable housing, etc. Reserve street is certainly ugly! Unfortunately, that is was the west is about anymore. Massive strip malls, big box stores, no character. Why would you ever miss home, when every town looks the same?

[JoeJoeMan]

Within the last couple weeks I've read two articles in the local Missoula papers....one was how they just railroaded a subdivision in when the opposition was, as the paper stated 30 to 1, turns out that the local government official that had the final say-so, was ahh.... 'in bed' with the developer, and I think the 'in bed' can be taken literally. The opposition crowd were pretty ticked and rightfully so, because it was so flagrant and in their face about what was going on but the town just did it anyway, almost as if to say..."we don't care - what are you gonna do about it" And that's in Missoula where it's one big lovefest of 'building community'.....what a bunch of phoneys

The second story concerned the desire to preserve an history site, towns folks want at lest a 100 foot border around the site from the proposed developement - good luck, nope it wasn't good luck, once again the town and developer gave a mere 40 feet....public screwed again, nothing new, you'd think they'd learn by now, stay home put you time to better use, blow a little weed, anything but don't waste your time at those 'community input' sham town meetings.

So there's your planned growth and community involvment, work likes like a charm everytime....yea right....... Any some of you people still beleive in the 'planned growth' pipe dream. As I've said before it's just a sham to passify the public, and smart professional negotiator knows how to turn and use those growth plans to their advantage everytime, thus getting more than they would have gotten' without the plan......as such they will even work to put those plans in place.....it all kind of falls under the category of "planned opposition" (read up on that term).....where a party knows there will be opposition so they basically infiltrat and pretend they are getting along with the opposition in order to manipulate them once they gain their trust, thus getting the result they ultimately want. And they really don't see it as doing anything wrong, they just beleive its what you have to do to get what you want...they even have classes on it in universities, but of course they use cute and nice sounding terms like 'conflict management', these people are skilled in the art of deception..literally and can do it with a perfectly clear conscience, and if all else fails like on the example above - well just shove it down the publics throat..........And the public gets suckered in over and over again.

[jimj]

And now folks we switch channels to the Flathead... A developer has been trying for years to build a new enclosed mall in Kalispell and a few environmental groups have fought and sued to stop him. Jump ahead 3 years and many lawsuits and guess what? The developer won as he should have but and this is a big one, he was forced by negotiation to turn it into a huge strip mall! Oh, wait a minute, they're not strip malls anymore. No, they're "lifestyle centers" now. Boy, thank goodness! I wouldn't want another strip mall!!!! What these wacko people have done in their rush to "protect" the flathead is stamp out an enclosed mall where people would park once and walk into for a "lifestyle center" aka strip mall where people will have to move their cars multiple times during the winter to go to different stores without freezing,getting drenched or slipping on ice, not to mention the usual gridlock in the parking lots while you search for parking to be close to the store you want to go to. Forget about having a warm and dry place for seniors and other physically challenged people to simply walk and get some excersize, no we need a "lifesyle center"! I've seen this before, mostly in CA which was strip mall heaven for years.
Fast forward about 10 years and they're all delapidated and half empty and look like heck and quite a few have been torn down leaving a big empty hole with developement all around. Hmm, that'll look real nice. I think this agreement was done just so these wacko groups could say they forced the developer to do something and pat themselves on the back for a job well done....
Pity.....

[rickers]

The view from the freeway as you come towards Missoula from the north on 93 has a big housing development and I don't see any backyards ? It looks too much like a "Stepford Wives" neighborhood to me. Next there will be vending machines for soylent green supper tablets on the corners !
I hate those maize like parking areas in the strip malls north of Kalispell, I have a lifted rig and sometimes I feel like just driving straight over the curbs and landscaping straight through to the street !