Why Move To Montana (Great Falls, Helena: condos, hotel, house)

[Future Trooper]

Originally Posted by jimj

So, I'm guessing from your post you didn't like MT?
That's fine, it's not for everyone which is a good thing. It is apperant from your other posts that you're a "metro" person who likes people packed in on each other in high density living, needs stimulation from outside sources constantly and is not comfortable with just peace and quiet. That's fine if that's what you like. I do find it funny that you pick one of the most diverse,busy packed in cities in NW Montana to judge the rest of the state by though. After growing up in CA and living many places across the nation there are many upsides to living here as well as some downsides. As for CA having many of the same things that MT has your correct, in theory. Yes there is Yosemite which is wonderful but crowded to the hilt with people. Yes there are beaches and on a warm day you're lucky if you can find a parking spot to go to one. The main difference between Portland and most of CA is we can (for the most part) walk anywhere at any time without fear of being robbed,beaten, acosted by panhandlers and can let our kids out the door without fear that someone will snatch them or kill them. We also don't have a socialist state government that trys to micro manage our daily lives or that is afraid to tell the Feds to butt out when needed. In our area there are no gangs which can't be said for any of the places mentioned above, maybe that's due to our "lack of diversity" but I don't think so, and even if that was the case what's wrong with that? As for being backwards, I used to think that as well but came to find out that it wasn't them being backwards, it was me being a snob thinking that since I was from "hip,cool,metro, progressive CA" that I knew better than the people who've lived here for years and must be stupid not to think like me. Thankfully after living here a while we realized that just because they don't think or act like a "city person" doesn't make them stupid or backwards, it actually makes some things easier and less stressfull. We don't walk around wound tight like a drum anymore, we don't worry about what everyone else has or does anymore, we really don't care and neither do most long term people here. We can go to the store and end up spending an hour or more just talking with people we know that we've run into while shopping instead of averting our eyes and avoiding contact for fear of offending someone and getting shot in the parking lot.

So, in the end I'm glad you figured out MT wasn't for you and left instead of staying around and trying to change it, that's why we have roads that go both ways. I hope you are now enjoying Portland and would like to let you know you're free to visit our wonderful state anytime...

thank you for sharing this information which have must took awhile to post!

[mgold]

Where in Ohio are you from? You just described where I grew up-Warren,OH. I moved out to Colorado the day after I got my Masters degree in Toledo. That was 9 years ago and now my husband and I are thinking about moving to Kalispell, MT. We will be visiting again in June but loved it the last time we were there. It's amazing and the people are wonderful!

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by mgold

Where in Ohio are you from? You just described where I grew up-Warren,OH. I moved out to Colorado the day after I got my Masters degree in Toledo. That was 9 years ago and now my husband and I are thinking about moving to Kalispell, MT. We will be visiting again in June but loved it the last time we were there. It's amazing and the people are wonderful!

I don't know who you are addressing your question to but I was born and raised in the Warren area. Grew up in Howland, lived downtown Warren through my 20's, been in Cortland all through my 30's and will start my 40th birthday in Kila . My wife was born, raised and lived in Warren her whole life too until we moved to Cortland 10 years ago. She is making me move to MT... Oh darn..., I'm just so upset that I will have to spend all my time fishing, hunting, enjoying the scenery and living a serene life ! This is just tearing my up.... NOT

Have you been keeping up with the ol home town at all ? People have always refereed to the Warren Youngstown area as the armpit of the US... I'm here to tell you the armpit referral is a compliment at this point. We are the *sshole of the US... literally. It's really that bad around here. Everyone complains how bad they think they got it. One has no idea what bad is until they've lived in NE OH.

[ExilefromCa]

Originally Posted by jimj

Just to show it's no tale, here's a pic of my friends dad with a 26# mac he got that week.
Attachment 18398

Holy mackeral! That's quite a catch!

[Future Trooper]

i just read a report that alot of schools in Montana are shutting down because they have no students to serve.

it was a little difficult to read the report because it was in German. I was able to understand the bulk of it. but it didnt state where these schools were located?


so is this going on all over the state or only in certain locations?

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by gdude

i just read a report that alot of schools in Montana are shutting down because they have no students to serve.

it was a little difficult to read the report because it was in German. I was able to understand the bulk of it. but it didnt state where these schools were located?

so is this going on all over the state or only in certain locations?

The only ones I know about shutting down are the rural schoolhouses, and that's been going on for a long time. Apple School, NW of Carter (NE of Great Falls) shut down back in the late 1960s, and I don't know if it ever reopened. (I can't see the building on Google satellite view at all, and I'm pretty sure I remember which corner it was on... there were no other buildings of any sort for MILES.) At the time it only had 7 students, and two of 'em were my cousins and two more were their cousins on the other side of their family. After it shut down, they got to do an hour each way on the bus into Great Falls -- the next nearest school system.

The major cost to run a small rural school isn't the single teacher's salary, but rather the overhead and insurance. I'd guess rising insurance rates alone have driven a lot of the small schools out of business, as low-population counties can no longer justify maintaining them when it's a lot cheaper to run those few kids into town on the bus (meaning a part-time driver with their own insurance, and their own minivan). Remember these are free public education facilities, they're not supported by the rather hefty subscriptions that private schools get (the bottom end for private schools seems to be about $4500/session now.)

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by hairygrapes

I have to disagree that there are a lot of great things about Montana, and that people who live there want to stay. I was originally from Portland, Oregon (a very clean/safe city), and moved to Missoula for two years. The weather was harsh, the people were VERY unwelcoming (they hate out-of-staters), and it was the most god-awful boring place to live.

[laughing] I don't know which Portland you lived in. I only drove thru the fringes once, back in 1981, but the Portland I met matches that 1970s bumper sticker "Welcome to Oregon. Now go home."

TWICE along I-5 just south of Portland, some ya-hoo with Oregon plates tried to run me off the road. The second one followed me for several miles repeatedly trying to shove me out of my lane, and I finally got away by braking hard and dropping behind an 18-wheeler then taking off down a random exit before the guy could move over with me. Mind you at the time I had Montana plates on my truck, so it wasn't just Oregon's well-known hatred of Californians at work.

Anyway I found myself driving thru the southeast corner of Portland. Now, I'd just come up from Sacramento, which at the time was crawling out of being the armpit of central California, and compared to Portland, Sacto looked marvelous. I dunno about the rest of Portland but the SE corner was a dump.

Eventually I got to the freeway along the Columbia river and headed east. Got about a quarter of the way to Idaho and was looking for a place to stop and let the dogs out... FINALLY found a camping area alongside the interstate and pulled in... oh dear. It's chock full, the vehicles have 100% Oregon plates, and why are these people looking at me like that?? By the time I went all the way around the loop to the exit, a bunch of 'em had formed a human chain across the roadway, with clear intent to block me in. This Did Not Look Good.... So I gunned it and they scattered, and I drove clear to Idaho before I stopped again.

As to Missoula, much as I dislike the city (I hate being down in a hole between mountains) and its wacky politics, I never felt unsafe there, and never had anything but helpfulness from folks when I'd drive through and stop to look for whatever. (Usually when I was in Missoula, I was wondering where the heck something outside of town was, and wound up asking random persons for directions.)

[rickers]

Reziac are Californian ?

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by rickers

Reziac are Californian ?

You mean the species or the individual??

This here Rez lives in California, but I ain't from here. Was hatched in North Dakota (appropriately, in Devil's Lake), also lived in Minnesota (and am related to half the state), but did most of my growin' up in Montana (Great Falls and Bozeman areas), still have family there, and that seems to be where I think I'm from... when I pull on a root, it comes up covered with prairie dirt. Moved to the SoCal desert in 1984 cuz at the time I couldn't make a living in MT. Getting too nuts down here, so am trying to get moved back, but it's mighty tough to find what I need by remote.

Oh, my truck was bought from Bison Ford in Great Falls. Probably where I'll buy my next truck, too.

[Gman2007]

Originally Posted by Reziac

[laughing] I don't know which Portland you lived in. I only drove thru the fringes once, back in 1981, but the Portland I met matches that 1970s bumper sticker "Welcome to Oregon. Now go home."

That's why those natives in Oregon call the California/Oregon state line the California/Oregon border! For most outside of the bigger cities and the thinking that goes with those cities they have been frustrated for years over the same things Montanas are with new arrivals.