Going to Montana Soon. (Great Falls, Bozeman: sale, credit card, motels)

[dogdude]

Hi Montanan's,
Please bear with me all of you experienced forumers. I'm 50 and still learning the ropes. But here goes nothing.
My wife and I are in Phoenix and its 110 today. Bummer!!!!
Every year we get in the car and travel this wonderful country. This year were heading to Montana. Never been there and don't know what to expect.
We bring the credit card and love to support the local flares. We try and find the quaintest towns in search of the perfect meatloaf and the friendliest motels. We'll probably spend about $4000 total including gas, food, lodging, yard sale stuff, tee shirts, windchimes and tips. i'll be paying for this for a year and then we do it all over again next year some where else. We have 17 days from begining to end.
My wife's B-day is the 4th of July and I like to go where the kids are waving the little flags and the hotdogs are plentiful. I like to surprise my wife with something kinda cool on her day.
I've researched the towns of Stevensville,Trout Creek and Plains.
Any ideas about where we can end up for a few days?
I am wlling to buy a 2 week fishing licence and love to fish in steams and wifie likes to read and relax. were looking for good cheap entertainment and great local cafes.
If anyone can help with some ideas it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the time
Greg in Phx

[JWG71]

Originally Posted by dogdude

Hi Montanan's,
Please bear with me all of you experienced forumers. I'm 50 and still learning the ropes. But here goes nothing.
My wife and I are in Phoenix and its 110 today. Bummer!!!!
Every year we get in the car and travel this wonderful country. This year were heading to Montana. Never been there and don't know what to expect.
We bring the credit card and love to support the local flares. We try and find the quaintest towns in search of the perfect meatloaf and the friendliest motels. We'll probably spend about $4000 total including gas, food, lodging, yard sale stuff, tee shirts, windchimes and tips. i'll be paying for this for a year and then we do it all over again next year some where else. We have 17 days from begining to end.
My wife's B-day is the 4th of July and I like to go where the kids are waving the little flags and the hotdogs are plentiful. I like to surprise my wife with something kinda cool on her day.
I've researched the towns of Stevensville,Trout Creek and Plains.
Any ideas about where we can end up for a few days?
I am wlling to buy a 2 week fishing licence and love to fish in steams and wifie likes to read and relax. were looking for good cheap entertainment and great local cafes.
If anyone can help with some ideas it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the time
Greg in Phx

Head north up I-15 from your part of the country, drive through Vegas and keep coming north. I'm not too familiar with Southern Montana but once you get to Helena, MT the state capitol, there is some beautiful country there with surrounding mountains and so forth, there is Canyon Ferry Lake, Lake Helena, Hauser lake and Hauser and Canyon Ferry are made up of the Missouri River. After Helena, get bck on I-15 north and shortly after leaving Helena you have the Gates of the mountains recreation day use on the Missouri River basically where Holter Lake starts. If you keep driving north of Helena about 90 miles further north you run right into Great Falls, named after the great falls of the Missouri River, Lewis & Clark spoke about in their journals. Here in Great Falls we have the Missouri river running through it and we have the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center about the famous journey and is worth seeing and is located right on the Missouri River near Giant Springs State Park. Now Giant Springs State Park is worth seeing and some good rainbow and brown trout can be caught at the fishing access there. There is also the shortest river in the world there which bubbles right out of the ground (Giant Springs) and flows a short distance into the Missouri River. We have some neat old eateries here in Great Falls too, down town is the fifth street diner which is an old Woolworth original cafe, and then we have Ford's old fashioned drive in.....etc...
If you continue north up I-15 to Valier, and take the highway from Valier west, you will run right into Glacier National Park which is absolutely beautiful with lots of lakes, streams, mountains, and hiking trails.
There is my two cents. I also reccomend driving through the going to the sun road, absolutely stunning scenery. I hope this helps you some and get yourself a Montana Gazateer atlas, it will help you out tremendously! Oh, Great Falls has a great Fourth of July fireworks show right on the Missouri River.

[dogdude]

thank you for the input.

[rangerider]

Try Livingston on the 4th of July - nice small town celebration, good rodeo and you can wet a line in the Yellowstone a stone's throw from the fairgrounds. Take off any direction from town and you can experience a fair cross section of our state from eastern plains to western mountains.

I was down in Phoenix a few weeks ago and the CData crowd gave me some good ideas; PM me if you want particulars on this area.

BTW, it's snowing and raining on my roof this morning, so there are pluses to 110F. I'm down to a cord of wood left - hope June is warm....

[dogdude]

Hey thx, I was wondering if anyone would help me out. You and some other cool folk replied. I'll probably be headin towards Bozeman 1st and then up toward thompson falls and the 4th in Whitefish. Can't wait to see your beautiful state.

Originally Posted by rangerider

Try Livingston on the 4th of July - nice small town celebration, good rodeo and you can wet a line in the Yellowstone a stone's throw from the fairgrounds. Take off any direction from town and you can experience a fair cross section of our state from eastern plains to western mountains.

I was down in Phoenix a few weeks ago and the CData crowd gave me some good ideas; PM me if you want particulars on this area.

BTW, it's snowing and raining on my roof this morning, so there are pluses to 110F. I'm down to a cord of wood left - hope June is warm....

[rambrush]

Montana has so much to offer. So many smaller towns that throw a heck of a 4th July event. Firework stands to buy all the great items banned here in Arizona.
We are partial to Butte & Anaconda as we can sit up on our property and watch the shows.
So come on North and enjoy!

[jimj]

Whitefish has a pretty good 4th fireworks show on the lake and there's many events going on.
Be prepared if you have animals though, this valley tends to sound like a war zone from the afternoon on the 3rd to the 5th. Stay out of the canyon (hungry horse and martin city) if you can as it tends to get way out of control with airborne fireworks flying all over the highway and at cars,people and even into gas stations.
I'd also suggest sleeping in on the morning of the 4th. Darkness doesn't happen until about 10pm and stuff will be going on well after midnight.
Have a good time and enjoy our little piece of the planet!!!

[sissys_soapbox]

Hey I live in MT. Lots of great little towns to visit. visitmt.com is the states site. it has 150 pages of events all over the state. lots of quilt festivals rodeos farmers markets and garage sales. What do you drive? 85% of the roads in MT are not paved so road conditions are key. If its agrey or dashed line you need 4x4 or dry weather. If it says impasssable when wet BELIEVE the sign!! I'll try to think of specifics for ya

[montanamom]

I live in Stevensville right now. It's a cute little town, but the biggest event they have every year is The Creamery Picnic. Not sure when the date is, though. On the first Friday of each month they have "First Friday" in town, all the local businesses stay open, those are nice - small town fun.

[Idunn]

Haven't seen as much of Montana as I'd like, but would suggest two areas, specifically Gardiner, MT and Red Lodge, MT.

Gardiner is situated near the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park, and possibly of most interest due the very unique geothermal features nearby in the Park. Of course for that matter you might spend a good portion of your trip within Yellowstone and still not see all its many unique features. The main lodge, built of logs, may also interest you.

Red Lodge seemed a quaint little town in a beautiful setting. While you might like the town well enough, the biggest attraction might be the drive to it. The road passing through Silver Gate at the northeast corner of Yellowstone crosses a high and striking alpine pass on its eventual way through Red Lodge. Certainly a beautiful drive.

If you haven't you might wish to visit Yellowstone via Jackson, WY and Teton National Park. These two Parks are joined by the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway and it is a splendid drive the entire distance. Just know that summer is tourist season in this region and, particularly through Yellowstone, due slow traffic you'll have ample chance to enjoy the marvelous scenery.

Unfortunately no personal experience, but traveling across Glacier National Park on the Going-to-the-Sun Road would surely be one of the highlights of your trip.

Enjoy.