What is there to do in Missoula? (Billings, Great Falls: low crime, home)

[theleclercs]

Hi,
My wife and I are 99% sure we will be moving to the Missoula area in the next month or so. We've read some of the information (some from 07) from some people who lived in Missoula previously but wanted a more up to date picture of what the city is like. The area we're moving from is Salem, OR. Corvallis comes to mind when thinking of Missoula. Nice college town, smaller population, low crime. Is that a good comparison?

What are the restaurants like? We read a couple of comments mentioning the lack of diversity. No really good Mexican restaurants.

What is the culture like ie; museums, theatre, night life?

What is the shopping atmosphere like? Malls or quaint shops?

Are the people friendly to outsiders and what is a good way to meet people, church, university...?

What are the best places to work out?

[grizzfan]

Missoula is probably more like Eugene, OR than either Salem or Corvallis. It's a pretty damn liberal town even not considering the University. There's plenty to do in your list - probably not a genuine Mexican resturant - more of the Taco Bell variety, but many other kinds of places to dine. Missoula considers itself a very diverse town where diversity reigns unless should your thoughts be conservative - then you are not included in the diverse discussion. Typical liberal/progressive, hypocritical snobery!! If you are one of those liberal/progressive hypocrit types, you'll love it here - and you'll make the rest of us more increasingly miserable. Make sure you have a job before you get here - we just lost a 417 person liner board plant that had been here more than 50 years and the effects around the region will be huge.

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by grizzfan

There's plenty to do in your list - probably not a genuine Mexican resturant - more of the Taco Bell variety, but many other kinds of places to dine.

El Cazador is owned and run by a Mexican American family if I'm not mistaken. Not bad really and very popular. Their shredded beef is gooey though, I thought that was a bit odd. Kind of Tex Mex with the emphases on the Mex.

[missoulahomes]

Hi Theleclercs,

Missoula is an amazing city with lots of great restaurants. I have friends who swear we have the best restaurants in the state. We have two good Mexican restaurants - El Cazador and Fiesta en Jalisco.

A few of my favorite restaurants are Mustard Seed (Oriental), Biga Pizza (gourmet pizza), Sean Kelly's, and the Iron Horse.

Missoula has been called Montana's Cultural Superstar because we have amazing art galleries, including a First Friday Art Walk, the Missoula Symphony, the Missoula Children's Theater, and lots of great concerts and festivals. [Mod-Cut]

For shopping, we have both quaint shops in our downtown area which is amazing and we have a nice mall - Southgate Mall. We also have big box stores on North Reserve Street.

We have found Missoula to be incredibly friendly and easy to meet new people. Church and the University are great ways to meet people, as well as local organizations, depending on your interests.

Some of our best work out places are the YMCA, Gold's Gym, the University, and the Women's Club. We also have a 24-hour fitness and lots of smaller gyms so there are plenty of places to choose from. Those are in addition to our amazing outdoor recreational opportunities, and our riverfront trail:
[Mod-Cut]

Hope you enjoy our beautiful city! Please let us know if we can answer any further questions.

[lrmsd]

Originally Posted by grizzfan

Missoula is probably more like Eugene, OR than either Salem or Corvallis. It's a pretty damn liberal town even not considering the University. There's plenty to do in your list - probably not a genuine Mexican resturant - more of the Taco Bell variety, but many other kinds of places to dine. Missoula considers itself a very diverse town where diversity reigns unless should your thoughts be conservative - then you are not included in the diverse discussion. Typical liberal/progressive, hypocritical snobery!! If you are one of those liberal/progressive hypocrit types, you'll love it here - and you'll make the rest of us more increasingly miserable. Make sure you have a job before you get here - we just lost a 417 person liner board plant that had been here more than 50 years and the effects around the region will be huge.

NO!
Missoula is more like Corvallis,for sure. In size,vibe,quality of life,economics,etc.
Eugene is much bigger,has a big meth problem,more traffic,crime,etc.
I have lived in both places-trust me!!!!
Corvallis is probably more bucolic/mayberry than missoula,though.
But OP is right: these are good comparisons.

U of M is a gorgeous campus-on par with OSU,IMO.
Missoula is an old hippie town turned somewhat yuppie,but still crunchy/artsy/bohemian. It's an ecclectic mix living side by side,so in that way you might compare to both eugene and corvallis.

It's fantastic-missoula.
when i lived there,people always said 'oh,this town is like missoula,you should check itout,or that town is like missoula'. I would go to said college towns,and never found them close to as wonderful as Missoula!

Enjoy your time there-hope it works out for you as it did for me.

oh,and the very first fish tacos i had in my life were in Missoula-a guy from san diego had opened a place;it was there for years,don't know if it still is....great tacos! Funny,i have now lived in SD for 8 yrs-little did I know at that time,that they would not be my last SD fish tacos.(: You won't find a ton of great ethnic foods-again,similar to corvallis in this regard. But increasing every year in options and choices.

[Rickers]

That taco place would be the place now located on the highway real close to Bigfork. It is called El Topo. I used to surf in San Diego along side of that guy and have talked to him in his restaurant many times about the old surfing days back in San Diego when it was still a fun and safe city. He sold the restaurant to some guy who has let it go down the tubes as far as the food goes (it is still ok I guess unless you grew up on real good Mexican food) but it still has a huge tequila list.

[Transformationchiro]

Also check out Taco Sano! Great food!

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by Transformationchiro

Also check out Taco Sano! Great food!

Here is their website link.
TACO - SANO

There may some items that taste good but that place is anything but a Mexican restaurant. I will try it though.
There is also a brand new Mexican restaurant opening up next to the china buffet. we'll see if it's any good after they have been open for a month or two before eating at it.
Missoula is full of all types of things to do, I used to love going up to Blue Mountain and ride the dirt bike trails there and the Clark Fork river is right there and river floating is a blast.

[chada]

Missoula is a college town, home of UM, a liberal arts school. Missoula has a fairly positive vibe, and has grown to be the second largest city in the state.

My favorite restaurant is Staggering Ox, which makes the world's best sandwiches I've ever had. I'm not kidding. The - Best. I have tried tons and tons of other sandwich restaurants, and the Staggering Ox is the best. (#2 is the Pickle Barrel, found in Bozeman, Livingston, Billings, etc.).

Is Rockin' Rudy's still around? I enjoyed that record store when I visited many years ago.

Due to the university, Missoula does get the occasional concert, which is certainly better than some towns (*cough* Great Falls *cough* dead zone *cough*).

[RedJacket]

You can try and get two DUIs in less than five hours.

Montana Man Arrested For 2 DUIs 5 Hours Apart - CBS News