GeaBu88

I'm thinking about moving to the Northwest for a while. I need occasional access to western Canada, but I still want to live in the US. I was also considering Washington and Idaho, so I'm going to make a similar post in the NW forum, but I was wondering how you guys feel about living in MT.

I don't really even have any idea of a town/city to choose; I just need to get out there. I've heard Great Falls is nice, but I really have no clue. I don't want to live in a big city, but I also don't want to be the only person for miles.

So if you guys wouldn't mind, would you tell me what you like/dislike about it? How's the cost of living, which cities/towns would you reccomend, etc.

Thanks very much.

superstock2

iTrader: (9)

dude montana is the ****!! i'm from missoula and its my favorite place on earth... cost of living is average to high, and minimum wage is only like 6.15 an hour... soh hopefully you have a job lined up or have some experience. the town where i live is really chill... the university of montana is hear so we have the college town atmosphere. great falls is okay but its always windy... then theres bozeman, which is like hoity toity rich hippies... same with whitefish... theres also billings but it sucks! missoula is really cool because there is always something to do.. in the winters you can ski, hike, fish, whatever... and in the summers you can boat, swim, hike, kayak, bike... basically western montana in the summertime is the greatest place on earth if you like the outdoors, or fun... things we don't have are clubs/discos/whatever... we do have lots of good bars and stuff if your into that. let me know if you have any other questions... i really recomend missoula though!

dumbkevin

iTrader: (2)

I also live in missoula, and I have also lived in Bozeman. I guess it all depends on what you are doing, and what kind of atmosphere you like. Missoula is a really laid back town, while Bozeman is really conservative. If you don't have a profession than you will learn that missoula pays almost nothing, while Bozeman pays pretty good. I have gone to college at the University in Missoula and the University in Bozeman and what I liked about Bozeman is that the whole city was inhabitted by young people, although there is never anything to do there. Personally though, I really just don't care for Montana, it's a little too rural for my taste.

GeaBu88

Missoula seems like a really active town, but I need to be closer to Canada. If I go with Montana, I was thinking about Kalispell or Columbia Falls; they're good locations, have decent sized populations for Montana (Kalispell moreso than Columbia Falls), and they're near the Kootenai and Flathead rivers (I like to jet ski). Do any of you guys in MT have any experience with either of those two places?

Also, as far as the jet ski thing, I notice a lot of rivers/lakes in the NW area cross the US/Canada border. If I want to go explore up through lower BC on my ski, does the water employ a border check, or active patrol that pulls you over and checks you out, or anything similar to land? Or do you simply cruise right by? I'm just curious as to how it works.

Thanks again for the help guys.