Western Montana

The first thing many notice as they drive into Bozeman is the Bridger Mountains, to the town’s north and east. At the far southern end of this chain of mountains is a 250 foot tall letter “M” made from painted-white rocks. The M stands at slightly under 7,000 feet in elevation and is [...]

On lazy summer days, sometimes there’s nothing better than a walk around the neighborhood. Earlier today, I took a three mile walk around my own neighborhood, the southern side of Bozeman.

Starting out at my house, I headed north, took a left on Garfield, and took a right on Willson. On my street and Garfield, there’s not much to see other than the typical suburban sprawl, but Willson is a different story entirely. In many ways, Willson reminds me of the sort of old-money neighborhoods you see on the East Coast; the street is lined with large mansions that date back to the early 1900’s.

Nearly everyone in Montana has heard of the Bridger Bowl Ski Area, located 16 miles northeast of Bozeman, MT. However, the road to and from the ski area, Montana Highway 86 aka Bridger Canyon Road, is highly underrated for its scenic beauty and gorgeous desolation, in my opinion.

src=”http://www.onethousandthingstodo.com/post_images/062108_65457/excerpt/et_DSC01300.JPG” width=”200″ height=”150″ alt=”Menu” />I love to eat, and picking a place to dine for a date night isn’t the toughest choice for me because I’ll love almost anything. Though, there is one joint in downtown Missoula that my fiancé and I seem to choose rather often: Biga Pizza. It does seem a little funny to me that I of all people—a lover of distinct tastes, foreign entrées, and wild flavors—would choose pizza of all things for a date night. But Biga Pizza isn’t just any pizza joint; it is my absolute favorite!

The restaurant is right downtown at 241 W. Main Street. We live so close to it that we like to ride out bikes there, but there is usually plenty of parking either right in front of the eatery or within a block or two. The front of the restaurant is very welcoming and quaint, but once you’re inside you’ll notice that this pizza place is actually quite romantic and lofty. The set up feels like a cross between an urban hipster bistro and a tranquil Zen-type café.

Take me out to the ball game; take me out to the crowd! Located immediately to the west of the Orange Street Bridge in Missoula is the town’s spectacular baseball diamond, Ogren Park at Allegiance Field. This home baseof the Missoula Osprey—our very own minor league baseball team—not only offers crowd pleasing fun and excitement for friends and family, but going to a ball game is the perfect excuse to get out with your special someone and share a date night under the big sky.

In my hometown of Bozeman, Montana, skiing is king. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; we have a world-class resort just 45 miles down the road at Big Sky, as well as the local favorite, yet still impressive Bridger Bowl ski area. But lost in all the downhill excitement is the soothing experience of cross-country skiing. I’ve found that many residents are surprised to find that the city of Bozeman operates several cross-country trails within the city limits.

Beavertail Hill State Park is a quick trip about 25 miles east of Missoula, right off Interstate 90, at Exit 130. The campground is just one-quarter mile south of the highway. You can see the Fishing Pond, which is immediately to the north of the highway. This is actually the Beavertail Hill Fishing Access Site, and not part of the State Park. This is a SUPER spot for youngsters to fish from shore. I’ll get back to the Fish Pond later on, but on to the Campground!

I was on the return leg of a short trip on Highway 200 and decided to take a side trip to Garnet, the well-preserved, goldminer-era Ghost town. There are some spectacular views along the drive which is all uphill, and I took advantage of a beautiful day to shoot some photos too.

The secrets of the west have attracted people to Montana throughout history. Some came by train; others traversed the rugged landscape by horseback or covered wagon. And what were they coming for? The big sky, the land, the mountains? How about gold, silver, even Sapphires? There is a place in western Montana where still today anxious prospectors are plunging there screens into a trough of cloudy water and sifting though gravel and earth in search of the ever prized sapphire. And guess what, not only are they finding the brilliant gems, but you can too.

We took a trip in late May to Glacier National Park. I was pretty excited to see the glaciers since they’re melting and are on track to be completely gone by 2030, so I wanted to see them before they melted away. It was still pretty early in the season so there was a lot of snow in the mountains and over the trails to the glaciers. I figured since my boyfriend and I were not going to make the trek in the snow that we had to do something in order for me to achieve my wish to see the glaciers. So I broke out of my normal vacation mold of planning and budgeting everything and spontaneously told my boyfriend to pull into the Glacier Heli Tours.