16 Things All Montanans Know to be True
In Big Sky Country, you don’t have to look very far to find the truth.
1) Fly-Fishing is good for the soul.
via Billings Gazette
Casting off the riverbanks in Montana brings an inexplicable feeling of peace. Montanans respect the serenity of fly-fishing and are some of the most graceful fisherman in the world.
This extraordinarily therapeutic activity has caught on and inspired beautiful programs like Warriors and Quiet Waters, a foundation that brings recreation to wounded warriors.
2) You cannot control or predict the weather.
Many Montanans claim to have seen all four seasons in one day, so it is fitting that Montana holds the world record for the greatest temperature swing in a 24-hour period. In 1972 Loma, Montana shivered at -54 degrees Fahrenheit before warming up to 49 degrees in just a day’s time.
The unpredictability of the weather is a concept so accepted by Montanans, one may overhear the joke, “two types of people look at the Montana forecast: new comers and idiots” twice in the same trip to the dog park.
3) The West wasn’t won on salad.
Montanans are carnivores that know where to find a good steak or bison burger.
4) Sales tax sucks.
Whether purchasing a vehicle or candy bar in Montana, the price you see is the price you pay. Travel outside the state and prepare to be annoyingly reminded that everything will ring up for at least a couple cents more at the register.
5) Ambition is not overrated.
The fierce, ambitious gold rush spirit lives on in modern Montana. Although they are known for a slower pace of life, Montanans are entrepreneurs at heart. Montana recently ranked the #1 most entrepreneurial state, according to Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, with the most startups per 100,000 people.
With a rich state history for mining copper, gold, silver and more, Montanans may simply know how to spot opportunity.
via Billings Gazette
6) Sunshine, 7) blue skies, 8) and spending time in nature improves mood, helps focus, reduces stress, boosts the immune system, and lowers blood pressure.
via Billings Gazette
Montanans have long known that time spent in the forest is essential for the psyche. Numerous studies have shown that certain aspects of nature give the cognitive portion of our brain—the part consumed with job stresses, family, and school—a break. While the rest of the world is still discovering the benefits of the outdoors, and the Japanese even giving it a name, “shinrin-yoku” meaning forest bathing, Montanans continue to get outside and enjoy a less stressful life.
9) There are no friends on powder days.
Fresh snow = mad dash to the ski hill. A Montanan will not wait for a lollygagging friend, unless that friend is his ride up the mountain. Otherwise, there are absolutely no friends on powder days.
10) Beer is good.
Dating back to the days of saloons and swinging wooden doors, drinking is part of the ‘Out West’ culture. Even the smallest Montana towns, the ones missing a post office or proper gas station, are equipped with a bar.
via Montana Brewers Association
Montanan’s pallets have evolved as many incredible, flavorful microbreweries call Montana home making the state among the top five in the country for breweries per capita. In addition to beer, Montana also boasts tasty whiskey distilleries and increasingly popular Montana-made hard cider.
11) Road Trips rock.
Montanans log more highway miles than nearly anyone else in the country. The beautiful big sky and magnificent scenery makes Montana supremely road-trip worthy. With some Montana drives, like the Going to the Sun Road, considered to be the most scenic drives in America, Montanans know how to get their gear in the truck and hit the road.
12) But bring a real map.
The classic road atlas is the only reliable way for Montanans to take to the road. Nav systems start to loose accuracy 50 miles north of Denver—and there’s no chance a GPS system will recognize back roads.
Photo via Phil Armitage/Wikicommons
13) Dinos are awesome.
Montanans enjoy arguably the richest dinosaur history in the U.S. People from all over the country marvel at T-Rex fossils that have been dug out of Montana soil.
via Billings Gazette
14) Personal space is worth its weight in yogos.
Montana folk enjoy the benefits of walking freely down the sidewalk, not bumping elbows while dining out, and being able to take a bus without being packed in like sardines. While overpopulation plagues other parts of the country, 46 out of 56 counties in Montana are “frontier counties” with populations of six people or less per square mile. And Montanans would like to keep it this way.
photo via National Park Service Digital Image Archives [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
15) Big Foot is real.
Or an extremely large grizzly we saw camping last week.
Photo via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grizzly_rear_paw_print.jpg
16) Adventure is out there!
The promise of adventure lured people West on the Oregon Trail in the 19th century and lives on today in the mountains of Montana. Adventure is what brings Montanans outdoors when the snow starts to fall and the temperature drops. There has never existed a more wild population, invigorated by skiing, snowmobiling, biking, ice climbing, hiking, and any other activity you could imagine.
Photo by Jaix Chaix [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
A sense of adventure is so deeply embedded in Montanans, that they have developed the perfect lifestyle formula for it: They work only about as much as they need to and take advantage of every outdoor moment, regardless the season.
Montanans value time spent in the woods over the ability to survive a 90-hour workweek. They are an active bunch, with a sense of humor and a great Western spirit for adventure.
The author of this article is Laura Madison. She is a freelance writer for the Montana Mint and runs the entertaining Lauradrives.com. You can follow her on Twitter @lauradrives and on YouTube here.
Related Posts
Griz Fan Podcast – Saturday snowstorm, EWU ahead, & playoff talk →
Griz Fan Podcast – Spring camp wrap up →
Griz Fan Podcast with Jace Lewis →
