[DirtyMike]

Specifically the Bozeman and surrounding areas..... Thinking about movibng and have more than a few palces in mind, this particular one i am not overly familiar with....

Curiosity is getting to me... Fill me in if you can

 

[eric strt6]

you can shack up with Serial Midget

 

[stevew]

you can shack up with Serial Midget

he's in butte.

 

[CBJ]

I still dream of Montana what a beautiful place. Should be some amazing fishing and biking and much cheaper to live there than CA.

 

[dhmike]

I heard you catch a nasty case of the gay if you move to Montana . Dude your family and friends are in socal. You have a career here and your boss is going to let you use his cabin in mammoth . IMO I think things are going good for you here. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the hill .

 

[stevew]

I heard you catch a nasty case of the gay if you move to Montana . Dude your family and friends are in socal. You have a career here and your boss is going to let you use his cabin in mammoth . IMO I think things are going good for you here. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the hill .

but on the other hand....it isn't california.

 

[Serial Midget]

I am now in Great Falls Montana, Bozeman is over priced and trendy, think Telluride Colorado or Jackson Wyoming. If you are looking for great job market think North Dakota.

 

[Beef Supreme]

I am now in Great Falls Montana, Bozeman is over priced and trendy, think Telluride Colorado or Jackson Wyoming. If you are looking for great job market think North Dakota.

Bozeman is overpriced but it is nothing like Jackson or Telluride. I wouldn't classify it as a mountain town. There are trust fund folks but there are way more normal folks. I would compare it more to Ashland, Bend or Bellingham. It's an awesome little playground. There are good restaurants but I don't much care for the bar scene there.

If you do move there it is best if you can bring a woman and your job with you. Affordable housing is an issue and a lot of people live up to 30 miles away just to be able to afford to live there. Wages tend to be pretty low and there are not a lot of great jobs.

Also, don't consider moving there if you are not into winter sports or don't plan on getting into them. The summer is unbeatable but way too short. Even if you do winter sports there are shoulder seasons where the recreational opportunities are pretty thin.

I grew up there and my dad was in the car business there for 30 years. I can probably get you some feedback if you have a specific job in mind.

 

[nmjb]

I am now in Great Falls Montana, Bozeman is over priced and trendy, think Telluride Colorado or Jackson Wyoming. If you are looking for great job market think North Dakota.

Agreed. I lived in Missoula for a few years and always hated Bozeman when we spent any time there, feels just like Telluride as far as the scene and people go but with more stupid college kids. That said, I loved living in Missoula and the riding and skiing in western Missoula/Kalispell/the skinny part of Idaho is great.

I moved to socal (Idyllwild) from Montana, and like it better here but miss the remoteness and adventure that came with living in Montana.

 

[MMike]

he's in butte.

hee hee hee hee hee hee

 

[DirtyMike]

Closer to specific..... a little over an hour south east of Bozeman is were I would land.


There are many other possibilities to land other than Montana I may end up in....... Just curious about this particular.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Closer to specific..... a little over an hour south east of Bozeman is were I would land.

That would be somewhere in the Absaroka mountains? Gardiner, perhaps?

 

[Beef Supreme]

Closer to specific..... a little over an hour south east of Bozeman is were I would land.


There are many other possibilities to land other than Montana I may end up in....... Just curious about this particular.

Where? There is quite literally almost nothing that is a little over an hour south east of Bozeman.

 

[boostindoubles]

Where? There is quite literally almost nothing that is a little over an hour south east of Bozeman.

Yellowstone is a bit more than nothing!

 

[jdcamb]

Pork Chop sammichs

 

[Beef Supreme]

Yellowstone is a bit more than nothing!

Ok, not exactly nothing. There are also lots of tall peaks, tons of fish, a sh!tload of antelope and a bunch of mines. There is just not much in the way of actual towns. You are in the middle of nowhere when going to Gardiner Montana counts as going into town.

Pork Chop sammichs

It's hard to describe the awesomeness of Pork Chop Johns to someone who hasn't experienced it.

 

[DirtyMike]

Where? There is quite literally almost nothing that is a little over an hour south east of Bozeman.

****..... Just looked at a map... North by norwest from Bozeman....... Belgrade to be exact

 

[Beef Supreme]

Belgrade is only 8 miles from Bozeman so it basically is Bozeman. If you were to visit I highly doubt you would find it trendy or pretentious. Belgrade is basically working stiffs of various flavors, normal people by Montana standards.

You have to take what people from other parts of the state say about Bozeman with a grain of salt. Historically, people from Bozeman have held a firm belief that Bozeman is better than the rest of the state. People from the rest of the state have considered people from Bozeman to be dicks because of it. Both sorta have a point.

 

[Da Peach]

he's in butte.

What what?

 

[boostindoubles]

I hear Helena has good trails. And yea, Yellowstone is south of Bozeman and it kicks ass but Gardiner or Cooke City don't count for much on the find work scale unless you have a park job. I suppose you could be a river rat in Gardiner if you found your tribe.

 

[mandown]

The folks I've met from the Boz area have been nice. A shocking number of them here in LA. I've never visited.

 

[fortenndu]

Bozeman is overpriced but it is nothing like Jackson or Telluride. I wouldn't classify it as a mountain town. There are trust fund folks but there are way more normal folks. .

I didn't know there had to be tons of trust fund babies living in a town to make it a mountain town. News to me.

 

[SkaredShtles]

There's a reason they refer to it as Bozeangeles.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I didn't know there had to be tons of trust fund babies living in a town to make it a mountain town. News to me.

There have to be for it to be Jackson or Telluride. Bozeman ain't no Jackson or Telluride. Then again, it ain't a mountain town either...

 

[Serial Midget]

There have to be for it to be Jackson or Telluride. Bozeman ain't no Jackson or Telluride. Then again, it ain't a mountain town either...

I haven't been to Jackson or Telluride since the late 80's but I have spent much time in Bozeman over the last 4 years and to me the vibe is the same. Belgrade has definitely seen a lot of recent developement and is distinctly different than Bozeman although both have the same mountain views. For roughly the same cost of living I'd look into Kalispell.

For ultra low cost of living and drinking in the steets you can't beat Butte - it's Levi Leipheimers home town, you coul buy a bike from his brother or car from his uncle and then party on Evil Knievel's grave.

That's good times.

 

[stevew]

Historically, people from Bozeman have held a firm belief that Bozeman is better than the rest of the state.

gee....what state does this sound like?

 

[stevew]

I didn't know there had to be tons of trust fund babies living in a town to make it a mountain town. News to me.

think boulder....colorado's version of boone.

 

[Pesqueeb]

gee....what state does this sound like?

All of them?

 

[stevew]

All of them?

sounds like a native colorado type mentality...

 

[Serial Midget]

In the early 80s my mom had a Semi-Native bumper sticker on her Subaru hatchback. God did not save her from Californians or Texans.

 

[Pesqueeb]

sounds like a native colorado type mentality...

Gawd, no sh1t.

 

[DirtyMike]

HA, remember I am coming from the Inland empire in Socal..... think about that when you compare what it is like up there

Visiting for a week in april, will figure if work is an option or what it will take to get work etc etc before even thinking about actually making the move.....

 

[johnbryanpeters]

he's in butte.

There you go.

 

[Montana rider]

Belgrade is the commuter working class counter-part to BZN.

I don't disagree with SM as Bozeman may seem like Jackson to someone who lives/d in a superfund site...

While it has a fair share of high-end help me decorate my trophy home stores, it's got enough college kids, ski/fly fishing bums to even that out.

Very bike-friendly (BZN). Our mtb season is short (June->Oct), so ditto what someone said earlier re: long winters. If you don't ski / snowmobile you might want to reconsider.

Belgrade isn't particularly close to the 'better' trails, though I would argue that the best MTB in SW Montana is outside W Yellowstone in the Henry's / Lionhead area, but good riding in almost every direction.

We've lived in BZN since 2000 -- minus a 2 year stint in the Madison valley -- and I went to undergrad in So Cal and the wifelet did her post-grad in Davis CA, so quite familiar with moving from Cali->MT.

If I were thinking about mooooooooving to Montana, I'd probably visit a few towns before biting the bullet:

BZN (Belgrade also referred to as Belowgrade b/c of how quickly most of the houses popped up) -- as discussed, somewhat yuppified, but only 10 minutes to "real" Montana. My biggest complaint is the dearth of good (cheap) ethnic food. You don't move to MT for the dining.

Helena -- I've always like Helena, longer MTB season and nice older historic houses, pretty sprawly though.

Missoula -- if you don't want to leave the 'big city' behind, too many homeless hippies traveling East from Seattle for my tastes

Whitefish area -- beautiful place to vacation, don't know much about housing costs etc.

Everything is a trade-off.

Depending on your field, $$ can be hard to make in MT, but the quality of life / lack of people and stress makes up for it.

 

[Serial Midget]

Belgrade is the commuter working class counter-part to BZN.

I don't disagree with SM as Bozeman may seem like Jackson to someone who lives/d in a superfund site...

BZN (Belgrade also referred to as Belowgrade b/c of how quickly most of the houses popped up) --

This is my point, many people who live Bozeman feel the town is a cut above other towns in the state. As an outsider I just don't understand why they feel this way, I see the same Walmart, Safeway and Kolhs you'd find anywhere.

I do like Teds Montana Grill and the sushi at the new Safeway though... I don't like the people who make left hand turns an Main Street - there's a reason UPS only makes right hand turns!

 

[SkaredShtles]

I haven't been to Jackson or Telluride since the late 80's

Uhhh... yeah. Telluride has changed quite a bit since the late 80's. I don't doubt that the vibe *now* in Bozeman might be similar, though, to what Telluride was like in the 80's.

 

[fortenndu]

think boulder....colorado's version of boone.

Boulder I agree with. A lot of the trust fund babies I grew up with live/bum/maybe go to school there.
Boone is pretty trust fund free though. Southern greek life tools who think they are rich when they actually aren't don't count.
I've been debating between Oregon, Washington, or Montana for grad school and Montana is currently winning. Seems like the least trendy/hipster of the three. I hate when people have a ton of outdoor equipment and don't do jack ****. I get the sense that it's a lot easier to get away from those types in Montana.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Boulder I agree with. A lot of the trust fund babies I grew up with live/bum/maybe go to school there.
Boone is pretty trust fund free though. Southern greek life tools who think they are rich when they actually aren't don't count.
I've been debating between Oregon, Washington, or Montana for grad school and Montana is currently winning. Seems like the least trendy/hipster of the three. I hate when people have a ton of outdoor equipment and don't do jack ****. I get the sense that it's a lot easier to get away from those types in Montana.

You should consider *not* factoring in the "trendy/hipster" aspect of a location for grad school. Just sayin'...

And I, for one, don't mind the people who have the equipment but never get out. Means less people on the trails/mountains for me. YMMV.

 

[Serial Midget]

You should consider *not* factoring in the "trendy/hipster" aspect of a location for grad school. Just sayin'...

There are plenty of skinny jeaned fixies all over the state... its not like Montana campuses dont have access to the interwebs and cable TV... even the Hutterites have iPhones.

 

[dexter]

montana sucks, dont come