Missoula, Montana

[kaelbaerful]

I'm from Missoula, Montana. I thought i hated it, but i moved, and i miss it so much.

[grennie207]

What is it like? as in is it Urban, Sub-urban, rural? im trying to get a good understanding because im thinking about going to college out there but i want to know what the area is like so if you could help me out that would be great!

[TheLogicJunkie]

First of all, I went out there in the summer months, and it was beautiful. The town to me is like a very well-developed suburb inside a bowl-shaped mountain valley. Several roads lead in and out of town, through rugged valleys, and there is the University of Montana there that I thought was very beautiful.

My only concerns about the town are what might be a problem with alcoholism and homeless types hanging around the main downtown roads. But being there for school should be fun, I think.

[jacob95124]

@grennie207 I try to go there every year. Let me tell you, look into it. Every time I go there, I never want to make it back to California.. It is a quiet place... a small college town. It's very "gay friendly." It has a good mix of cultures there. The restaurants are great and there are a lot of community outings as often as imaginable. The folks were all very kind there. I'm a Latin guy and never felt isolated or targeted there. GO!!!!!!!

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, I happen to know that hispanics seem to me to be perhaps the least-liked ethnic group in America, so if the folks there don't shut you out of opportunities, then that's really saying something.

[Dojocho]

I live in Japan but my dream is to go to montana...and ride a horse...such a dream I hope it comes true.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, Japan is beautiful, too. I would very much like to visit there, too.

[myysticranger]

Yeah California is going bankrupt and now they want to do it to Montana....bastards. I've been here 7 years...LOVE IT! your Vlog is pretty accurate.

[hamace]

After years of traveling both for business and long haul, Montana is the last of the United Statesthat I have been.

Montana is by far the nicest most beautiful place I have ever been.

I am from Boston and been through NE, while I still love it, Montana has so much more to offer.

I have never come across so many nice people.

Fort Benton in particular was like nothing I have ever seen before....a very special place. God Bless this wonderful state.

[ezbadfish744]

Shoulda stoped in Mullan and had a beer at the Outlaw Tavern.

[SyreenInSapphire]

AH! Hank Green of the vlogbrothers is from Missoula!

[Michelewicz]

I've been to Missoula once. if there's one place that makes me want to leave New Hampshire, it's Montana. Nice country, Nice people, and a very free atmosphere.

[BobHatesYourCamera]

you got it dead on buddy. i'm a born and raised missoulian, and i agree with everything you said. thank you

[funkyflights]

Great information ... thanks ..

[squawnogetumfirewood]

wallace! wallace is amazing, the center of the universe.

[TheLogicJunkie]

I liked Wallace. It was really pretty.

[rrmmt23]

Missoula got the best pot, super sexy women, the nicest old people u will ever meet, best beef in the US, best winter sports, best scenry, best hikes, best hot springs, best mountain biking, best road biking, cleanest air, best speed limits, and the most beautiful sky and sunset you will you will ever see in your life, oh and did i mention the best beer from big sky brewing. Worst part is that the majority of the people who live here dont want you here and good luck finding a job.

[Bigsky96]

Itss allll true :)

[athienagmorgan]

i live in missoula right now and the "L" stands for loyola high school its the private catholic high school here. but yes its nice...TOOOOO much drinking tho cus of the university and now all bars are smoke free! ;)

[whiskeyportal]

Shhhhhhhh!!! We would like to keep outsiders out, thank you very much.

[behnnie]

Great vid. Thanks for posting. :) I'm looking at taking a trip out there and videos like this are really helpful for getting an idea of what the area is actually like. :)

[TheLogicJunkie]

Yeah, no problem. And if you get a chance, also check out Glacier National Park just to the north, and drive through Coeur d'Alene in northern Idaho and Spokane, Washington, all along the I-90. It's all beautiful.

[39ish]

Interesting. Thanks.

[queefsneef]

fuck you splivey, thanks for all the positve feed back on missoula, and ya the californians are a major pain in the ass we all wish they would go back where they came from

[Trott53]

ok one thing alot of bars downtown dont allow smoking and omg they drink at bars? wow... and why were you suprised by us being literate? and you never saw a buffalo bro, haha trust me on that, a deer yes but a buffalo? for real? yes californians need to seriously bugg off, but all in all missoula is the town where you can make friends very easily, if you aint a freakin snob id gladly shake your hand. the "L" stands for lolo peak, these are the mountains next to hellgate pass, glad you like it.

[Trott53]

one thing brotha... you never saw a buffalo... trust me, unless you head north up to ronan up that way you never saw a buffalo, and also you sounded suprised that our city was literate? we aint a bunch of tractor driving trailer trash people, i aint trying to bring you down just bringing in the facts... but yes missoula is the city where your gunna meet people who are gunna tip there hats -not always a cowboy hat for you ignorant folks- and say hello and ask how you doin, we like to make friends

[whiskeyportal]

On the north side of Kelly Island there is a Buffalo ranch

[W0weeZ0wee]

"hole zone"= a green

[splivey]

Face it. Aside from the scenic,mountain views Missoula is a small, smelly, depressing, hippie filled, backward, racist dung hole. The music is less than ordinary, the food is greas, the whether sucks nine months out of the year. The people who like it have no choice and have to stay there for one reason or another.

[rrmmt23]

face it splivey, just because no one liked you in missoula and you left doesnt mean you know anything about it. if you werent such an uptight asshole jerkoff and accepted people then you probably would of made it here but since your a lame ass dick sucking master your gone and im glad for it because i hate mofo's like you and you dont deserve to be here or enjoy anything we got. and im sure the fine ass girls here dissed your ass too cause your shits weak son

[WhiteKnuckles7]

Your God Damn Right we're stand-offish!! Or at least eveyone I know is this is are free open land and all u californian bastards come in and by all the fucking land at it bullshit !!! This is a Red state and im God damn proud of that so all you californians and everyone eles stay they hell out of montana and anywere anround missoula cause when i see out of state plates I start

[TheLogicJunkie]

I wasn't talking about Missoulans.

[Momothehyper]

haha thanx for all of the possitive feedback on missoula a lot of ppl say that it sucks and i went to new york and they asked me if i rode a horse to school ppl have really wrong stereotypes on missoula we are basically the same as everyone else we have cars and we have big schools! its like everyone else ya californians are ruining missoula it sucks and gas was really high but it went down to about 1.00 but now its back up to 1.96 about. well i hope you come visit again soon missoula is great

[TheLogicJunkie]

I climbed to the top of Mount A, I think it's called.

...And I don't mean I climbed to just the "A". I mean I climbed to the TOP of the mountain. That was HARD.

[Momothehyper]

are you talking about the "M" , mount sentinel?

[TheLogicJunkie]

Yes... I'm sorry. It was an "M". It was right behind the campus.

[laree2007]

Mount Jumbo

[Pentazoid111]

How would you compared your relations with the people in Portland Oregon vs. your relations with the people in Missoula Montana? You probably didn't developed long lasting relations with the people in Missoula since you stayed there for such a short period of time. How did the people treat you as a visitor vs. how the people treated you in portland oregon?

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, the people in Missoula were very down-to-earth with me, which is my top preference. The people in Portland seem to me to be too uptight about being sophisticated.

[imsophialea]

missoula rocks....

[kingmarcV]

yes the "L" is for lyola

[EvansMommaMT]

I'm a native Californian living in Montana.. I think these are largely media-induced stereotypes. I actually like the people and culture here, and wouldn't change it for the world. Perhaps the people COULD be a bit more open-minded, but this is a red state, so I'll leave that one alone. Otherwise, I love it here and intend to stay.

[reality1reject]

I also know people born and raised in Montana

that I would classify as Californians

[TheLogicJunkie]

So they are naturally uptight and stand-offish?

[bcsweep]

I hate the Californians here, and I love how they even say their not from California but we can always tell.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Apparently their effect on Missoula has been to make things:

1) uptight,

2) overpriced,

3) stand-offish.

...So where's the up-side?

[splivey]

Missoula sucks!

[ikaustbillionz]

im glad you say this =)

[Varrio323Mucho406]

I moved here 3 1/2 years ago from Los Angeles....I'll never go back home again. I've melted amongst the Missoulian culture; one paycheck away from poverty. Ha!

My mother's family are old school Montana loggers, but she decided during the 90's that the economy was too weak to raise 2 kids in. Timber is out, real estate and food service is in. Still, this place has everything I want even without a booming economy. I came here to get away from such distraction.

I feel like a Missoulian now.

[TheLogicJunkie]

I forsee Missoula becoming a leader in sustainable energy engineering, quite honestly. That city just feels burgeoning to me, like the people there can't wait to latch onto some new, cutting-edge industry and become a tour de force.

It would be something if Missoula became a center for designing hydrogen generators and hydrogen technology. It's clean, and there's plenty of room in the area to develop such an industry.

[bigdogwdc]

Missoula!

[Godlesspanther]

I really enjoyed hearing you say so many nice things about my little city. I'm glad you enjoyed your visit. Stop by any time.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Thanks for the invite.

When I was walking through that main park area, the young guys were mock swordfighting and it was all pretty cool. But you might consider installing some of those permanent concrete chess tables in the park, too...

[Bobbinztwo]

I second that. Thanks for being a cool guy. You're the 3rd of my four subscriptions...not in that order.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, that's good to hear.

[splivey]

Missoula is a sad place.

[scottiefriend]

missoula is not sad!

You're sad

[moniecanotbeaten]

missoula freedom from hate

[youzlesseater]

I thought you said it great!! I am from missoula but moved to Seattle to work. The californians are pretty bad out there but the people will work through it. I miss the town and all that goes with it but when you live there for a long time all the college kids get on your nerves allthough they do bring some good drugs to a rather dull existence. Fishing and hiking are fun and all but sometimes people need a different way to look at the world. Thanks man you did a great town good.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Thanks...

It would be great if Missoula could spawn some new kind of industry, because it really does deserve better than what it's getting right now.

[Simpateeko]

Yea I keep seeing tv commercials for Michigan, trying to get businesses to move there. Most of our manufacturing has gone to China, so we'll see how that works out.

I wonder how an extended economic downturn would effect small towns Missoula. You said it was an art haven, no manufacturing base?

It may end up as a rich peoples getaway/vacation spot from what you described.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, my understanding is that there's been a forestry industry there for awhile, but that it doesn't seem to be in full throttle anymore.

This makes no sense to me, why the so-called "environmental" movement only focuses on not cutting down trees, rather than re-planting and replenishing new trees, while cut-down is allowed.

The guy who founded Greenpeace left the organization and started "Greenspirit", because he said that good-for-nothing communists had infiltrated and taken over.

[TheLogicJunkie]

As far as it being a wealthy getaway, that has happened in a very limited sense... Apparently the celebrity Kid Rock and someone else have built estates there and have attempted to bar people from accessing the public-use river.

Of course, the standard tactic of the newcomers is to use their money to buy influence in the local government, so that they can re-write the laws in favor of greater privacy and general overall uptightness, I'm sad to say.

[toadenk]

can't everyone just get along, just cuz i'm from detroit and we're number one on everything on the negitive side don't mean mean your cities are better then mine, just mean i can make it better than you in your city :P

[TheLogicJunkie]

Yeah, but you guys have the new Transformers in Detroit.

And you just watch... there will come a point when the cost of running businesses in Detroit will become so cheap that all sorts of new businesses will flock there.

[montaramike]

Californians suck! HAHAHAHA! I have run into anti-Californian attitudes in Oregon and Arizona, they don't like us in Washington either.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, not all Californians have this attitude... And, of course, a lot of it is probably envy or something.

With that said, I'd say a good deal of it is warranted. And it's not just Californians who are guilty of this "invaders from Mars" behavior when they move to a new place... immigrants everywhere tend to wrestle with it.

[montaramike]

There are a lot of strange people in the world. I live in a small coastal town. People move here because they like the way things are here. But then they try and change it to be more like the place they moved from. Makes no sense. There are people in the town of Moss Beach who bought houses at the end of the Half Moon Bay airport's runway and they complain about the noise from the planes! DOH!

[montaramike]

There is a group calling themselves the Nation of Aztlan (also known as La Raza), made up of Mexican Americans and Mexican illegal aliens. It is an anti semitic group that wants the US to "return" the western states to Mexico. The corrupt, impoverished, crime ridden country they all came here to get away from.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Exactly.

Why do so many people romanticize the horrible place they fled from, and demonize the new place they fled TO?

[LadyGreenEyes964]

Just what I was going to point out! (Great intro you did here, btw)

[TheLogicJunkie]

I didn't do it... Montara Mike did.  But it's great, isn't it.

[LadyGreenEyes964]

Meant to post in response to him...guess that's what happens when I stay up too late!  Oops! Love the ants!

[TheLogicJunkie]

Exactly... that sort of thing is happening all over. They act like an alien invasion force and try to completely change the atmosphere to something more "breathable" for them.

[dubaiedge]

we californians are ruining the world.

no, really, ca. is very expensive but there is still a lot to love there. i've brought ca. to iowa.... i'm not sorry...

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, I probably shouldn't have given that impression. There are cool Californians.

Maybe I'll redo the commentary...

[dubaiedge]

no, we're used to it...

the rest of the us is so fucking conservative & white. ca is a bastion of otherness. not all of it, but....

[montaramike]

Don't redo your commentary I think you are right on! A lot of Californian SUCK. People suck.

[drwindow1]

It sounds like a lovely country. I hope the prices don't get jacked up, before you know it it'll become a busy city and just start pulling your nerves.

[TheLogicJunkie]

Well, it has grown, to be sure.

[ozjthomas]

Sounds pretty nice. It is very pretty. I've been to Montana, between Yellowstone and Glacier, didn't get around to Missoula, though.

[TheLethargicAtheist]

Hamilton, Ontario is the best city in the world.

[TheLogicJunkie]

I've never been. It's nice, eh...