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I keep
Telling my wife we should move to Montana.
Where would you go in Montana?

The fact that in any city in seemingly any quantity you can build a casino/liquor store, to the point where any major intersection or street you drive down you will see several of these crap *** casinos located in like an old Checker Auto Parts location or what was likely a bar or fast food place, means that other types of businesses have been squeezed out. You can almost smell the meth everywhere you go. There is no good food to be found yet dozens of crappy pizza places.

I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't what I found there. At this point I've stayed in 5 cities, Butte, Helena, Billings, Sidney and Great Falls and you couldn't pay me to live in any of them. I've also done about 15 hours of driving through Montana and while there are some nice looking parts I was actually expecting much more interesting and beautiful landscapes.

They need to get rid of the casinos. It's gross. I've gone into a couple to buy alcohol and they are sad. Sad sad sad. I thought Wendover was a depressing little **** hole. Wendover is like high roller fancy pants casinos compared to 99% of what I've seen in Montana.

As I've traveled around I've seen places I'd be happy to live, none of them are in Montana.
 
I went into a Hardees in downtown Billings, it was directly across the street from my hotel, and as I was looking at the menu while the person was asking me what I wanted I asked "Do you have a jalapeno burger?" I assumed their menu was basically the same as Carl's Jr.. The cashier said "I don't think we have any jalapenos in this whole building. You're a little far north for that."

I got a bacon burger and it was the worst hamburger I've had in at least 5 years.

I stopped by the next day and got some chicken strips. When asked for the sauce I wanted I said Buffalo sauce and the person made like a weird sound and said "Wow, spicy!"
 
Where would you go in Montana?

The fact that in any city in seemingly any quantity you can build a casino/liquor store, to the point where any major intersection or street you drive down you will see several of these crap *** casinos located in like an old Checker Auto Parts location or what was likely a bar or fast food place, means that other types of businesses have been squeezed out. You can almost smell the meth everywhere you go. There is no good food to be found yet dozens of crappy pizza places.

I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't what I found there. At this point I've stayed in 5 cities, Butte, Helena, Billings, Sidney and Great Falls and you couldn't pay me to live in any of them. I've also done about 15 hours of driving through Montana and while there are some nice looking parts I was actually expecting much more interesting and beautiful landscapes.

They need to get rid of the casinos. It's gross. I've gone into a couple to buy alcohol and they are sad. Sad sad sad. I thought Wendover was a depressing little **** hole. Wendover is like high roller fancy pants casinos compared to 99% of what I've seen in Montana.

As I've traveled around I've seen places I'd be happy to live, none of them are in Montana.
The casinos throw me off. I, like probably everyone, grew up believing gambling was only legal in Nevada and New Jersey. But then over time you had Indian reservations having casinos. It was always the same, bright flashing lights, etc. But then when we went to Montana back about 12 years ago, I noticed casinos that were clearly not on reservations. And it wasn’t bright lights and excitement. It was like a Hardee’s [note that this thought came to my head before I read your next post mentioning Hardee’s]. And I don’t mean the Carl’s Jr. Hardee’s that I now is. I mean the old brown building ones that Malone used to do commercials for. The ones that eventually got bought up by Burger King in the mid-90s. I don’t know that I’ve ever gotten an explanation on gaming in Montana. Isn’t that a newer thing? Montana isn’t know as a gambling state. And why do they look like a place you’d go eat a ******, generic breakfast?
 
There are a few amazing places in MT, none mentioned here so far. I have an awesome lakehouse here where I spend half the summer.

And yes, lots of pizza places, some good and some not. Pizza Ranch is on the not list, and close to the bottom at that.
 
Montana has Glacier, which is nice. The drive up there is pretty good as you’re maybe about 1-1.5 outside of Columbia Falls. Really between there and Missoula. But if you’re going to go up to Glacier, go ahead and go all the way up to Banff.
 
I have always wanted to fish that "River Runs Through It" river in Montana
 
The casinos throw me off. I, like probably everyone, grew up believing gambling was only legal in Nevada and New Jersey. But then over time you had Indian reservations having casinos. It was always the same, bright flashing lights, etc. But then when we went to Montana back about 12 years ago, I noticed casinos that were clearly not on reservations. And it wasn’t bright lights and excitement. It was like a Hardee’s [note that this thought came to my head before I read your next post mentioning Hardee’s]. And I don’t mean the Carl’s Jr. Hardee’s that I now is. I mean the old brown building ones that Malone used to do commercials for. The ones that eventually got bought up by Burger King in the mid-90s. I don’t know that I’ve ever gotten an explanation on gaming in Montana. Isn’t that a newer thing? Montana isn’t know as a gambling state. And why do they look like a place you’d go eat a ******, generic breakfast?
The NDN casinos are not on reservations, but they are on tribal land. Not at all the same thing. There are a few here in OR - none that close to me, maybe 1.5 hours away? Not my thing, when I've gone to casinos I've been bored, mostly. The only thing I'd really be interested in would be poker, and I'd get eaten alive at even the kindest of casinos.
 
The NDN casinos are not on reservations, but they are on tribal land. Not at all the same thing. There are a few here in OR - none that close to me, maybe 1.5 hours away? Not my thing, when I've gone to casinos I've been bored, mostly. The only thing I'd really be interested in would be poker, and I'd get eaten alive at even the kindest of casinos.
Is every major Montana city on tribal land? I have to assume it is just legal to run a casino in Montana anywhere you damn well please based on where they are... everywhere. Most of them also have a liquor store in them, making me think there's some crossover in licensing. I think I only saw one liquor store that wasn't also a casino.
 
I would be far more favorable towards casinos in Montana if they were on tribal land and benefitted the tribes. That's not what I've seen.

As much as I like freedom and the right for adults to decide for themselves, I think casinos in the middle of every city is bad for everyone.

I can only imagine that because the economy in these cities is depressed they decided to add some juice with casinos. These casino serve the poorest sector of the community and make life worse for those people.

You can see the effects of meth all over Montana. I'm not being snarky or exaggerating. Montana is largely part of the meth wasteland that has spread across most of rural U.S..

I hear the song "Try That in a Small Town" and I can't help but hear "try meth in a small town" because as much as that major city person wants to elevate small towns that he never lived in, meth is the reality in small U.S. towns. Outside of major metropolitan areas the U.S. has become a meth wasteland. Small towns are meth towns.
 
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