This past week my wife, son, and I went to Montana. We spent five days there and experience and a variety of scenic offerings from the state without an official nickname. From top to bottom, the trip was a resounding success.

When you get home from a vacation, you reflect on what you experienced. In the handful of days we were there, I can’t say any one thing stood out as above all the others. In a way, it sounds odd to make that claim, yet from actually experiencing the trip it is the correct response. Yellowstone, Big Sky, Montana State University and Bozeman downtown, snowing while in Belgrade and everything in between was completely enjoyable.

What was my big take away from this trip, except to say that everything was enjoyable? 

Montana is a land that still holds an ideal and a hope that transcends our modern understanding of the way things are. The towns we visited and outlying areas were clean, no roads were crowded and no one put chains on, even though many of the roads had snow and ice. When you put all three of those things together, my experienced said to me that people in Montana had a sense of self-responsibility and respect.

Of the three downtown areas we visited, all were clean. None looked like they were half empty shells of the past. On the contrary, they were historical, yet were living with the times. This is a far cry from just about every downtown area in the region we reside. 

When I went to merge on a highway, I never felt like I was managing three variables at once. I checked my mirrors, looked over my shoulder and then I was on my marry way. If I was in the city I reside and saw such a lack of traffic, I would assume a large natural disaster must have taken place.

I saw no on acting out of control, I saw no one driving out of control, I smelt no marijuana smoke while walking on any street, I saw no homeless, I saw no dilapidated city centers, I saw a picture of an ideal small town America in 2020.