5 Things Newcomers to Bozeman Need to Know

Advice from Minda:

Please stop covering our amazing natural skyscrapers with new buildings. Montana is meant to be a beautiful rural place and everyone who was born and raised here would like to keep it that way. Keep your big metal skyscrapers in your big city and let us have our small towns.

Advice from Jennifer:

In the winter time drive like your grandmother is in the back seat holding a big pot of hot soup. Be careful you don't want grandma to spill on herself. Always leave enough space for sliding...I mean stopping. It's slick as snot in these parts.

Advice from Alexander:

Well if you’re new to the area, just know there are in fact vampires that lurk in the light and night time. Day walkers.

Also, it’s really cold and everybody here loves that.

Also, you’re legally bound to ride a bike to work for a year and have a punch card with how many times you’ve fallen in order to get your license to drive a vehicle. You’ve had to have fallen 10 times and have medical record proof.

Advice from Craig:

Spend your first years learning how to efficiently stay warm. Once you master the art of being ready for the weather, THEN go play. A lot of families find themselves upside down after playing during all Summer and then bury themselves after paying for an enormous heat bill.

You'll want an all-wheel drive vehicle to get your family around in as well. Buy an extra set of rims and studded snow tires and have them swapped every season.

Snow tires last a very long time if you take care of them. Don't be the idiot sliding around pretending they aren't.

Never travel without a blanket for each person. If your vehicle breaks down, its going to be cold until you get help. Always tell someone where you are going, you never know when you'll get stuck or break down. Cell phones are very unreliable and shouldn't be depended on for emergencies.

There are places that people still haven't touched here, which is rare for this age; and dangerous. Time will stand still here if you let it. Being a Montanan means becoming part of what Montana demands and Montana demands patience, conservation, attention to safety, and teamwork.

Advice from Sherry:

Don't try to change us and the beauty of our home. If you want this new place to be like the old then stay away.