Off The Beaten Path in the USA: The Montana Oval.

One of our favourite road trips is to drive from Calgary to Great Falls Montana, then on to Helena for a day, then over to Missoula for a few days and then back up to Kalispell before heading home to Calgary.

Great Falls

Great Falls has a lovely main street to explore as well as the Falls on the Missouri River as does Helena. A must visit is the C.M. Russell Museum and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Centre. If you are into quirky you must check out the Sip ‘n Dip Lounge, a tiki lounge with huge glass wall pool that allows you to watch the mermaids swim while you enjoy their signature blue lagoon drink.

Helena

Helena is home to several tourist attractions from the Cathedral of Saint Helena to original Governor’s Mansion, from the Montana State Capitol building to the Holter Museum of Art. We love to wander the shops in the downtown.

Butte

Sometimes we even detour to Butte Montana to enjoy it’s amazing collection early 19th century architecture. The city was once one of the richest places in the USA as result of huge  mines.  Its landmark district is home to one of the best collections of Victorian and early 20th century architecture in the USA. There are several interesting museums including the Dumas Brothel Museum and the World Museum of Mining. It is definitely a walk back in time. 

Missoula

We wander Missoula for a few days as this university city has lots to offer, including the University of Montana campus which in 2009 was ranked as the most beautiful campus in the America. Founded in 1893, the campus is like a huge park dotted with heritage buildings that are fun to explore.  

It is also home to the 25,217 capacity Washington-Grizzly Stadium, which not only is home to the Montana Grizzly football team but host major concerts including the likes of the Rolling Stones.  The Grizzly as famous for having 25 consecutive winning seasons from 1986 to 2011. Fans are able to support the side in the local area and across major sporting competitions at sportsbooks like Cloudbet, who continue to offer markets across these popular events.

Missoula has a vibrant downtown with funky shops, cafes and restaurants. If you are into art the Missoula Art Museum (MAM for short) is definitely worth exploring.  Missoula is known its great outdoors so you might want go for a hike, kayak the river or try your hand at fly-fishing.

Kalispell

Time to head home but not without stopping for a day or two in Kalispell located on the Flathead Lake (the largest in USA west of the Mississippi River).  Kalispell is are year-round recreational town with sailing, boating, fishing, golf and hiking in the summer and skiing, skating  snow-shoeing and ski-dooing in the winter. If you are into history there is the Northwest Montana History Museum, Hockaday Museum of Art and Conrad Mansion Museum. Families will lover the Woodland Water Park.

Last Word

While Montana is know for its great outdoors, it also includes many cities and towns that are fun to explore.