When people think about going somewhere on vacation they usually think of somewhere warm on the ocean or beach. But, I think of going out west to the mountains of Montana. Montana is filled with activities to do such as skiing, riding ATVs, and visiting my family.
Traveling to Montana is always a really long trip. Whether it is driving 30 hours or flying five hours. I have made the drive to Montana a couple of times and it is not very fun. The drive usually takes about 2-3 days. The drive does bring many scenic views though once you get out further west. When flying you get to see all of the mountains from above which is very cool to see. A lot of the time when we go out there, our cousins from Illinois come with us which makes it a lot more entertaining.
We usually visit the home of my grandpa who passed away a little over two years ago. The house is high up on top of a large hill and far away from any town or even people. It is a beautiful, large house built on many acres of land. The house may be far away from any town but there are still all kinds of things to do. We can ride snowmobiles, ATVs, and much more. When we visit in the winter, we take the snowmobiles up on miles of acres of land. There are also many hills where we take sleds and can sled downhill. When I asked my cousin, Parker Johnson, about his favorite activity to do in Montana he said, “My favorite is probably ice fishing because I have always done it since I was younger when we would visit.” My personal favorite activity to do in Montana is definitely downhill skiing. When we go skiing, we always wake up early in the morning and get to the mountain pretty early. These ski slopes at Discovery are different than the ones in the Midwest. When going up the ski lift, it feels like you are miles in the air. The ski resort is located way up in the mountains and is always packed with people. When we go, we are usually there all day, and we eat lunch at the resort.
Montana is not only fun in the winter, but it is also fun in the summer. It may not be as warm as other places are in the summer, but there is still plenty to do. One of my favorite activities to do in the summer is to go up to the lakes in the mountains and take the speed boat out on the lake. The water might be a little cold, but it is still fun to swim and even tube, behind the boat. We also do things such as hiking through the mountains and seeing all of the beautiful sights such as elk and mountain goats. It is always cool to wake up in the morning and look out the window and see tons of elk in the yard similar to the deer here in Indiana. There are always many different animals that we see while in Montana. I asked my brother if he would rather live in the West or the Midwest and he said, “ Definitely the West because it is a lot more relaxed and it is secluded from a lot of people which I enjoy.”
There are many places to visit in Montana. One is the old Montana prison that is located in Deer Lodge about fifteen minutes from Grandpa’s house. It is an old historic prison you can tour and see all what an old prison used to look like. When we travel to the bigger cities in Montana there is much to do. There are many sports stores and different places to visit such as Scheels (which is 10x better than Dick’s Sporting Goods!) One of the things I enjoy doing is going and looking at colleges such as Montana University and Montana State. There are also many different places that you can eat that are only in Montana such as Bullman’s Cafe.
Another big reason for my family visiting Montana is being able to visit all of our family who live in Montana. When I asked my dad his favorite thing to do he said, “ Visiting my family and seeing all my aunts, uncles, and cousins that I don’t get to see as often.” When we visit we always try to see as much family as we can so we can catch up with everyone. The family always has some sort of party/get-together when we are in town so everybody can see each other and catch up.
Traveling to Montana has always been one of my favorite places to visit. I am hopeful I can visit this summer to see my family more and have fun.
