One Nation, Under God
Isn’t this a wonderful spring?
Days of rain mixed with days of snow, cold, and lots of wind.
It’s enough to make people leave.
But take my word -- they’ll regret it.
I know very few folks who have moved away from Montana and not in some small way regretted their decision.
It’s hard to come back. Wages are better most everywhere else, rent is cheaper, and then there’s the weather. The high temperature today in Phoenix is expected to be 81. Bozeman’s not even going to hit 50.
Yet Bozeman is booming. Weather be damned. A two-bedroom downtown loft can be had for just a tad more than $1 million. Someone is moving here.
I suspect, however, that most of those folks are coming from somewhere outside Montana, and probably aren’t fulltime residents. Consequently, they can’t enjoy this place like those of us who call Montana home.
If you haven’t endured a Big Sky winter it’s hard to truly appreciate spring. A rainy, 45-degree day in May still beats the heck out of a couple weeks of sub-zero temperatures in February.
And instead of becoming bored with the day after day sunny, warm sameness of Arizona, we revel in those rare afternoons when the sun peeks out and the wind lays, if only for a brief moment or two.
We marvel at mud, which only appears when the mercury rises above freezing. We dream of green-up, that remarkable phenomenon which happens each year for a few days between runoff and drought.
When the weather clears, the ground dries, and it quits freezing at night, Montana is hard to beat. Therein lies the problem. When it gets nice out here it’s as pleasant as anywhere on the planet. Everybody wants a piece of that. It’s what everyone is waiting for, that rare air we call summer.
There are, however, a few disclaimers. Summer in Montana includes biting bugs, venomous reptiles, and larger critters that can eat you. The rivers are crowded and parking at the more popular trailheads -- like seating at the better bistros – is limited.
Fortunately, summer, like spring, is but a brief stop before winter. About the time we begin to complain about the heat, it snows again.
Those that can afford it head south. Those that can’t afford it and simply can’t stand it any longer move away for good.
They’re kidding themselves if they think they’ll ever get back.
Parker Heinlein is at [email protected].
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