MontanaWithKids.com

Feed your love! February’s Festa Regionale menu at Il Fornaio highlights the Italian region of Marche for a special Valentine’s outing, exquisitely pairing the cuisine of the mountains with that of the sea. The cooks in the mountainous region of Marche specialize in hearty meat dishes such as lamb and pork, while the coastal inhabitants take advantage of the abundant finfish and shellfish.
(more…)

Whether heading out to dinner or just in the mood for pure decadence, Morton’s pre-Valentine’s Day Chocolate and Port tasting heeds the call for a sinful evening warm-up. Local chocolatier Chocolati Handmade Chocolates and Morton’s Seattle present a tasting of ruby, tawny and LBV (late bottled vintage) ports with melt-in-your-mouth Chocolati chocolate truffles.
(more…)

Since before time even began to exist* there has been this ubiquitous thing called The Children’s Museum. These are often underfunded, though never underappreciated, and frequently enjoyed by all in attendance. The children’s museum in Missoula is one such example, especially considering how hard they work to make their place so much fun.
(more…)

I’m not familiar with the country of Elk, but I’m not familiar with my own country either, no matter how much of it I’ve traveled, so I won’t try to make like I’m some geographical prodigy or anything. I’ll just tell you that we didn’t need passports to visit Elk Country, and the visitor’s center was worth ten times the suggested donation, and even that was only a suggestion.
(more…)

If you know the Seattle area, there’s a neighborhood with a flavor all its own. If you don’t, maybe today’s the day to come to know it. Why wander out of the Capitol Hill neighborhood when Tidbit is dangling yet another fantastic prix fixe celebration menu before you? And if you’re not on the hill, maybe you should consider wandering up there for the afternoon.
(more…)

No matter which Ivar’s full service restaurant you choose, there’s always a breathtaking waterfront view waiting and amazing seafood this Valentine’s Day, and we’ve got something special lined up! Start with complimentary Ivar’s clam nectar, an aphrodisiacal treat of which Ivar Haglund once said is so potent, “not over 3 cups of Clam Nectar to any married man without permission of his wife… no exceptions.”
(more…)

If you’ve never been to Canlis, let us point out that every occasion there is a celebration. Maybe it’s a birthday, anniversary, honeymoon or Thursday – whatever it is will become a celebration. It’s easy to know this for certain because Canlis is the single best restaurant in the city, even according to my friends with most discriminating tastes.
(more…)

The town of Anaconda in Montana has tarnished a bit since the close of the world class smelter operation some years back. The classic homes are still there, and its history is richer for the journey, but today tourists make up a good part of the city’s plan. That’s why they built the Copper Chute Slide, however, I can’t help but think, “Smelter? that’s a funny word.”
(more…)

Travel and tourism sites come dime a dozen, even in places as famously empty as the US state of Montana, but one publication is looking to shake things up a bit, and they’re already doing it with the next generation of journalists. MontanaWithKids.com offers news, views and reviews of all the hottest – and most unique – tourist attractions in the state, and all from the perspective of the kids who see it as tourists.
(more…)

Just up the hill from the city of Butte is a little thing attraction they call the Mining Museum. It isn’t really a museum so much as a cubicle-half-height wall with a bunch of names and plaques on it, but it’s free as long as you can endure the dust and heat, and if you’re in the area anyhow, it’s honestly almost worth a visit.
(more…)

Seems like you’d want a comedian, like Jon Stewart or that (committee) guy from the Onion, to pick the best satire news story to win the annual prize, but the time-tested system of Humor Feed has a leg up on the competition. Already famous in their own right, HumorFeed.com does it differently, and it’s a difference you can plainly see. They start by making their already elite members select just one story each for nomination, then they test them among their own ranks, and from their it goes to the expert panel of judges… and every year, the winner is an absolute gem.
(more…)

Chalk it up to me being young, but I couldn’t find any interest in the chalking up of the sandstone overhangs in Montana’s pictograph caves. Maybe I was disappointed because they weren’t caves, or because “they” was a singular, or maybe it was the fact that it was scorching hot outside. I can recommend this attraction, but only if you have a longer attention span than me, and I warn you, mine is better than it’s ever been before.
(more…)

Montana has a real surplus of a few things. They’ve got more sky than they know what to do with (a “big sky” if you will), empty stretches of well-maintained roads, and they’ve also got more ghost towns than any state should ever have need for, especially on a per capita basis. But if you like ghost towns, and I sure as heck do, the best one in Montana is easily Bannack State Park.
(more…)

Plum Creek Timber Company may be citing a decline in home building wood products for the reason their laying off more than 145 workers, but the bottom line is looking more black than red, and an 11th hour Bush shift in land use rights is to blame.
(more…)

Billings was made a great destination on our trip for more reasons than I can safely try to express in just a single article, but there was one tourist feature that really helped us find fun and a love of the city like no other, and that was the small, private, family run business known as Montana Fun Adventure Tours. We didn’t have time to really enjoy their full tours, but based on how amazing their short tours are, we’re definitely going to try to catch a bigger one when we return.
(more…)

There’s a city in Montana called Butte, and I know what you’re thinking, it sounds like something else (specifically “cute,” — which as far as cities go, it is — but there’s a lot more to the place than just having a great name. Turns out it also has a great history, but I’m not going to spend any time on that either. I’m here to talk about the Berkeley Pit.
(more…)

It didn’t take long, but to our great surprise and delight, one of our Montana With Kids articles has been nominated for the most prestigious award in humorous news coverage, the 2008 HumorFeed article of the year. The article was entitled “‘Future Man’ Jokes Lost on Past-centric Nevada City Re-Enactors”.
(more…)

Happy Pappy, the jingling cowboy, is known for his unique style of entertainment throughout the western tourism industry especially in and around Billings, MT. Dennis McNiven, who many also call Pappy, has been providing western entertainment from acting in movies to strumming his guitar around campfires. Pappy, who has been in movies like Far & Away, Lonesome Dove, and River Runs Through It (to name a few), has settled down in his ways and now provides entertainment to the masses in Montana.
(more…)

Public parks are supposed to belong to public people, and I know few people more public than us. I’ve been in the spotlight since before I was even born, so I was prepared to be the expert I am on all such things. Seems the public here wants water at their parks, so water they do have.
(more…)

The recent blast of cold that’s frozen roadways from Seattle to Chicago and beyond has taken a heavy toll on travel conditions in north-central Montana. Highway Patrol reports that they’re still responding to accidents and incidents throughout the area, though the high of 100 stuck and stranded vehicles on the highways has since passed.
(more…)

Stark shadows portend shortened days as winter settled in. Blizzard and below zero temperatures have been predicted, and have been seen. The Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine near Helena smartly stockpiled dry gravel for shipping to home miners during the winter, so though the roads may be impassable, you can leave that hassle to UPS guy.
(more…)

Wildfire suppression costs in Montana have continued to climb, even during this period of falling revenues and tightening budgets, yet other states still feel they have no reason to assist with the cots of Montana Firejumpers, despite the benefits they’ve brought for decades.
(more…)

There was a recent raid of a “canine sanctuary” that resulted in the seizure of 189 English shepherds from a tenement kennel in Billings, which also turned up 10 frozen dog carcasses and a dead dog found beside the breeder’s bed, according to authorities. Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney Mark Murphy has not yet said whether or not he will file charges against breeder Linda Kapsa, but may make his decisions in coming days.
(more…)

It was a good few months ago when we first had an opportunity to let one of our staffers try his hand at the most unusual of modern-era video game systems; the Nintendo Wii. Our own senior staff contributor, Patrick, is himself doubly qualified to love this system. First of all, he’s autistic, and secondly, he’s played the Wii… and his love of it went so far beyond “like” it wasn’t even funny.
(more…)

New Year’s Day in Montana isn’t exactly the time of year famous for its beautiful grass and legendary sunshine, but it didn’t stop participants from pulling out their putters and hitting the green in the annual Polar Bear Classic golf tournament. Then again, Montana isn’t known for polar bears.
(more…)

Montana was a trip like none other we’ve ever taken. The people and places we saw were so great that after almost three weeks in big sky country, we took a month back home, and just had to return for another three week. That doesn’t mean all of it was perfect though, and there were a few glaring exceptions… The Western Heritage Inn in Bozeman was one such bone in the smoked salmon fillet, and it deserves mention for it.
(more…)

The 2009 Miss Rodeo Montana Pageant is all set for Jan. 7 in Great Falls, Montana. The annual pageant held together with the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals, has a 50-year history in the State. It’s where a young woman to represent pro-rodeo and the State of Montana as a public spokesperson and ambassador for the sport. Past attendees say it’s not to be missed.
(more…)

The $20 tickets, on sale since November 1st, are about to get a little more popular, at least in Butte, a town long famous for gambling of the less-than-legal variety. It seems the top prize ticket was issued there at a Town Pump, and one lucky resident is seeing green.
(more…)

Easily the single best experience we had in all of our many Montana adventures was the evening we spent just east of Billings in the fine company of Pappy and his family at the Western Romance Company Cowboy Dinner. It’s a horse-drawn wagon ride, an evening of authentic cowboy cooking, and fellowship with the single best people we met on the whole of our trip to Montana.
(more…)

The rate of growth in taxes Montana collects on video gambling machines fell to 4.4 percent in fiscal 2008, which is believed by some to be the lowest rate since the 2.5% level recorded in 2001. Between $1.2 and $1.4 billion was wagered on state-regulated video gambling machines in 2008, up only slightly from the dollar range in 2007, so growth and taxation is worse than stagnant. What does it all mean?
(more…)