Billings, USA - Montana

Montana, often referred to as "bear country," is home to a number of big towns, but you won't come upon a full-fledged city inside the state's borders. Northwestern USA is best known for its expansive forests and mountainous regions, with Montana more or less as the sponsor child for travel here. Adventurers - mostly from reaches within North America - ordinarily find some comfortable amenities in a place closely situated to Class 3 rivers and rocky ascents, and make good of their plans to test limits and break rules - and even possibly get lost in the process. Billings, one of the halfway house-like towns right smack dab in the middle of wilderness, is of a more popular ranking among destinations in the state. Factually speaking, Billings is the largest city in Montana; factually speaking once more, Billings is home to one - yes, one - high-rise office building. (If details are what you're looking for, the structure juts to the sky with a total of 20 floors.) Convenience is key to understanding why many choose Billings over less crowded places in the region to lay down their heads. You only need to visit the eastern edge of town to view one of the widest (and roughest) streams in Montana: Yellowstone River. Also, a number of hotels offer package deals allowing you to take part in activities such as mountain biking or rafting without having to pay standard prices. Billings itself is a nice place to stroll through if you're for window shopping and cuisine that really can't get any more American. We advise, however, to stay away from the industrial portion of town. Kids may find oil refineries amusing, but aromas emanating from these quarters are hardly pleasant and fields of warehouses, pipes and tanks aren't quite the visual treats one would expect in this part of the country.

When to go

Summers offer the most sunlight in Yellowstone County, but you'll have to debate with yourself whether the complementary downpours are worth traveling for. Also take into account whether a heat wave is heading the way of the state; coming across massive wildfires surely wouldn't put a good spin on a vacation in the mountains. Spring and autumn usually turn out to be far more wet than summer, but you won't need to worry about excessive exposure the sun and mornings and evenings always turn out to be a bit brisk, making for a great hike at dawn or a walk along the banks of the Yellowstone River after sunset. Only the state's ski resorts are found to be open in winter; waterproof attire is a must for the months between November and February.

Getting there and around

Billings Logan International Airport, possibly the busiest terminal in the state of Montana (though not something to write home about), is often the origin or destination for flights to/from Canada, an occasional connection with a Mexican city, and where the majority of the schedule is reserved for domestic travel. Fliers from Europe ordinarily go direct to New York or Chicago before heading over to Billings. The city's public transit system is quite good for the 100,000+ commuters who utilize its buses, but if you're looking to step away from an established schedule you can instead rely on a rental car to get you around. Inner-city travel may be tricky with such a vehicle, as parking can be somewhat hard to come by, but the benefits are great.

Attractions

The only city in Montana with a designated zoo, Billings sees many visitors arriving in town just to view its array of tigers, bears, and many more creatures big and small. The zoo's Siberian tiger is often said to be its biggest draw. Billings' cute and conventional historic district is not only pleasing to the eye outdoors, but inside as well. Visit the Yellowstone Art Museum and the multitudes of canvases of Rocky Mountain scenes are genuinely fantastic. Always intriguing to a few is the fact that the Museum has found a home inside an old prison.