Why We Decided to Move to Helena, Montana, for a Month

Ouch, it’s been two months since my last post. That’s definitely the longest I’ve ever gone without writing something new here, and I want to be clear that The Girl Who Goes is NOT over… it’s just that the girl isn’t able to go very much these days.

But I haven’t given up on traveling forever, and with the first COVID vaccines being administered in the U.S. today, I’m feeling excited about my travel prospects for 2021!

Anyway, today’s my birthday so I decided I should write SOMETHING today, of all days. So I’ll share the story of my last travel adventure, during the month of October in Montana.

The Original Plan

Way back in December of last year (doesn’t that feel like an entire lifetime ago?) I made the formal decision not to renew my position as a language assistant in Spain for a third year. Technically, I’d known since the very start of my time in Spain that being an English teacher was a two-year thing. I wasn’t sure what would come after two years. And even as the end of my first year drew nearer, I didn’t feel any closer to figuring out what was next.

“I’m enjoying this right now. I’m sure whatever’s next will make itself apparent.”

That cheerful refrain was as much for myself as it was an answer to the questions from others. But it turned out I was right, and I spent the summer between my first and second years working as a freelance writer and digital marketer. My bachelor’s degree was in Spanish AND advertising/PR, so I was excited to finally be using both sides of my education — four years after graduation.

And finally, I knew what would come after year two in Spain. I would begin working full-time as a writer and marketer, apply for an autonomo (self-employed) visa in Spain, move Matt over with me, and voila! I could continue building my life in Madrid that I so loved, but on my own schedule. (No more waking up at 5:30am to catch the bus to school.)

Enter… COVID.

After a few months in total lockdown in Madrid, it was clear that my plan wasn’t going to work out. I was devastated. So, at the beginning of May, Matt and I came up with an alternative plan that I loved just as much: we’d spend three months in Ecuador instead. Maybe we could move back to Spain after the new year.

We booked our Airbnb in Quito and our flights from Miami for October 1, and we’d stay until Christmas. Surely COVID would be on the downswing by then. Over Facetime, we’d add parks and restaurants around our Quito apartment to our shared Google map of the neighborhood.

But COVID wasn’t getting better. In fact, it was getting exponentially worse. By the beginning of September, when I’d been home in Kansas City for two months, we conceded that we wouldn’t leaving for Ecuador in a month. Not because we legally couldn’t — Ecuador was one of very few countries that hadn’t closed its borders — but because it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. And we didn’t want our experience to be diluted by the heavy COVID restrictions.

So we asked our Airbnb host if we could postpone our reservation to the spring. (He said yes.) We rebooked our plane tickets. And we changed our plans… again.

But then I was big sad.

I know everyone’s lives have been screwed by COVID in one way or another (and most likely, lots of ways). But when you’ve been traveling for five years basically nonstop, and it feels like a fundamental part of who you are, it’s really hard to stay in one place.

Another New Plan: Helena, Montana

Eventually, I was able to cajole Matt into agreeing to spend the month of October somewhere else. Other than Kansas City. Luckily, we’re both able to work remotely right now, so it felt like a good opportunity for a change of scenery. And we’d drive in order to avoid any air travel safety concerns.

I opened Airbnb, entered our dates: October 1-31, entered our budget, and expanded the map to show the entire country. We were really open to almost anywhere, though we preferred places near the mountains.

After a couple days of intense scrutiny of probably 100 places — which kind of made my head spin — we found the perfect place in Helena, Montana. Three hours north of Yellowstone and three hours south of Glacier National Park, the little house seemed to have everything we’d need to stay for a month. Plus, it would be a great starting point for plenty of weekend trips.

So, on September 30, we packed up the car — along with our camping supplies — to make the two-day drive from Kansas City to Helena, MT.

Welcome to Our New Home!

Upon arriving in Helena, we basically fell in love with it immediately. Despite being the capital of Montana, Helena is only the 6th-largest city with a population of 33,000. Matt’s a sucker for small towns and mountains, and Helena provides both!

Plus, our Airbnb was truly the perfect place to spend a month. You can never really tell when looking at a handful of photos online, but our new “home” was even better than we expected. Not only was it a short walk to Helena’s quaint-but-lively downtown area, but the house was surrounded by hiking/biking trails and there were CHICKENS in the backyard!! Our Airbnb host greeted us with a bowl of fresh eggs and an invitation to make ourselves at home… and to feel free to let the chickens out whenever we wanted.

Everything we needed was within short walking or driving distance. Also, Helena really isn’t big so truly everything was within a 10-minute drive. We spent our first week getting acquainted with Last Chance Gulch — the downtown area — eating fried pickles and drinking Huckleberry Mules during happy hour at our favorite Helena restaurant, the Windbag Saloon.

Exploring Helena, Montana, and More

The first weekend, we daytripped to the nearby college town of Missoula to enjoy the “big city” and mountain views. We camped overnight in Beavertail Hill State Park and then went fly fishing the next morning. Matt caught 3 decent-sized trout, but we weren’t totally sure about fishing regulations so we threw them all back.

During the week, we worked. (Mostly Matt.) The next weekend, we went to Yellowstone. On the first day it was warm and sunny, and the second day brought snow! Though it was my 4th visit to Yellowstone, I’d never been there in the snow before. Then, my mom, my sister and her husband, and their baby drove up to Montana to visit us for a week! They stayed in an Airbnb a few blocks away, and while Matt worked during the day, we continued exploring Helena.

And the following weekend Matt and I had plans to finally visit Glacier National Park… but Montana’s first snowstorm of the season kept us at home. Instead, we baked cookies, built a snowman in the yard, and binge-watched Emily in Paris. 😋

The next weekend, which should have been our last, we checked the forecast on Friday afternoon and found out that Helena was supposed to get dumped with 17 inches of snow overnight… so we hurriedly packed up our home for the month and hit the road, trying to outrun the winter storm, which we were mostly able to do.

When Can I Leave Again?

Though Matt and I currently have our plane tickets for Ecuador for March, we’re paying close attention to COVID and vaccination plans, and we realize we’ll probably have to wait a few more months. (Hopefully, not longer than that!) But if it’s going to be six months until we’re able to start traveling again, I would happily spend another month in Montana.

For anyone else who is feeling stuck at home as we come up on the year anniversary of widespread COVID, I totally recommend taking a month away to find your “home away from home,” even if it’s in your own country. I came back from Montana feeling refreshed and ready to spend some time back in Kansas City… but only for a little bit.

 

Have you ever considered taking a long trip just for a change of scenery? Where would you go? Let me know in the comments!

-Cathy

Originally Published on December 14, 2020.