A’ho to Montana, the United States Treasure State! Big blue skies, enormous snow capped mountains, clear lakes and rivers, and red, green, and yellow landscapes; Montana is a place everyone should witness and experience at least once. They say beauty is subjective, held in the eyes of the beholder; but I now challenge this idea since exploring Montana. There is no way that any eye, on any living being can look at Montana, and not see absolute beauty. Every drive is a scenic one and every bend offers a sight even more marvelous than the one before. I’ve heard that the most high created nature to show us perfection; I believe that Montana is nature’s runway.

Look around and you’ll witness recognition and respect of the original people of Montana. Listen and you’ll hear sacred speak. Inhale and you’ll pull the scent of pine into your body. Touch the soil or the massive boulders and feel the tightness in your body surrender to peace. Smoke a Montana grown fat nug and taste the rainbow. It took just two short weeks for me to fall in love with Montana; the spirit, the people, and of course: the cannabis. Journey with me as I take you from Missoula, to Kalispell, to Great Falls, to Bozeman, and to Billings with stops and drive throughs in Flathead Reservation, Blackfeet Country, Big Fork, Whitefish, Helena, and East and West Glacier National Park.

Visiting: Missoula, Kalispell/BigFork, Great Falls/Helena, Bozeman, and Billings

Many people come from overpopulated places where nature has been chopped down for highrises and mansions to be built. These places are where a 10 minute drive is a 40+ minute drive and where food delivery takes an hour or longer because of traffic. I come from one of those places; Montana is not one of those places. Comparison: Miami-Dade County has over three million residents. This doesn’t include the people there on vacation every day of the year. Just one city, three million people with two area codes. If we group in Broward County so that South Florida as a whole is captured, we are looking at about seven million people and four area codes.

The entire state of Montana has about one million people and the entire state uses one area code. In a place that has more nature than people, you breathe differently. Going to and getting back from work doesn’t have the added stress of two hours of bumper to bumper traffic. You don’t have to pay extra charges for priority delivery because there is only a five minute difference between priority and standard. When there is more nature than people, there is less navigating amongst anger, stress, and low vibrational energy. Instead there’s more calm, ease, and overall peace.

Missoula

What a place! I landed under gray skies and cold temperatures but even in all that gray, I noticed the abundance of nature and various shades of green in the massive mountains surrounding the city. Although Missoula is the second largest city in Montana, the pace is calm and moves with flow, not push. If you’ve been to Portland, Oregon and loved it then you’ll love Missoula. I felt big Portland vibes and energy there. It’s like Missoula whispered to me like Portland did: “come as you are, we love you anyway”. Driving around the city, gentrification, though maybe it’s evolution, is taking place. Like many places, you can see the construction of new developments and expansions happening. The population is growing and travel into the state is picking up; the first sign of that was the Missoula airport which is currently under construction, but still the best and easiest airport I’ve ever flown in and out of.

The Cannabis Scene

Fidelity Diagnostics, where chemistry and compliance meet and test Montana grown and created cannabis products. Owned by Andrew and Melissa, this company started with one machine in less than 1,000 square feet, and grew so much that they now operate out of a massive building with hella machines and computers doing all the things I didn’t pay attention to in class, and they love it! Montana’s new regulation on 10% variance in testing is thanks to Andrew and his supporters that got the bill passed.

Tamara and Shanda of Secured Canna Transportation own the largest cannabis logistics company in Montana. They built the company to fill in the gap for dispensaries wholesaling across the state. In less than a year, this woman owned business in cannabis has conducted 600 transfers, moved over 70 metric tons of THC infused beverages, 1,500+ packages, and thousands of pounds of cannabis.

The very first cannabis cultivation I toured in the state of Montana was the myth known as PJ’s Farm in Missoula; which isn’t a myth, I saw it myself. This is a massive underground grow owned and operated by Paul, a passionate Pennsylvania born and raised legacy cultivator whose passion beamed from his pores and is felt in the fat nugs he grows and harvests. -My PJ’s Farm favorite is: Lemon Skunk.

I visited Stokes, a cannabis company owned by Andrew, a legacy cultivator who is in love with cultivation, grows delicious nugs, and talked about Montana’s back and forth journey with cannabis legalization. He was honest about what many cultivators experience when a writer/journalist wants to share their stories. Andrew reflected on how cool it is for his work to be recognized, but also explained that it’s not so easy to transition from hiding what you did, to now showing what you do. I shared big smiles and laughs while inhaling scents of the beauty grown for us to consume. -My Stokes favorite is: Lime Crush.

I hung out with James and Taylor at Sinful Beverages, who ships out a pallet a day of their delicious infused beverages. These guys know flavor; honestly, the building smelled delicious enough to eat. Have you ever heard of cannabis cocktails with zero alcohol yet taste just like a cocktail you’d order from a bartender? Sinful Beverages offers these options in their Black Label line. Not only that, they are huge on community and collaboration so it didn’t surprise me to hear about the collaborations in the works with other Montana based brands. -My favorite Sinful Beverage is: Pink Punch.

The Urban Farmer lit up my world. Montana isn’t the first place black and brown people think of when planning a trip. With the racial tensions in history and present day, we tend to go to places we know have a heavy melanated population. When I announced that I was touring Montana, some of my followers expressed concern. This is why the Urban Farmer lit me up; on the windows- a huge fist, next to it in big letters “Black Lives Matter”. When I walked in, a huge painting of my favorite took up a wall: Lil Wayne! And then more gorgeous art spread around the walls inside. Joseph, the owner of Urban Farmer, loves art and it shows. This dispensary is more like an art gallery that sells cannabis. -My Urban Farmer favorite is: Tasty Waves cartridges.

Things to See and Explore

So much about what there is to explore in Montana is in her massive mountains in nature. In April though, that's a bit hard to explore if one is allergic to winter like I am. For those that aren’t and seek outdoor exploration; skiing and hiking are very popular things to do and can be done at Pattee Canyon, Rattlesnake Trail, and Lolo Pass. Caras Park in downtown Missoula, off the Clark River is a gorgeous place to catch a vibe and a pretty sunset. Because it’s downtown, it’s the perfect place to walk off dinner and take in Missoula’s beauty. Taking a walk down the strip along the Clark River, and listening to the river travel is soul nurturing. If you’re in Missoula around 4/20, always check with the Montana State Hemp & Cannabis Festival and their 420 Block Party; it’s an experience you don’t want to miss. I was in attendance this year and had an amazing time! If ghosts are your thing then visiting Garnet Ghost Town should be on your list of things to see and explore.

Vegan Food and Dining

The vegan scene is a nice one in Missoula. Have you ever had an everything doughnut made vegan and stuffed with creamed cheese? Never have I ever, until Missoula. Veera’s was phenomenal! I had one of the most delicious vegan BLT’s I’ve ever had while dining at Market on Front, and the Green Source made me the best vegan mushroom hot cocoa. I ate so good! "The vegan scene is a nice one in Missoula"

Kalispell/ BigFork/ Whitefish

To get to this area from Missoula, I drove through Flathead Reservation, home to the Salish and Kootenai Tribes. As much as I wanted to stop, explore, and chat with locals; the snow that was coming down at the pace that it was coming down at, didn’t align with those plans. I saw native language on street signs and a bridge built specifically for animals to cross so that they don’t endanger themselves crossing the road, for the first time in my life. Flathead River took my breath away. Montana is the first to show me islands/keys in lakes and rivers. I was so in love with what I was seeing that I jumped out of the car just before BigFork, to hug a tree. This area attracts lots of tourists that come down from Canada, up from Wyoming, and over from the Dakota’s. Kalispell is 40 miles away from the one million acres known as Glacier National Park and is less than 2 hours south of the Canadian border.

The Cannabis Scene

I visited and spent time with Beargrass Naturals, in BigFork. This is the cutest dispensary I’ve seen, owned by Casey. The dispensary looks and feels so Montana, with a touch of Compton; Eazy-E was on display. Their customers love it there; so much that a gentleman paused mid purchase, looked me in my eyes, and told me that Beargrass has the best Wedding Cake he has ever had so he buys it by the ounce; he was right. I appreciated the setup of the dispensary; THC on one side, CBD on the other, allowing customers to browse their preferred sections. -My Beargrass Naturals favorite is: Wedding Cake.

Before I moved on to the next location, Montana Cannabis Company asked me to stop in because they had a gift bag for me as their welcome to Montana. I stopped in and goodness, the gifts were delicious; Galaxy Sunshine is my favorite…. Continued in Pt2.