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You are here: home → archives → columns → About Town
Corey's random musings, polls, surveys, interviews, and more about living in and around Red Lodge.
by Corey Thompson
Medical marijuana was legalized by the Montana state legislature in 2004. Since then 25,000 patients have received a medical marijuana card, which has a doctor?s recommendation that marijuana can be helpful for their medical condition. Clearly medical marijuana is an exploding phenomenon that is here to stay. Why?
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by Corey Thompson
In these stress-filled, hectic days, who doesn't need time and space just for yourself? Yoga is just that: set-aside time to gather inner strength and peace, with a research proven, strong carryover into daily life.
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by Corey Thompson
As we do most summers, we've had a lot of motorcycles through town. No matter the make of bike, Harley or BMW or Kawasaki, or whatever, what kind of tunes are they listening to as they cruise along? Here's a very unofficial, random sampling of bikers that were here for the 16th Annual Beartooth Rally. They were each asked if they listened to any tunes while riding, and if so, what were they listening to?
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by Corey Thompson
Summers are an especially popular time for family reunions. Relatives gather from all over to eat and party and re-energize relationships. But an unusual family reunion is taking place in Red Lodge this summer. It's a family reunion of dogs!
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by Corey Thompson
Awww, shucks! Montana is just a doggone friendly place! We know that because, unlike the rush of urban life, where people dash from one place to another, avoiding eye contact, we rural and small-town Montanans go out of our way to greet one another. We say good morning, we comment on the weather, and we wave at each other as we drive in cars. It?s just downright good etiquette.
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by Corey Thompson
There are many signs of warmer weather: returning birds and bears, longer days of sunshine, and fresh produce available at the store. But wait... wouldn't it be better if that fresh produce was available outside your back door? Or at least near your back door?
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by Corey Thompson
Thinking about taking a road trip this summer? Looking for great scenery within just a few hundred miles from here? Drive the Top 10 is an organization designed to promote fantastic Northern Rockies scenery in Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming; specifically the region's four All-American Roads, 19 National Parks, and scenic byways.
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by Corey Thompson
You gotta love snow if you live in Red Lodge! According to the National Weather Service, our town, on average, receives 24 inches of precipitation annually, with not quite half of that in the form of snowfall. That translates to an average amount of 105 inches of snow, a lot to move around.
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by Corey Thompson
No doubt about it, Red Lodge is a ski town. But you might not know that Red Lodge has been a ski town for many decades. Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort on Grizzly Peak is, of course, the dominant ride these days, but has not always been so.
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by Corey Thompson
Red Lodge has plenty of winter, so rather than complain about it, just get outside and enjoy it! Besides skiing or snowboarding on the mountain, there are plenty of other fun winter activities around for outdoor enthusiasts.
The Red Lodge Nordic Center, managed by Beartooth Recreational Trail System (BRTA) volunteers, is located northwest of town off of Fox Road, and will be up and running as soon as there is enough snow to groom for trails. Aspen Ridge Ranch, which rents land to the Nordic Center, will be working with BRTA to host a couple of moonlight ski events, starting with the first one on New Year's Eve.
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by Corey Thompson
Our town turkeys have habits that are just the opposite of our town bears. Seasonally, the bears roam town in the summer, while the turkeys (for the most part) disappear into the hills. Of course in winter, the turkeys return and the bears hibernate. Something in town attracts and keeps both species coming back year after year. We know the bears have habituated themselves to feeding on human garbage, but what about the turkeys?
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by Corey Thompson
You've heard of the idiom, "living on a shoestring." For example, "those newlyweds are so poor that they're living on a shoestring budget." This is an old English expression that means that someone is living on a very small margin (as thin as a shoestring).
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by Corey Thompson
A couple of years ago my husband and I were camping in the West Fork when I awoke to him screaming in pain. Bear? Moose? Porcupine? No, it was some sort of large moth that had lodged itself into his inner ear! We tried everything we could think of to get it out, but ended up in the emergency room at the Beartooth Hospital in Red Lodge where it was calmly and expertly removed. The staff was kind enough to assure us that this was not an extraordinary event, and this type of extraction occurred more frequently than you'd think.
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by Corey Thompson
Red Lodge has long had the reputation as a "Northern Exposure" type of place. The town turkeys, deer, and the occasional moose roaming around are tolerated and, most of the time, a curiosity. But the summer's town bears are something else. They have become nothing more than a scary town nuisance. How long have they been coming around? Locals can't remember a time when there weren't bears in town during the summer.
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by Corey Thompson
Now that it's finally summer, the polar Tec and long underwear have been packed away, replaced with t-shirts and shorts. This means lots more skin showing, and now we can see some amazing body art. Tattooing used to be for Popeye and Marines, but now it seems like everyone--and their mothers! --have tattoos.
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by Corey Thompson
Welcome to Red Lodge! Are you relatively new to this area? If not, though you may have lived here for quite some time, you've probably noticed new faces around town. Where do these people come from, and why to Red Lodge, Montana?
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by Corey Thompson
"We lost a brother," said Charlie Brandine and Jim Kujala. They were speaking about Edward Stanley Bustos--or Stano as most people called him--and his loss is felt as strongly today as the day of his death on November 10, 2007.
"Stano was a unique guy," said Jim. "He loved skiing, golfing, and music, but his greatest passion was the community of Red Lodge. He stood up for Red Lodge everywhere, and felt we were all lucky to be able to live here."
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by Corey Thompson
Close your eyes for a moment, and imagine... a water park in Red Lodge. What kind of image did you conjure up? A mechanical wave pool? Huge multi-colored, twisting plastic slides? How about a twenty-foot-tall, smirking plastic pirate guarding a swim-up bar? No April Fools joke here. Well, maybe just a little bit.
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by Corey Thompson
Do you like rock & roll, country rock, and rhythm & blues music? Do you enjoy toe-tapping, foot-stomping, dancing music? Chances are, if you've lived in Red Lodge for a while, you've heard Charlie Brandine's and Jim Kujala's music and loved it.
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by Corey Thompson
It's hardly a secret that folks who love snow sports live in Red Lodge. The Town Series Races, held every Friday for six weeks through February 13th at Red Lodge Mountain Resort, are a friendly competition among locals who love to ski and snowboard.
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by Corey Thompson
No matter what your personal politics are, you have to be impressed that 85% of Red Lodge's eligible voters cast their ballots in November. This was a big election, with local, county, state, and national positions on the line, but the national election more than likely spurred on this outstanding number of voters. So now we have selected a new president of the United States. What does this mean for Red Lodge?
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by Corey Thompson
Could (or should) Red Lodge become the next Jackson Hole? With its booming real estate business and the sale of Red Lodge Mountain Resort, a number of folks have speculated for some time now as to the direction of the town of Red Lodge. Will it become another Jackson Hole? Here are some random responses from a very unscientific polling of residents.
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by Corey Thompson
The south Cenex gas station in Red Lodge is now offering ethanol as a choice for consumers. In the current economic climate, where price of gas has reached unprecedented heights, why not opt for ethanol, which can be, but is not always, the cheaper gas choice? Likewise, why not opt for ethanol, which Joel Lindgren of Red Lodge's Cenex, is hoping will not only reduce gasoline emisions, but also help to reduce our dependence on foreign oil?
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