48. Helena, MT

Montana is one state that truly holds a piece of my heart. If there exists any murmur, it would definitely be the state's capital (Helena).The hottest nightspot is a dance-club that runs in the lounge of a hotel. The bartender is so busy with people asking for water and complaining that they can not take their drinks onto the dancefloor that he also serves as the club's dj. You may get lucky and find a female softball team in the club celebrating a victory (where girls go, everyone follows), but they are usually as butch as the cows they wrestle to the ground in the next day's rodeo. My friend Amy and I enjoyed acting like people from Lichtenstein looking for opportunity in Helena. It's amazing what people fall for when they grow up in the middle of a meth-trafficking ring. If you are lucky enough to convince the locals of something so clever, they may even invite you back to their place for wine and sex. I wouldn't take them up on either.If disc-golf is your thing, they have courses. Unfortunately, they are impossible to find. Better bet: go grab a sandwich at the Staggering Ox or catch a movie at the Myrna Loy (other theaters throughout the state often miss out on good movies, but this theater usually finds them). There are actually a few nice places to eat and shop, but there are many more worthwhile places in Montana for both.If you do need to spend a night there, find some Carroll College students to hang out with because they definitely know how to have a good time. While sporting a Syracuse shirt to a formal event for the students in a hotel lounge (I still don't understand why everything important in that town occurs in these places), I found my way to the hotel bar. Many of these students decided to join me watching the Final Four (Syracuse vs. Texas). They really enjoyed having a visitor and treated me well throughout the rest of the night. By night's end, I felt like I had known these kids for years. In other words, either seek out the educated when visitng Helena or take on an alter-ego to keep yourself entertained.