About Missoula County, MT

Missoulians love their pets and there are many places that are pet friendly in Missoula.

Missoula and its surrounding areas have abundant recreational opportunities for you and your pet, including 2 dog parks - Jacob's Island and Fort Missoula's Canine Campus where you can let your pooch run without a leash. There are many other great places to walk your dog in Missoula, but you must comply with the city's leash laws. Our favorite places in the city limits are the Clark Fork River Walking Trail and the Kim Williams Trail. For a really good workout with your dog, you could also Hike the "M" trail on Mount Sentinel.

• Go Fetch! Bring your leashed pet and enjoy Go Fetch!'s Pet Bakery, Self-Grooming Pet Center, Dog Hikes, Toys & Accessories.
• Petsmart - Of course PetSmart is a great place to take your pet. It's one of my Beagle's favorite words!
• Dog Logic - Cageless Doggie Daycare, Boarding, and "Social Club".
• Pet Friendly Hotels & Camping/RV Areas

There are also some wonderful Pet Groups in and around Missoula:

• Animeals - provides food for hungry animals.
• Rolling Dog Ranch - an amazing sanctuary that rescues disabled animals. Also - A great place to visit and spend the day when you're in Western Montana. If you're an animal lover, you will enjoy their blog about life on the Ranch.
• MontanaPets.org - helps you find pets that need a home.

Here's a List of Pet Friendly Hotels, Apartments, Nannies, Doggie Daycares, and Kennels.

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Kevin & Monica Ray are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Access Realty in beautiful Western Montana. For more information on Western Montana, they can be reached at 406-207-1185 or online at www.YourMT.com.

If you're want to keep an eye on Missoula, Montana, here are the best local web cams to help:

Downtown Missoula & View of the "M" on Mount Sentinel - Missoula County Webcam

The Univeristy of Montana's GRIZ CAM - GRIZ CAM 

The Missoula International Airport also has a webcam at FLYMISSOULA

The Missoulian's webcam & weather forecast - Missoulian Cam

Here's a list of other Montana webcams.

Want to see your favorite webcam quickly? Add iGoogle as your internet browser's homepage. One of the free tools on iGoogle is that you can add your favorite webcam and it will appear on your homepage. We have the webcam from our favorite vacation spot, Oceanside, Oregon on our page.

If you want to learn about the Missoula Real Estate market, contact Kevin & Monica Ray with Streamside Realty at 406-207-1185 or visit us online at www.YourMT.com.

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Kevin & Monica Ray are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Streamside Realty in beautiful Western Montana. For more information on Western Montana, they can be reached at 406-207-1185 or online at www.YourMT.com.

Winter can start to seem a little long this time of year. Take a break for fun and enjoy some of Missoula's favorite family activities.  

A Carousel for Missoula & Dragon Hollow - is located downtown along the river and is built and maintained by volunteers. According to the Carousel website, "If magic can happen anywhere, it can happen in Missoula, where dreams are followed and promises are kept, and where people believe in making a life as well as making a living."  

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Visitor's Center - features hands-on conservation and hunting heritage exhibits for all ages. Our exhibits invite you to learn more about elk, elk country and the role the Elk Foundation plays in conservation.  

Currents Aquatic Park - Current's four pools feature engaging water features for every age. Currents is also home to Parks and Recreation headquarters and "Headwaters," a state-of-art community meeting room available for public use.  

Smokejumper Visitor's Center -  the largest active smokejumper base in the nation, it provides a unique opportunity to learn about this unusual, demanding, and dramatic occupation.  

Children's Museum of Missoula - The Children's Museum, Missoula offers fun, interactive learning opportunities that allow children to explore their interests and abilities through play.  

For more great Montana family fun destinations, visit Montanakids.com.

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Kevin & Monica Ray are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Streamside Realty in beautiful Western Montana. For more information on Western Montana, they can be reached at 406-207-1185 or online at www.YourMT.com.

We have seen several dream homes with high levels of radon and have worked with both buyers and sellers through this process.

It can be frightening to have your home inspector tell you that your dream home has high levels of radon. Before you put your dream on hold, learn about radon and radon remediation.

According to the EPA, Radon is an invisible radioactive gas that seeps into homes undetected through foundation cracks, and can reach harmful levels if trapped indoors. It travels up from underground sources of uranium in the earth's crust. EPA estimates that one in 15 homes will have a radon level of four PicoCuries per liter (pCi/L) of air or more, a level the agency considers high.

Here's the scary part:

--Breathing home indoor radon causes nearly one hundred times more deaths each year than carbon monoxide poisoning.

--Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking.

--Some 20,000 people will die this year due to breathing too much radon without even knowing it.

The radon threat is preventable with some simple steps. In existing homes, families can begin protecting themselves by buying an easy-to-use radon test kit to determine if a high level exists; if so, a high level might be lowered simply with a straight-forward radon venting system installed by a contractor. In new homes, builders can easily and economically include radon-resistant features during construction, and home buyers should ask for these. EPA also recommends that home buyers ask their builder to test for radon gas before they move in.

In our area, a professional radon test costs around $75. You can also test your own home for less at http://www.homeradontest.com/. If high levels of radon are found, it is possible to have a radon remediation system installed in your home. This system removes the radon and can bring your home back to normal levels. In our area, a radon remediation system costs between $1200 & $1500. It is less expensive to have one done if you have a full basement. However, our remediator says that he is able to remove more radon from a home when it is on a crawl space instead of a basement. See photo on left for what a remediation system looks like.

RADON SCORES:

• Less than 4.0: Low probability of significant health risk
• Between 4 & 10: It is recommended to mitigate readings above 4.0. This should be performed within 6-12 months.
• Between 10 & 200: Perform mitigation and follow up as soon as possible.

If you are thinking about selling your home, or for your own safety, you might consider getting a radon test. It is important to know that if you are aware of high levels of radon in your home that you must disclose this to all potential buyers. In most cases, it is well worth it to have the test done and remediate the home if necessary. This will eliminate a potential issue on your home inspection, and gives you piece of mind for your family's safety.

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Western Montana, including Missoula, Alberton, St. Regis, Superior, Clinton, contact Kevin & Monica Ray at 406-207-1185 or visit us online at www.YourMT.com.

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Kevin & Monica Ray are Missoula Real Estate sales and marketing professionals for Access Realty in beautiful Western Montana. For more information on Western Montana, they can be reached at 406-207-1185 or online at www.YourMT.com.

Missoula, Montana is one of the most beautiful cities in the Northwest. And yes, a river does run through it. Missoula is located near the three rivers to be exact, The Clark Fork River, The Blackfoot River, and The Bitterroot River.

Missoula's amazing location and proximity to three rivers draws fly fisherman from all over the world, has inspired artists and writers, and even filmmakers. The city is frequently mentioned in novels of Ernest Hemingway, Stephen Frey, Chuck Palahniuk, James Lee Burke, James Crumley, and Norman Maclean.

One of the most famous portrayals of Missoula was by Norman Maclean in his 1976 novel, A River Runs Through It which was made into a film directed by Robert Redford in 1992. "The story is a semi-autobiographical novella about Macleans Presbyterian family in early 20th century Montana whose views on life are filtered through their passion for fly-fishing."

This story has influenced many Missoulians and has drawn people to our community for years. I've actually met several people who moved to Missoula as a result of seeing A River Runs Through It. One former co-worker had never even been to Montana. She was living in California and saw the movie and decided one day to pick up and move to Missoula!

Some of Macleans classic lines about Missoula include:

"The world is full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the further one gets from Missoula, Montana."

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters."

"In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman."

"I am in love with Montana . . . Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans."

"On the Big Blackfoot River above the mouth of Belmont Creek the banks are fringed by large Ponderosa pines. In the slanting sun of late afternoon the shadows of great branches reached across the river, and the trees took the river in their arms."

For more information on fly fishing in Montana or where to find fly fishing properties, contact Kevin & Monica Ray at Streamside Realty at 406-207-1185 or visit us online at www.YourMT.com.

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Kevin & Monica Ray are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Access Realty in beautiful Western Montana. For more information on Western Montana, they can be reached at 406-207-1185 or online at www.YourMT.com.