Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Both states have excellent information available for those interested in traveling to the
region. Most chambers of commerce and visitors centers (listed for each town in this
book) are good sources when driving around, but the online sites are where you should
start your research. For Wyoming, visit
Wyoming Tourism
(307/777-7777,
www.wyomingtourism.org
)
for the latest information. You can check out the various towns,
attractions, and events, as well as order a
free vacation guide.
For Montana, the
Montana Office of Tourism
(800/847-4868,
www.visitmt.com
) is the
state's official tourism organization for vacation information and to order the annual free
Montana Guidebook.
Montana has divided the state into six different tourism regions, and
specific booklets are available for each one.
Having spent a great deal of time on both websites, I can say with confidence that the
Montana site is beautifully organized and easy to follow. You can easily find subjects as vast
as “accommodations” and as narrow as “fishing” broken down by region. The Wyoming
site is slightly harder to navigate, as you cannot often refine categories beyond such broad
strokes as “Things to Do.” Instead, many of the cities, counties, and regions of Wyoming
have well-organized comprehensive sites, making them an excellent place to start.
Although Montana and Wyoming may be remote, cell-phone coverage is overall very good
and getting better each year. That being said, rural and mountainous areas may have spotty
coverage. Indeed, check the storefronts in some of the smaller towns in the region (I'm
looking at you, Augusta), and you'll see that cell-phone service is just being brought to the
area. Verizon is the main carrier, although AT&T is increasingly available. Many coffee
shops and public libraries have computers available for Internet use, and most larger towns
have business centers with computers and fax machines.
High-speed Internet connections are generally available, but the service is often slower
and more problematic compared to larger metropolitan areas. Wireless Internet is frequently
offered at coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and other public places.
