To celebrate my arrival in Great Falls, Montana (as a guest of the Great Falls Gaming Rendezvous!), and to make up for the fact I was on the road Tuesday and didn’t do a Top Ten then, I present:

Top Ten Things I Didn’t Know About Montana Before Getting Here.

10. The highways adjacent to large plains often have massive reinforced snow fences, designed to get snowdrifts to build on the fence instead of blowing across or piling up on the road.

9. NO sales tax.

8.  *Wisconsin* cheese soup is amazing prevalent.

7. Elk are a big deal up here. Like, 1.4 elk per square mile.

6. Montana is nicknamed The Treasure State. As a result, I plan to begin to refer to the act of fantasy characters wandering through dungeons to kill things and take their stuff as ‘Montana-ing”. (The state’s motto Oro y Plata means gold and silver.)

5. The state’s name is derived from the Spanish word montaña, meaning mountain. (Wait, this state is Treasure Mountain? This IS a Pathfinder campaign setting!)

4. It is illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperone. (Seriously. http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/12/26/unusual.laws/)

3. They have Dutch Caramel Waffle Cookies.

2. The Hot Dog Express is often found adjacent to the Town Pump.

1. Before an establishment can get a gambling license, it must first have a liquor license. As a result, Bar/Casinos, Restaurant/Casinos, and even Liquor Store/Casinos are all common. As in, a dozen on every block common. Laundrymat/Casinos are slightly rarer, but multiple examples exist. (“At least when you lose your shirt, it’ll be clean!”)