4 Best Sights in Columbia Falls, Kalispell, Missoula, and Northwest Montana

Get lost in the maze at the Amazing Ventures Fun Center, a circuitous outdoor route made of plywood walls and ladders, with viewing areas where parents can watch their kids (and give directions when necessary). Other attractions include Bankshot Basketball, go-karts, 18 holes of miniature golf, thriller bumper boats in a pond, and a picnic area.

A popular summertime spot, Montana's biggest water park has 10 waterslides and a giant whirlpool, as well as a miniature golf course, arcade games, bumper cars, a carousel, a climbing tower, barbecue grills, a picnic area, and food service.

You've found the power center of Montana at the House of Mystery–Montana Vortex, a wacky roadside attraction where the laws of physics don't apply and other mystifying phenomena prevail.

Enter Glacier National Park through the back door by driving the North Fork Road. It's a rutted, bumpy, dusty gravel road that's teeming with wildlife along the North Fork of the Flathead River. The 40 miles to the Polebridge entrance station passes through thick forests, some of which burned during fires of 2001 and 2003. As a result, many of these areas become seas of purple fireweed in early summer. You can opt out early and enter Glacier at the Camas Creek entrance gate and avoid rough roads. If you make it all the way to Polebridge, stop at the Mercantile for lunch or one of their famous huckleberry bear claws.