Five Montana Things I’d Rather Do Than Shop on Black Friday

My wife asked me the other day if I wanted to go Black Friday shopping with her and a couple of the kids this year. I looked at her like she lost her ever-loving mind and started laughing. "Why would I want to do that?", I asked incredulously. She knows I don't particularly enjoy shopping or crowds and getting up in the wee hours of the morning to do both of those things ranks near the very bottom on the "things I want to do on a holiday" list.

I've always been turned off by the annual news footage of people trampling each other to get cheap electronics and other junk on Black Friday. I get it... you can save some money. But the images of people being completely selfish and rude as they push and jostle for bargains seem to pretty much defeat the spirit of Christmas. Here are five things I'd rather be doing on Black Friday.

Fall fishing.

The weather has been pretty nice for November and during these sunny, late fall days I find myself staring out the office window, wishing I would have fished more this summer. Perhaps I'll grab my gear and hit the river on Friday morning.

Go shooting.

Many Montanans will be filling their tags over the long holiday weekend. I'm not much of a hunter, but I've realized it's been far too long since I've done any target shooting. In fact, there's a gun I bought six months ago that I haven't even fired yet. Embarrassing, right? Maybe I'll head out and waste a box or two of ammo on Black Friday.

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Put up my Christmas lights.

This is probably what I'll actually do on Black Friday. And instead of wasting an entire day trying to troubleshoot wonky strings of semi-working lights, this year I'm going to toss all the old strings in the trash and start fresh.

Hit the slopes.

I haven't skied or snowboarded for ages, but I'd rather rent a pair of skis and head to the hills than go shopping on Black Friday. Thanks to aggressive snowmaking efforts, Red Lodge Mountain is once again kicking off its season on Friday.

Go for a drive.

When I was a kid, my parents would often take us on Sunday drives and we never really seemed to have a destination in mind. That sounds like an appealing option for me on Black Friday. Sure, gas is expensive right now, but I can still see a lot of countryside on $20 bucks worth of gas and I'm sure the dogs would be down for a cruise in the country too. They hate shopping.