Both my kids (who grew up in Vermont) are in Bozeman. My daughter went to Williams College and University of Vermont Medical school, and is a family physician there. My son went to MIT in Computer Science, and is now writing software for the video poker, etc. games that you find all along one wall of every bar/pub west of the Mississippi. They both like it there.

I get out there for a week or so a year.

Bozeman is NOT stereotypical Montana by any means. I could wish, at times, that it were more so. The phrase, "Yupped up" comes to mind.

I would say your cousin is closer to being right than you are. But there will be some culture shock.

How athletic is he? The younger (and middle-aged) people in the area tend to carry outdoor recreation on the order of skiing (especially off-piste), mountain biking, and kayaking to the point of obsession. A sedentary person may feel left out.

Peter