I was just in Montana for a few hours, and ate at a couple of restaurants, and remembered that in Montana usually you just take your bill and pay it on the way out, whenever you're ready to leave.
In Massachusetts, on the other hand, you usually pay at the table: you give someone a credit card and they take it away and bring you back a receipt to sign. Sometimes it's kind of hard to even find a place to pay if you want to do it yourself, if they don't have a cash register set up at the front.
When I worked at a restaurant in New Mexico, we generally left people to pay on the way out, but if they asked we were happy to take their money or credit cards and bring them the receipt, so it was a sort of mixture.
Paying on the way out can be convenient, since you can just get up and go whenever you want, without waiting for someone to come take your payment. On the other hand, if you needed change to leave a tip, and then have to pick your way back to your former table, that can be a hassle.
Either way, it's not a big deal. Just what you're accustomed to.
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