Moving from Portland, OR the Des Moines area (West Des Moines, Ankeny: lease, job transfer)

[katieberit]

Anyone had a similar experience? My husband and I are from the Midwest (he's from Lincoln, NE and I'm from Paynesville, MN). We met out here, and have lived here for about 9 years. Now that we have a 3 year old daughter, we want to move closer to family. My husband can get a job transfer there. We're liberal, but not crazy liberal. I'm wondering what others have experienced when moving from the Pacific Northwest to the suburbs of Des Moines? What was the hardest change? What was the most unexpected positive? My husband and I love the Pacific Northwest. We're huge music fans (Pearl Jam, Black Angels, Dead Meadow, Tame Impala, etc.) My husband is also a huge sports fan. I'm a stay-at-home-mom and I love that Portland has so many indoor (and outdoor) activities for kids. I'm a member of a co-op, OMSI, the Portland Zoo, and the Children's Museum. I feel like there's never a shortage of things to do with my child (and we're hoping to have another one sometime soon). Is that the case in Iowa? I know the schools are much better in Iowa than they are in Portland. Anyway, we're still deliberating on this move, but feel pretty strongly about taking the plunge at some point. It would just be nice to have some extra input. Thanks!

[econboy]

Des Moines and the surrounding area has a very nice quality of life. As you mentioned good schools plus there are plenty of things for kids to do as the area (particularaly the suburbs) are very oriented towards that lifestyle.

You won't have the mountains or the ocean like you have in Oregon but I assume thats the unstated obvious having lived in the midwest before.

As for music....there are plenty of smaller music venues in Des Moines that have live music if you know where to look. Nothing on the sheer scale of Portland but for the midwest it is a pretty nice local music scene. Bigger shows do come through on ocassion at the few larger venues in the area.

Other shopping and entertainment are plentiful (malls, movies, resteraunts, etc.) Des Moines has Blank Park Zoo which is growing by leaps and bounds and has WONDERFUL things for kids as my wife and I have found. As for sports, there is AAA basketball and baseball as well as arena league football. The major pro sports are about 3-4 hours north, east and south on the interstate in Kansas City, Minneapolis and Chicago.

Des Moines is not as diverse as Portland overall and doesn't have the alternative/grunge scene by any means that Portland does. Bear that in mind.


Now, if you are looking at rural areas further out.....it's going to be a major struggle. The rural midwest as you probably already know continues to slide into oblivion. The business that goes on there is more in the renewable fuels, general ag and processing areas. Small towns away from the cities are remote and it's hard to find social connections or even things for kids that resemble anything you are used to.

[ElleTea]

Don't forget the Science Center. They have tons for kids and also have adults only nights with live music and cocktails. (Blank Park Zoo does the same in the summer with Zoo Brew.)

[runewell]

Everything in Des Moines is going to be on such a smaller scale than Portland. There is a science museum and zoo. They will certainly be smaller, but adequate. The are minor league sports teams, and the state is wrapped up in college athletics (Iowa State, Iowa, Drake). You lose out on scenery as well. But you'll be close to MN and NE. It's family friendly and very affordable here, so I expect there will be pros and cons.

Don't forget the climate, you'll be suffering through the winters also. Today was the coldest day of the year at -5F. How "cold" is it there?

[katieberit]

Originally Posted by econboy

Des Moines and the surrounding area has a very nice quality of life. As you mentioned good schools plus there are plenty of things for kids to do as the area (particularaly the suburbs) are very oriented towards that lifestyle.

You won't have the mountains or the ocean like you have in Oregon but I assume thats the unstated obvious having lived in the midwest before.

As for music....there are plenty of smaller music venues in Des Moines that have live music if you know where to look. Nothing on the sheer scale of Portland but for the midwest it is a pretty nice local music scene. Bigger shows do come through on ocassion at the few larger venues in the area.

Other shopping and entertainment are plentiful (malls, movies, resteraunts, etc.) Des Moines has Blank Park Zoo which is growing by leaps and bounds and has WONDERFUL things for kids as my wife and I have found. As for sports, there is AAA basketball and baseball as well as arena league football. The major pro sports are about 3-4 hours north, east and south on the interstate in Kansas City, Minneapolis and Chicago.

Des Moines is not as diverse as Portland overall and doesn't have the alternative/grunge scene by any means that Portland does. Bear that in mind.


Now, if you are looking at rural areas further out.....it's going to be a major struggle. The rural midwest as you probably already know continues to slide into oblivion. The business that goes on there is more in the renewable fuels, general ag and processing areas. Small towns away from the cities are remote and it's hard to find social connections or even things for kids that resemble anything you are used to.

Hi. Not sure if I'm replying to this correctly or not. In any case, I hope you can read this! Thank you so much for the input. The area I think we're going to focus on is Ankeny. That's where my husband's office would be until the lease is up and he can work from home. The realtor we've been talking to says Ankeny is a nice place to raise a family. Anyone heard differently?

I know moving to Iowa will be a big change for us, but family needs to come first for now. We can always move back to the Pacific NW when the kids are out of the house...unless we fall in love with Iowa.

[katieberit]

Originally Posted by runewell

Everything in Des Moines is going to be on such a smaller scale than Portland. There is a science museum and zoo. They will certainly be smaller, but adequate. The are minor league sports teams, and the state is wrapped up in college athletics (Iowa State, Iowa, Drake). You lose out on scenery as well. But you'll be close to MN and NE. It's family friendly and very affordable here, so I expect there will be pros and cons.

Don't forget the climate, you'll be suffering through the winters also. Today was the coldest day of the year at -5F. How "cold" is it there?

Our winter temps usually range between the 30s and 50s...but lots of rain. Nothing hard to deal with, that's for sure. Are the summers horribly humid and hot? We had summers like that in MN, but I've read that Iowa summers can be even more brutal. What do you think?

[katieberit]

Originally Posted by econboy

Des Moines and the surrounding area has a very nice quality of life. As you mentioned good schools plus there are plenty of things for kids to do as the area (particularaly the suburbs) are very oriented towards that lifestyle.

You won't have the mountains or the ocean like you have in Oregon but I assume thats the unstated obvious having lived in the midwest before.

As for music....there are plenty of smaller music venues in Des Moines that have live music if you know where to look. Nothing on the sheer scale of Portland but for the midwest it is a pretty nice local music scene. Bigger shows do come through on ocassion at the few larger venues in the area.

Other shopping and entertainment are plentiful (malls, movies, resteraunts, etc.) Des Moines has Blank Park Zoo which is growing by leaps and bounds and has WONDERFUL things for kids as my wife and I have found. As for sports, there is AAA basketball and baseball as well as arena league football. The major pro sports are about 3-4 hours north, east and south on the interstate in Kansas City, Minneapolis and Chicago.

Des Moines is not as diverse as Portland overall and doesn't have the alternative/grunge scene by any means that Portland does. Bear that in mind.


Now, if you are looking at rural areas further out.....it's going to be a major struggle. The rural midwest as you probably already know continues to slide into oblivion. The business that goes on there is more in the renewable fuels, general ag and processing areas. Small towns away from the cities are remote and it's hard to find social connections or even things for kids that resemble anything you are used to.

Just out of curiosity: have you ever lived in Portland? Visited?

[runewell]

Ankeny is perfectly fine. The nicer suburbs start to the west with West Des Moines and Waukee and wrap around the outer metro: Johnston, and then Ankeny is north and farther east. It makes little difference where you are in the ring, the only difference is if you want to go downtown you drive south, whereas I leave from WDM and head east.

The summers are warm like MN, and the average high will be 2-3 degrees warmer than MN for the warmest month of the year (I researched this when I moved from MN) but the average low will be about 9 degrees warmer than MN for the coldest month of the year. I don't think you'll notice much of a difference between the two. If it's 93 there and 95 here, it's just plain hot. But when it's 10 there and 20 here in January, the winters become more bearable.

[DMIHawkeye]

Ankeny is a good place and one of the most popular communities younger families are flocking too. Good schools and not really too far away from everything--although you can say that about pretty much anywhere in the Metro.

I lived out in Oregon for a year and have visited Portland numerous times and although some might argue it's a stretch, I see lots of positive similarities between Des Moines and Portland. Lots of good restaurants and independent coffee shops (of course not Portland-great but still), tons of community involvement and pride at many levels, lots of farmers markets/community events, music scene is getting better, tons of focus on biking and trails, etc.

If I had to sum Des Moines up to someone from a larger city I would say: Des Moines isn't a great place to necessarily visit, but it's a great place to live. That being said, I hope to eventually move back out to Oregon one of these days

[tollfree]

Community involvement is to Iowa what high school football is to Texas...basically a way of life.

Can be a little bit too much at times.