How would Elkhart County be for an early 30 something single male? (Fort Wayne: renting, credit)

[cdr18]

As for touring Goshen, I agree with the above of taking SR 15 north and south, and then taking US 33 northwest to southeast or vice-versa.

Included in your tour, I would recommend visiting the cities of Middlebury, Wakarusa, and Nappanee and make sure to visit each downtown.

ALSO, tour CR 17, north to south. It starts at the Michigan state line and travels all the way south to CR 38. The part, just to the east of Elkhart, has become a significant commercial and industrial hub for the Elkhart/Goshen region. Also, tour the Jefferson Township, just to the north of Goshen.

[cdr18]

As for no bad spots in Goshen, I can partly agree with that. However, the northern part of the city (north of the railroad tracks) is definitely home to more lower-income residents. However, not all of it is lower income, just like some areas of the city have pockets of blight next to a beautiful neighborhood.

[Further North]

Originally Posted by cdr18

As for touring Goshen, I agree with the above of taking SR 15 north and south, and then taking US 33 northwest to southeast or vice-versa.

Included in your tour, I would recommend visiting the cities of Middlebury, Wakarusa, and Nappanee and make sure to visit each downtown.

ALSO, tour CR 17, north to south. It starts at the Michigan state line and travels all the way south to CR 38. The part, just to the east of Elkhart, has become a significant commercial and industrial hub for the Elkhart/Goshen region. Also, tour the Jefferson Township, just to the north of Goshen.

Yeah, I'm open to checking out the smaller towns like that too.

The more I think about it with the supposed salary they may be offering I could easily rent a house. If I get the offer with enough time I'm going to look into the idea of renting one. I'd love to have a place with a 2 car garage and enough privacy and space between me and a neighbor so that God forbid if I want to own a home theater system and watch a movie with it on in the evening I can do that without a noise complaint! Realistically too if I want nightlife I can probably hang out with my friend that is going to Grad School at ND, or head up to Chicago for a weekend to raise some hell.

My only concern is that I won't have enough time to really look for the type of place I want to. I can't put off my start date too long for that.

I just wanted to say thank you again folks for all of your help! I really appreciate the suggestions!

[Further North]

Definitely putting the horse before the cart here, but I noticed a craigslist ad for a house for rent in Mishiwaka that I'm thinking about checking out while I'm there. It's near Lincoln Way and Capitol Ave. What roads would I want to drive around out there?

[ischyros]

Originally Posted by Further North

Definitely putting the horse before the cart here, but I noticed a craigslist ad for a house for rent in Mishiwaka that I'm thinking about checking out while I'm there. It's near Lincoln Way and Capitol Ave. What roads would I want to drive around out there?

I've driven through that area many times as Capitol Ave is the back way into the north side of Mishawaka. I don't know how nice the homes are, but since Capitol Ave has been widened to four lane all the say down to the bypass, it would be a pretty quick trip to Goshen from there. And an even quicker trip to go to one of the many stores or restaurants in Mishawaka. I'd suggest driving Lincolnway west through downtown Mishawaka to the 100 Center. The Hacienda restaurant located in the old mansion here is excellent with a neat atmosphere. In the building in the back there's also Giannetto's Pizza, which has some of the best Chicago style deep dish pizza I've ever had outside Chicago. The place is in the basement though so it has the feel of a bomb shelter. But the food is amazing. There's also Truman's, possibly the most well-known gay bar in the Michiana area if you're into that sort of thing. And Riverside Tavern which I've heard is a good bar but I've never been there myself.

Right downtown in Mishawaka there are a few restaurants and bars along Main Street, most notably Doc Pierce's, which is a bit more fancy and expensive than other places around. There's also the old Bonnie Doon restaurant on 4th Street. On the north end of downtown Mishawaka, the river walk is pretty cool on both sides of the river, through Kamm Island Park on the south side of the river and Battell Park on the north side. From here, I'd suggest driving Main Street all the way north to at least Cleveland Road, but I'd recommend traveling all the way to Brick Rd. Once you get north of Edison you hit the largest retail district in northern Indiana outside Northwest Indiana and Fort Wayne. Papa Vinos at Main and Edison Lakes Pkwy is a person favorite as is Mancinos further north. Once you reach Brick, go left to Grape Rd and head back south. You'll find the other half of the retail district along this road. You can turn right on McKinley and check out the old cruising area of Mishawaka by Town & Country plaza. Or you can go right on Edison and head over to Notre Dame which is just a couple miles down the road. Edison runs along the southern boundary of campus.

[Further North]

It's finally here! I'm going to be driving around Friday afternoon after the interview, so I had one last question for places to explore. I will do the "Figure 8 Tour" that ischyros recommended first. After that I'd like to see some of Elkhart.

Where would you recommend I go if I'm coming off of 33 North to enter into Elkhart?

Any good loop around that?

If time permits I might drive as far as Mishawaka and explore there too but I may run out of daylight by then. My sister-in-law's Dad lives in Goshen so I might meet up with him at least when it gets dark for dinner before I drive back to Wisconsin.

[ischyros]

For Elkhart, you have a couple options.

First, I'd take US33 all the way in to the US 20 bypass. Get on US 20 East and exit at CR 17. Turn right (north) on CR 17 and take that all the way up to CR 6. This is a newer area of Elkhart that has really started building up in the last 10 years or so. Turn left (west) on CR 6 and take it across the north end of Elkhart to Cassopolis St (SR 19). Elkhart is full of industry and a lot of it is along CR 6. You can continue east on CR 6 and it will eventually take you to the north side of Mishawaka but you may not have time. Turn left (south) on Cassopolis and along here is the older retail area of Elkhart. When you get to Bristol Street, SR 19 goes right. You can keep going straight on Cassopolis til it ends at Beardsley. Turn right on Beardsley. You'll go past the Ruthmere Mansion and turn left at the first light, Main Street. Just across the river you'll go into downtown Elkhart. In my opinion, it isn't as nice as downtown Goshen, but that's just my opinion. Then you can continue south along Main Street and eventually it'll turn into US 33 south toward Goshen again.

If you want to see more, when you take Main Street south and get to the US 20 bypass again, get on US 20 going West to SR 19. Then turn right onto SR 19 North. Just follow that until it goes around the big curve and turns eastbound. Just stay on Bristol Street, even after SR 19 turns off of it. You can take Bristol Street all the way back to CR 17. Turn right (south) on CR 17 and it'll take you back to an interchange with US 33 in Goshen.

The thing you will most likely notice anywhere you drive in Elkhart, there is a very heavy industrial presence. It isn't in any one particular area of town, but spread over the whole city. Eastside, westside, southside, northside, even right in the middle. And on the west side is a huge rail freight yard, which means sometimes Elkhart can be a pain to get around. Slow moving and even stopped trains are very common and if you spend much time in Elhkart, you'll learn where the underpasses are to get around slow or stopped trains, but sometimes it can take you well out of your way. Goshen has some of the same problem with trains, but it isn't quite as bad.

[Further North]

Just thought I'd give you guys an update. The interview on Friday went very well I thought. The HR manager said I'll probably hear back from him mid week. The next 3 or 4 days will feel like the LONGEST OF MY LIFE I'm sure.

I had a chance to drive around Goshen, and coupled with the advice of everyone on here and my sister-in-law's Dad, I skipped Elkhart and drove around Mishawaka for a bit instead before I left town. Mishawaka definitely looked like a more appealing area, but the prospect of driving 30-45 min daily (or longer in bad weather) doesn't sound good. The reality is in a year or two I'll be starting to think about houses, so my priority won't be night life, it'll be finding a home with the best value and the biggest garage. If I'm bored I can work on cars and make beer in my garage!

I'll give you guys and update when I hear back, and I can't thank you enough ischyros and cdr for your advice!

[cdr18]

What did you think of Goshen? Just curious from an outsider's perspective? What areas did you visit/drive?

[Further North]

I ran 15 from around 40 up to 18 as suggested, and I took the full length of 33 from 20 down to near the airport too. I also got out for a bit downtown and walked around too. It didn't seem bad, small, but I could see some potential there. I grew up in a town of 4,500 people in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, so small towns are something I'm used to. As such, I'm sure when I get a chance to drive around some more I'll get a better feel for it.

Big cities are fun, but at some point you have to ask yourself if what you are paying for vs. the quality of life you are living is worth it. Years ago when I was living in Chicago a friend of mine and I were talking and he said that even with him making $85K a year, he really didn't feel like he was getting "ahead" living in Chicago. I'm used to the idea that $150K or $200K could buy you a 4 bedroom home on a large piece of property. I like that idea much better then getting a 2 bedroom condo in an "up and coming" neighborhood.