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Old 09-26-2012, 04:25 AM
 
Location: Chisago Lakes, Minnesota
3,810 posts, read 6,402,091 times
Reputation: 6565

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We're back!

What an awesome area you guys live in. I was thrilled to be in the Cities and surrounding area once again.

We stayed in Richfield. The airport Candlewood Suites is a good deal. Just over $100 a night for a very nice suite featuring a full kitchen (even a dishwasher!), living room (with a leather recliner!), seperate bedroom and a huge bathroom. Two big flat screens. All very modern and clean. Great choice for a base during our stay.

We got into town on Friday afternoon, and immediately launched into Mall of America. No way was I going to keep my wife away from that place while we were in town, and I may lose my man license for saying this, but I love it, too. I hadn't seen the aquarium before......it was fantastic.

We spent Saturday checking out the burbs. Saturday was basically the only day we had to do so, as we had to alter our plans and head home Sunday morning. I decided to look south first. We did Lakeville, Farmington, Northfield, Lonsdale, New Prague, Jordan, Prior Lake, and Savage. Out of these, we liked Lakeville/Farmington, and Prior Lake/Savage best. I liked New Prague, but thought their downtown could use a makeover. I think we must have blinked and missed Lonsdale. Not much there. Lakeville is a nice area and we liked how close it is to the freeway for a quick shoot into the cities. We priced a 3 bedroom renatal townhome while we were there and we happy to see it was in our price range.

Woodbury was next. Holy crap. I have never seen so many new homes in one spot, and I've lived in some of the southern boom towns like Atlanta and Houston. It was almost surreal....I mean, EVERYTHING looked as if it had been built yesterday, and it was pretty easy to tell they plowed down a bunch of farmland to throw all that stuff up in a hurry. The homes are nice, but it was almost like being in a high end store where you're afraid to touch anything. Also, it was all out of our price range, which was no suprise. I did meet a nice lady at Stonemill Farms who was very helpful and even gave my wife and I several magazine guides, plus a free coffee mug and water bottle! Worth the trip by itself, right?

We headed over to White Bear Lake next by way of White Bear Ave. off of 694. Older area, but still nice. Went past Gem Lake, and wound up on one of the 35's (east, I think) going north toward Duluth. Went through Centerville, which I had never heard of. I really didn't know which way to head at this point, so we went back south on 35W and headed west to Minnetonka for lunch. We loved the lakes on the north side.

Since Lakeville was our favorite place that we saw, we went back and looked at it again. We went to the Gopher/Syracuse game after that. What is up with the lack of parking and all the construction down there? It was frustrating, although I think we got there too close to game time. TCF was very nice, as I expected it to be.

I took my wife for a skyline tour at night. St. Paul's is very underrated, and Minneapolis' is simply fabulous. The view coming into Minneapolis on I-94 W at night is really brilliant......in fact, I'd call it majestic. Best thing about that skyline is that it shows impressive from every angle you see it at.

Only downside to our stay: The drivers. My God....it was atrocious. Some guy in a white van with Iowa plates nearly ran us into the median wall coming into St. Paul on 94 as we arrived (nrogers, what do you drive? ). Aside from that, people were just nuts. I mean, I've lived in Atlanta, Houston, Boston, and Detroit, and have driven in just about every major city in the U.S., save New York, and I was APPALLED at some of the stuff I was seeing! Maybe I've been out of the big city for too long, but I don't think so. I hope it was just an anomaly. Scared my wife sh**less. I had to remind her that we'd be living in the suburbs. I'm also not a big fan of roundabouts, but obviously we'll have to get used to those.

Well, we didn't get to see all we'd have liked to, but it was enough to introduce my wife to the area, which was the goal. Now we take the next couple months to decide where we'll be next year. I already know where I wanna be. Thanks for hosting us, Twin Cities!

Last edited by Tyryztoll; 09-26-2012 at 04:48 AM..
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Old 09-26-2012, 06:37 PM
 
988 posts, read 1,819,823 times
Reputation: 932
Wow...you were just about all over the place! That is good, ultimately, as you were able to see very different suburban areas and gain some perspective on what you'd like or not like.

Will you be working on the south side? I ask as you mention traffic concerns so you obviously want to be mindful of that when you decide where home would be.

Construction by TCF Bank Stadium...I work near there and it's a mess right now. The big concern is the Light Rail Train line being installed. It will go literally right by the stadium so all the streets are ripped up for that project. The line should be (mostly) installed sometime in 2013 (maybe later 2013) and running by 2014. You are probably seeing it at about its worst. It also doesn't help the University has at least 3-4 major construction projects going on right now too (new massive Rec Center, new Nanotechnology building, major gutting and renovation of Northrop Theater, and I think some new buildings/projects behind TCF). Those will go on for a while, and the University that says they never have money will probably build some more buildings in the coming years. When the train line is done and the current round of projects, I think/hope it will get better on the East Bank.

As far as your man card...at least you weren't talking about all the sparkly jewelry stores...
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Old 09-26-2012, 06:56 PM
 
Location: Twin Cities
367 posts, read 540,607 times
Reputation: 633
QUOTE: "Only downside to our stay: The drivers. My God....it was atrocious. Some guy in a white van with Iowa plates nearly ran us into the median wall coming into St. Paul on 94 as we arrived (nrogers, what do you drive? ). Aside from that, people were just nuts. I mean, I've lived in Atlanta, Houston, Boston, and Detroit, and have driven in just about every major city in the U.S., save New York, and I was APPALLED at some of the stuff I was seeing! Maybe I've been out of the big city for too long, but I don't think so. I hope it was just an anomaly. Scared my wife sh**less. I had to remind her that we'd be living in the suburbs. I'm also not a big fan of roundabouts, but obviously we'll have to get used to those."



I'm glad you enjoyed your stay in the Twin Cities and you really saw a lot in your time here!

I'm from New England originally but have lived in the Twin Cities for over 20 years now and really love it with the exception of the drivers as you noted. They are truly the worst you'll encounter. They can't merge on freeways and absolutely LOVE driving in the left lane even though in most cases they shouldn't be. Some Minnesotans are never in a hurry to get to their destinations, either, so you'll even see them drive below the speed limit and not bat an eyelash if they cause traffic to back up behind them. Frustrating!

Beyond the drivers, it is nice here, and the region maintains a top-notch quality of life. I live in Lakeville on the border of Apple Valley and Rosemount, so if there's anything specific you'd like to know about the area, please feel free to PM me.

I don't know what your budget is or where you'll be working, but St. Louis Park, Edina, Maple Grove, and Eden Prairie are other nice areas to consider (alongside many others too numerous to list here).

Welcome to MN!
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Old 09-26-2012, 07:18 PM
 
Location: Chisago Lakes, Minnesota
3,810 posts, read 6,402,091 times
Reputation: 6565
Quote:
Originally Posted by GBCommenter View Post
Will you be working on the south side? I ask as you mention traffic concerns so you obviously want to be mindful of that when you decide where home would be.
I won't begin interviewing until we actually commit to this move......a decision we're going to make by Christmas. My wife and I can work anywhere we choose, as I am in healthcare and she is a cosmetologist. We will live within 10 to 15 minutes of our jobs wherever we wind up. Long commutes do not compute for our household.

Last edited by golfgal; 10-05-2012 at 05:06 AM..
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Old 09-26-2012, 07:22 PM
 
Location: Chisago Lakes, Minnesota
3,810 posts, read 6,402,091 times
Reputation: 6565
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhody2Mn View Post
I don't know what your budget is or where you'll be working, but St. Louis Park, Edina, Maple Grove, and Eden Prairie are other nice areas to consider (alongside many others too numerous to list here).

Welcome to MN!
We'd love to live in any of those spots, but in truth, our housing budget is probably too low for them. We will most likely be out beyond the inner ring suburbs because of this.
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Old 10-03-2012, 06:01 PM
 
1,807 posts, read 3,080,299 times
Reputation: 1518
Don't feel bad about missing Lonsdale. I hadn't heard of it-- or if I have, have literally never thought of it-- until I read your post

The construction you mentioned by TCF is either the lightrail, or the numerous apartment and dorm projects going up around campus. It really is incredible, from what I can tell. I live in Pittsburgh now and really haven't been back yet to see all the construction in that area in full swing.

And yes, the drivers are pretty bad. Some are reaally aggressive, and some are so passive that they nearly cause accidents. There's not really a happy medium there Traffic is bad, too (compared to Pittsburgh, anyway...if you're used to Atlanta or Houston you might be able to handle it pretty well...)

Anyway, best of luck with your move, and welcome to the club!
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Old 10-04-2012, 09:34 PM
 
228 posts, read 663,286 times
Reputation: 160
Wait till it snows and it compounds the driving problem by a factor of at least 10. My god, people need to get off the damn phone here and pay attention to the road. Every time I pass someone who is going slow, or doing random braking without a car in front of them, or miss the exit and cut across two lanes of traffic and half the exit median and almost run two people off the road (that was Tuesday this week) it was because they were busy texting or talking to someone on the phone.
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Old 10-05-2012, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Chisago Lakes, Minnesota
3,810 posts, read 6,402,091 times
Reputation: 6565
You know, I don't recall too many slow drivers while we were there.........just people flying up behind and going past us like there was a bag of money waiting for them at their destination. I am NOT a slow driver, either, although I certainly don't drive in the reckless manner I did in my teens & 20's. Not just that, but some of the dangerous lane changing and cutting off I saw.....I mean, it was BAD.

I think one thing you have to know as a visitor/newcomer to any area is that you can't expect to hit the pedal full force without knowing the roads you're driving. There were a few exits (I think 494 coming from the airport getting onto 94 west back into St. Paul for one) where once you exited there was a SHARP 90 degree turn without any warning signs or arrows. You gotta be anticipating stuff like that, or a wreck will find you quick. Plus, MSP has more freeways inside of the outer loop freeways (494,694) than any city I can remember being to except Los Angeles. There are a lot of ways to get around quick there, and if you don't know those roads, or at least have a route planned in place ahead of time, you could be in for some frustration.

Anyway, the driving aside, we really did have a great time exploring. Since returning, we've continued to research anything we can think of in preperation for making our final decision. With each day that passes, it becomes more and more apparent that moving a family is no small task, and because of this, we're committed to making a sound choice. If we do decide to move to the Twin Cities region, we've already planned another trip to the area for the spring which would hopefully coincide with job interviews. Depending on where those interviews may be, I would like to see some of the spots we weren't able to get to last time around, such as Stillwater, Hastings, Blaine, Maple Grove, Chaska, and Shakopee........even out to spots like Delano and Buffalo if possible.
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Old 03-13-2013, 01:37 PM
 
252 posts, read 589,055 times
Reputation: 75
White van w/ IA plates - nope, wasn't me. I switched to MN plates back in 2010 and I don't drive a white van. That being said, the drivers are something you adjust to. We had the same reaction when we moved here - primarily with respect to the idiots who don't know how to merge. I'd be interested to know about what you found in terms of housing in these areas. Frankly I would not want to rent at this phase in life, and the alternatives are bleak in the 130-150k price range if you want good schools, safe neighborhoods, and proximity to the metro as well. Your best bet is to build up some equity in your current house before you sell and then move into a more expensive neighborhood that will fit your needs.
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Old 03-16-2013, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Chisago Lakes, Minnesota
3,810 posts, read 6,402,091 times
Reputation: 6565
Quote:
Originally Posted by nrogers1122 View Post
White van w/ IA plates - nope, wasn't me. I switched to MN plates back in 2010 and I don't drive a white van. That being said, the drivers are something you adjust to. We had the same reaction when we moved here - primarily with respect to the idiots who don't know how to merge. I'd be interested to know about what you found in terms of housing in these areas. Frankly I would not want to rent at this phase in life, and the alternatives are bleak in the 130-150k price range if you want good schools, safe neighborhoods, and proximity to the metro as well. Your best bet is to build up some equity in your current house before you sell and then move into a more expensive neighborhood that will fit your needs.
We decided not to move to the area as it turns out, so no worries.
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