Anyone Moving Out Of Minnesota? Why? (Dakota: luxury, apts, condos)

[NurmMN]

I've lived in Northern MN all my life and would love to get out of the cold. I'm seriously thinking about Tennessee. Anyone have any info on retirement areas in TN?

Thank you so much.

[Jeanie Hoholik]

I've lived all over the midwest, including Chicago and Detroit. When I came here in 1998, I met a woman on my new tennis team. She looked me straight in the eye and said, "You know, don't ya, that once you've lived here for a while you're never going to want to leave." I didn't think much of it until one day my husband told me he thought he was going to get another job transfer. The thought was extremely depressing. I had fallen in love with this town. I'll never completely leave. I may buy a home in a warmer climate, but this is going to stay my home. Fur shur! (I learned that here!)

[Jeanie Hoholik]

Sure, Tellico Village outside of Knoxville is awesome. My mom retired down there. She's busier than she's ever been in her entire life. She loves it!

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by nurminen

I've lived in Northern MN all my life and would love to get out of the cold. I'm seriously thinking about Tennessee. Anyone have any info on retirement areas in TN?

Thank you so much.

Look at Crossville Tennessee in the Cumberland Gap region. The elevation is around 2,000ft and they DO have all four seasons. Summers are pleasant with highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s and 60s. Fall is especially nice with cool mornings and warm afternoons. Winter can get occasional snow and rain, but total snowfall is around 10-15 inches or less. The scenery is especially nice with big hills, many forests, and golf courses as well. Crossville is a rather big retirement area along with areas near Knoxville and the Tri Cities. (Northeast Tennessee).

[Lillietta]

Anyone have any info on retirement areas in TN?

If you go to the Retirement Forum here you will see many positive remarks about retirment in Tennessee. Knoxville is mentioned often. Quite inexpensive it seems.

[tijlover]

Why did I leave? The snow? Hell no! I miss the snow! The cold, well here in Las Vegas in January when we get our nasty 30-50MPH winds that blow through this big valley and it drops to the high 20's at night, it FEELS colder than anything I've ever experienced in Minnesota. Wind-chill is wind-chill!!! And yes, you can slip on the ice here in winter and break a hip just like in Minnesota due to the year-round underground sprinklers which spill-over into the sidewalks creating icey walking in January. The chief reason I left was due to the clouds. I just couldn't have taken another cloudy winter up there. So I headed to the Southwest with their promise of 300+ days of sunshine a year, that's the STAR attraction! We, who live here, take it so for granted, awaking to sunshine every morning, that I actually know people who will call in sick for work if there's more than 2 cloudy days in a row. Promise me 300+ days of sunshine and I'll happily return to Minnesota and put up with below-zero weather and snowstorms. There's nothing like a sunny, clear blue sky in the middle of winter in Minnesota where the snow glistens and with sunshine you can overlook just about anything. Even when I visit today, and it's cloudy more than two days in a row, I just want to change my reservation and fly back to all this beautiful sunshine.

[lukeache]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Even when I visit today, and it's cloudy more than two days in a row, I just want to change my reservation and fly back to all this beautiful sunshine.

I totally understand. I moved from MN to NM and there was something about those amazing blue skies and sunshine everyday that was just incredible. I don't know how to explain but in New Mexico, the skies are so blue and so incredibly wide and beautiful. However, living in the desert and not seeing green for a long time can be as depressing as our cloudy days here

[sugarbeet]

I grew up in rural Minnesota and just moved back after living in five states in nine years. I'm glad to have had experiences in other cities, but for me Minneapolis is a wonderful place and I never want to leave! If you have never lived anywhere else, give it a try and see what you think. You can always move back.

[tijlover]

The desert is very spiritual and if you miss the spiritual message of the desert, then all you're seeing is rocks and sand. The desert is so amazing. What the sun and clouds can do to the mountains is amazing. There are times I can look at the surrounding mountains of Las Vegas and it looks so boring and uninteresting. BUT! With a sunset, all changes. With a sunrise, it can change. Add some clouds and it changes. The picture is never the same from day to day. You never know when you wake up the next day what the mountains will look like, breath-takingly beautiful or just so-so pretty. And in the late Fall to early Spring when the mountains are snow-capped around Las Vegas, it's a sight to behold. I have really fallen in love with the desert, and even when I travel now, I seek out the desert. I recently traversed the great Atacama Desert of northern Chile which only gets .01 precipitation every year, driest desert in the world, not a cactus to be found or desert shrub, ALL sand, deforested hills. Yet, I found the place incredibly spiritual and beautiful. In fact, when I returned to the "desert" around here, I found myself wishing the cactus shrubs would disappear and let there only be sand. Some of our greatest religions have originated from desert regions of the world.

[Irish40]

I was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and lived there most of my life. We moved to MN a year ago for my husband's job in the medical device industry. I did live Chicago for a couple of years and have lived in Austria/Germany. Minnesotans make the Germans seems extremely friendly and outgoing. For having so much great industry, I would have thought people to be more cosmopolitan and interested in the outside world. However, most of the people I have come into contact with really have no interest in visiting other parts of the country or world.

We talk about moving back. The housing prices here are a shocker compared to Indianapolis. The people are friendlier in Indiana. However, the reality is that if we did move back, our son would be going to a Catholic or private school. My husband could not find jobs in the medical device industry like he has here. He has worked here two years and within a year-and-a half, he had doubled his income from his last job in IN.

Minnesota has a lot of nice amenities . . . . the people, I have found, are not one of them.