cambridge and surrounding areas (Minneapolis, Duluth: crime, homes, living in)

[mollygirl]

hi all,
we currently live in minneapolis and enjoy many aspects of living in the city, but my husband's job is likely taking us to cambridge next summer. any info on this town would be great...i'm more of a city girl but i'm trying really hard to be open-minded. who knows, i may like small town life!? we'd like to be within a 20 minute drive of cambridge, but i don't want to move any farther from the twin cities than cambridge...any advice?

i'm not interested in hearing any huge rants about what a horrible place it is because i'm trying to be positive here. if i don't like it i'll just drive into the city a lot. so--honesty, please--but no rants. i already know it will likely be a little more "nascar" than i'm used to.

thanks in advance for all your help!

[Slig]

I have a few friends from Cambridge. They like to drink ALOT there so I hope you like drinking. Cambridge is a little nicer than Isanti from what I've heard. Every year Cambridge has a rodeo and it's a pretty big deal. They have all kinds of events going on like an alumni baseball game where their city team the Redbirds plays against all the old guys that used to play for the team. They also have Outhouse races...yep, that's Cambridge for ya.

[golfgal]

Ok, it's not like Cambridge is the end of the earth. You could really live in the northern suburbs and "commute" to Cambridge pretty easily. A nice plus about Cambridge is that you are easy driving distance to St. Cloud, Duluth and the Twin Cities as well as the lakes area in central and northern MN. We have some friends that live there and LOVE it. She is from Coon Rapids, he is from Denver.

[yellowsnow]

It's pretty in the summer. They have an antique fair and a dog show too.

RE is getting considerably cheaper. Crime is low. Traffic is great too. You are pretty close to the outlet mall in North Branch.

[mollygirl]

oh, boy...i'm in for it, aren't i??? i don't drink, like country music, play baseball, or want anything to do with an outhouse.

[mollygirl]

the other thing is that i know the northern suburbs pretty well, and to be honest, i'd rather live farther out in a smaller place that has a sense of community than live in anoka, blaine, coon rapids, etc. the commute from those suburbs into mpls is about the same as the commute from cambridge, what with the traffic on hwy 10. admittedly i have a bias against the northern suburbs, but it's pretty mullety up there...(i've just outed myself as a snob, haven't i!?)

[LOLZ]

I would look at homes in North Branch, it has more of a community feel than Cambridge in my opinion, is just off I-35 for easier access to the metro area than Cambridge, and is only about a 15 minute drive to Cambridge on Highway 95.

[yellowsnow]

Yep, you're outed. I will tell you about an unexpected advantage we found to living up there. We work in MPLS. The commute is so awful you couldn't PAY us to make extra trips into the cities. We were burned out on the drive.

Therefore we were forced to abandon retail therapy and many other entertainments. We got every TV channel we could pay for. Well, we stopped spending money. I mean we almost felt rich. Living up here for 12 years has set us up for early retirement. Way early!

It's something to think about!

[mollygirl]

well, my husband won't have far to drive for work (about 2 seconds!) and i'm home with my daughter, so commuting won't be an issue. driving to mpls/st paul for fun stuff to do is a personal REQUIREMENT for me if we're going to move up there, and my husband agrees, so i'm glad we're on the same page about that. we like to go see bands at least once a month, and we like the museums, parks, etc. i know there'll be stuff to do up there, but i'm not giving up my concerts!

regarding my now outed snob status, i'm going to have to get over it, i know. i'm sure there are like-minded individuals up there. i'll just have to find them. we'll be living there for a LONG time so i don't want to set myself up for a
"me-vs-the booneyland folks" type of attitude. besides, my kids will be growing up there, so i don't want them to have neg. feelings about the place where they grow up.

[hannah2u]

why are you so fearful of moving to cambridge? Guess what? We live here just like they do in the big city. Cambrige is less then an hour from Minneapolis (Highway 65 - Central Avenue - one in the same). We have grocery stores, drug stores, walmart, a floral shop, restaurants (mickey D's too), gas stations and a few odds and ends. Buck up girlie and enjoy - I think you'll find Cambridge is a great place to raise your children. Don't thumb your nose at us and judge us before you get here.

I have relatives that live in cambridge and I enjoy spending time there. It's not a boring place to live and it's close to the cities, princeton, st. cloud, etc. Plus, it's close to Wisconsin. Enjoy your time there. Welcome to a great place to live.