I grew up in Forest Lake, which is just south of Wyoming. Forest Lake is a mid-sized town, about 25 minutes from St. Paul. It has most of the major stuff.. Target (department store), Wal-Mart, a few big grocery stores, quite a number of restaurants, coffee shops, etc. It also has a pretty cute downtown right on a lake. The lake has a park, with a beach and a boat launch, and a play area. That said, if you're looking for action, it's not exactly fun central. But it's safe, fairly convenient, and is close to your husbands work.
South of there is Hugo - Used to be a small town - practically a suburb of Forest Lake. They've been doing a lot of building out there though, and while it doesn't have everything that Forest Lake has, it's a little closer to the city, and is growing fairly quickly. There's a huge new townhouse development there, and it's really pretty nice. Though, it still feels a bit isolated. They just had a tornado roll through which caused quite a bit of damage - especially in some of the areas Hugo is expanding the fastest. But I was just out there the other day, and they've got construction crews out there fixing things fairly quickly. I wouldn't avoid it just because of the tornado. It's not a tornado magnet or anything
Was just a town that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
South of that is White Bear Lake. I happen to like White Bear a lot. It's a pretty established town of decent size. Bigger than Forest Lake.. A very cute downtown, and a nice lake with beaches, playgrounds, etc. About 15 minutes (in clear traffic) to St. Paul. It's sort of on the edge of the established Twin Cities metro. Shopping is close by (there's a mall just to the south in Maplewood, and another one about 10 minutes away in Roseville), and it's a pretty safe place. Some good deals on homes to be had there, as well. We were looking pretty heavily there for quite a while. If your husband works in Wyoming, I wouldn't go much south of that if you wanted to maintain a reasonable commute.
Now --
On the north side, you have North Branch, Cambridge, and Rush City. The further north you go, the further away from the cities you are. I'll admit, it's been a while since I've been up that way. I've always thought of North Branch as a smaller version of Forest Lake. It's a little bigger than a small town, if that makes any sense. Rush city probably wouldn't work for you at all. Too small, not much at all going on there. I've heard Cambridge is nice. Been years since I've been there, and I imagine they've grown a lot. But they're not exactly convenient to the cities. There are people who live there that absolutely love it, though.
As far as heath care for your young one, we are thrilled with our pediatrician's office. Their doctors are really experienced child care veterans. Guys who have been around a long time, and who have impressive histories. If you like, send me a message and I can give you info. We're actually relocating to a different state this summer, and one of the worst parts is leaving that pediatricians office. Ah, and they have an office in Maplewood.
Anyway, all just my opinion, but I hope it was helpful. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Good luck in your move!
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International Relocation to Minnesota
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