How Do You Like Living In Minnesota? (Minneapolis, Duluth: apartment, home)

[Mark S.]

One thing I noticed while visiting Minnesota:

If you are going to live there, you absolutely must have plastic animals in your yard. Preferably a whole herd of plastic deer, some rabbits, maybe even a raccoon or two. Just be sure to keep the raccoons away from the flamingos.

[freeopinions]

I was a route salesman most of my life, and I know pretty much every part of the TC Metro area.

St. Paul is more working class, with a lot of older neighborhoods that could use updating and gentrification. Minneapolis is more cosmopolitan, has more night life, but it's all downtown and it's not always safe.

I don't understand the comment "the suburbs suck." Suburbs are suburbs. The inner ring 'burbs are older and have higher crime rates than farther out, especially the first tier northern suburbs of Minneapolis, like Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park, Fridley and also Coon Rapids. St. Paul has a lower overall crime rate, and is safer overall than Minneapolis, and the suburbs like Roseville and Maplewood are comparable.

The wealth is concentrated in the western suburbs of Edina (old money) Eden Prairie (new money), and around Lake Minnetonka (lotsa money.)

We just sold our (very nice) house in SW Minneapolis for less than $240,000, and there are lots of houses for sale in this very nice, safe neighborhood south of the lakes for that much or less. There is airplane noise, but the whole south side gets that, even the classy areas around Minnehaha Creek and Lake Nokomis.

[T.S.]

Originally Posted by Citydataman

No, T.S., Maple Grove and Plymouth are in the second ring of suburbs, and are only 15 miles from downtown Minneapolis, and they both have about 60,000 people, so I definately catagorize them into the middle suburbs. By the way, how do you quote messages in reply?

I consider them outer suburbs because there is not another city past either one that I would consider a suburb.

[T.S.]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

One thing I noticed while visiting Minnesota:

If you are going to live there, you absolutely must have plastic animals in your yard. Preferably a whole herd of plastic deer, some rabbits, maybe even a raccoon or two. Just be sure to keep the raccoons away from the flamingos.

Where did you visit?

[blakeb99]

from reading all these posts, i am def starting to lean towards minnesota than any other state in the area. it seems yall have a really nice state with a lot to do, with the exception of the cold weather. but, im not too worried about the coldness, b/c i will be dressed to a tee - 3 layers of clothes, thermal underwear, a huge coat, some mittens, and a scarf!!! but, the thing i am most worried about is the danger of driving. i've never driven in snow or ice before....as a matter of fact i've only seen a half an inch of snow fall here one time in my entire life! i'm going to be worried about putting my car in a ditch. so, people should always drive with a scraper, shovel, and jumper cables? what is the need for the jumper cables? does the cold wheather constantly cause your battery to die or something? also, what about sand bags in your vehicle? i remember some people i knew from illinois said in the winter they would load their trunk up with sand bags...anyone ever heard about that??

[T.S.]

Originally Posted by blakeb99

what is the need for the jumper cables? does the cold wheather constantly cause your battery to die or something?

Batteries have about half as much power in very cold weather and engines are harder to turn over, which causes the battery to die quickly if the car does not start right away. I only had problems with it when I was a teen driving old cars, many times with old batteries. You might want to replace your battery before your first winter here with one that has a high CCA(cold cranking amps) rating as a precaution.

Originally Posted by blakeb99

also, what about sand bags in your vehicle? i remember some people i knew from illinois said in the winter they would load their trunk up with sand bags...anyone ever heard about that??

The sand bags thing is for real wheel drive cars and trucks. It helps them get traction.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by blakeb99

from reading all these posts, i am def starting to lean towards minnesota than any other state in the area. it seems yall have a really nice state with a lot to do, with the exception of the cold weather. but, im not too worried about the coldness, b/c i will be dressed to a tee - 3 layers of clothes, thermal underwear, a huge coat, some mittens, and a scarf!!! but, the thing i am most worried about is the danger of driving. i've never driven in snow or ice before....as a matter of fact i've only seen a half an inch of snow fall here one time in my entire life! i'm going to be worried about putting my car in a ditch. so, people should always drive with a scraper, shovel, and jumper cables? what is the need for the jumper cables? does the cold wheather constantly cause your battery to die or something? also, what about sand bags in your vehicle? i remember some people i knew from illinois said in the winter they would load their trunk up with sand bags...anyone ever heard about that??

If you have a garage to park in, you don't need to worry about your car not starting. I can't remember ever needing jumper cables because of cold weather (leaving the headlights on by mistake, yes, cold weather, no).

You should have a cold weather kit in your car and the scraper is nice if your car is outside when it snows or we have frost. When winter is close, every news paper/newscast will have a list of items to keep in your car in the winter. As far as sandbags go, no you don't need those anymore if you have front-wheel, 4 wheel or all wheel drive.

You can take a driver's course in the winter to learn how to drive in snow/ice. The two basic things to remember are to turn into the direction of the skid and don't use your brakes.

[jenne03]

Well I have been on this board in the Chicago section...but that fell through and it looks like Minneapolis is now a consideration..I went on here to see what people thought of it...Because everyone i have talked too says they love it there.

I am surprised at a lot of the negativity...But one thing i have learned<lived in NJ, pittsburgh, and maryland> is that no one likes where they live and there is no perfect place. So anyone like me that reads these posts..don't get discouraged. Most winters in the states that get them..are dead and miserable. Even here in Maryland ...winter sucks. Also, there are so many who say the suburbs suck..Well if you don't like them..yea they will suck to you.

I live in MD, and it gets HOT here..OUr heat index was 127! No one came outside. It is just funny because people always complain how horrible a state that gets cold..Pittsburghers LOVED complaining about it..but like i said no one state is perfect. I have friends who moved from pitt to florida and hate the summers..because it is so hot, humid and buggy...that no one comes outside!!

It scares me when i might move some place and see so many complaints...I understand that winter is winter there in Minn...so beyond that..It isn't that horrible is it?

My grandparents used to live there up in Woman lake and i remember vactioning there and swimming, tubing and boating..It was great..

My questions are....I assume having a boat there makes it that much better...Now do you guys find something to do in the winter...like snowmobiling?

Are Minnesotans that reserved where it would be hard to make friends? That is what i am lacking here in Md.<which i hate btw, but that is my opinion> People all live on top of one another, yet no one talks to each other..The winters here are also dead because no one comes outside. In pitt, we made the long winters fun by having get togethers and hanging out w ith people in are neighborhood..that is what i am looking for...Can I not get that in MInn?

Sorry so long...I just get nervous when people are so negative about where they live...when it is possible i am going to end up there..

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by jenne03

Well I have been on this board in the Chicago section...but that fell through and it looks like Minneapolis is now a consideration..I went on here to see what people thought of it...Because everyone i have talked too says they love it there.

I am surprised at a lot of the negativity...But one thing i have learned<lived in NJ, pittsburgh, and maryland> is that no one likes where they live and there is no perfect place. So anyone like me that reads these posts..don't get discouraged. Most winters in the states that get them..are dead and miserable. Even here in Maryland ...winter sucks. Also, there are so many who say the suburbs suck..Well if you don't like them..yea they will suck to you.

I live in MD, and it gets HOT here..OUr heat index was 127! No one came outside. It is just funny because people always complain how horrible a state that gets cold..Pittsburghers LOVED complaining about it..but like i said no one state is perfect. I have friends who moved from pitt to florida and hate the summers..because it is so hot, humid and buggy...that no one comes outside!!

It scares me when i might move some place and see so many complaints...I understand that winter is winter there in Minn...so beyond that..It isn't that horrible is it?

My grandparents used to live there up in Woman lake and i remember vactioning there and swimming, tubing and boating..It was great..

My questions are....I assume having a boat there makes it that much better...Now do you guys find something to do in the winter...like snowmobiling?

Are Minnesotans that reserved where it would be hard to make friends? That is what i am lacking here in Md.<which i hate btw, but that is my opinion> People all live on top of one another, yet no one talks to each other..The winters here are also dead because no one comes outside. In pitt, we made the long winters fun by having get togethers and hanging out w ith people in are neighborhood..that is what i am looking for...Can I not get that in MInn?

Sorry so long...I just get nervous when people are so negative about where they live...when it is possible i am going to end up there..

I think you need to take a lot of the negative posts with a grain of salt. For the most part, everyone I know loves living in Minnesota. We have lived her most of our lives and have lived in different parts of the state and find everyone to be friendly and outgoing. It comes down to what you make of where you live. We lived in a smaller town and we would have people come in from say, Florida, and bad mouth the town, complain constently, they never gave it a chance because they came in with a negative attitude from the start.

Your experiences in Pitt sound pretty much like our life here. We get together with friends/neighbors, BBQ's in the summer, inside in the winter. We just met some friends at a campground where they were staying for the weekend and it turned out to be a huge campground party, people from other campsites all came over and sat around one fire and talked the night away.

With the climate and the varied scenery in the state you could be busy every weekend doing something different around the state for a long time. You have things like skiing (downhill and cross country), snowmobiling, ice fishing, sledding, ice skating, etc. all winter long. Our kids spend hours and hours outside all winter long doing a little bit of everything.

Yes, you will find people that aren't going to be friendly but for the most part people are just nice.

[warmweather!]

Originally Posted by T.S.

I consider them outer suburbs because there is not another city past either one that I would consider a suburb.

Sorry, T.S., I'm not trying to start an argument, but all of those boring, housed but spaced out, complete with small shopping centers areas outside of Maple Grove and Plymouth that you don't consider suburbs are what I call the outer-suburbs or you could call them "the boonies of the burbs". Those are the places that I said I don't like. Some of them would be: Orono, Rogers, St. Michael, Otsego, and Medina. Those are the suburbs mixed with the country which I don't like. Us 2 just have different definitions of "outer-suburbs", that's all.