How Do You Like Living In Minnesota? (Rochester, Eagan: fit in, house)

[MidniteBreeze]

Blake--

Good info above re: winter driving and equipment. If you have a newer car, and/or a good battery, you *probably* won't need the jumper cables, but they're just good to have along because you never know....just one of those "better safe than sorry" types of things. Also nice to have if you want to help someone else out (i.e., the teenager with the beater car!)

Also, in the winter you'll see a lot of people with little plugs hanging out the front of their cars. No, they're not electric (though with $3/gallon gas, it would be nice if they were!)...they're part of a little device we call a block heater. People (especially those w/o garages) will "plug in" their cars overnight when it's below zero so they start better in the morning.

Regarding winter clothing, here are a few new vocab words for you:

"Choppers" are really warm, usually wool-lined leather mittens. (sometimes they're just the leather "shell" and you wear another pair of mittnes/gloves under them). You pretty much lose all manual dexterity when wearing them, but they do keep your hands nice and toasty!

"Sorels" are a brand of boots made in Canada that keep your feet really warm. You'll probably have to go to a sporting goods store to find them. They're not cheap but worth every penny!

A "Chromer" is a wool cap with ear flaps. Usually worn by old guys, but they are warm!

A "parka" is a big, roomy coat, often has a fur (or faux fur) lined hood.

Other Minnesota vocab words:

"hotdish"--this is what you probably know as "casserole". The basic ingredients are cream of mushroom soup, noodles (possibly rice or potatoes) and hamburger. There are many variations (taco hotdish, spaghetti hotdish, Chinese hotdish, wild rice hotdish, etc.) You are gauranteed to find hotdish at any church pot luck in Minnesota.

A "cheesehead" is anyone from Wisconsin and/or a Packers fan (regardless of state of residence.)

"spendy" means expensive. ("Those Sorles are nice, but kinda spendy!")

If you want to learn more (or just want a good laugh), I highly recommend the book "How to Speak Minnesotan." :-)

[blakeb99]

great, thanks 4 all the info! i already have jumper cables so that is good. and since i will be living in an apartment i will have to look into getting a block heater. as for as all the negative comments, like someone said above....just about anywhere u go ppl will say they dont like where they live. not too worried bout the winter cuz there are def lots to do...ice fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, and having big get-togethers at night with friends and some hot chocolate! i think i will def like it there. now my big decision is what area do i want to live in?? the north or the south?? i dont want to live in too isolated of an area. i would think the further north would be the lesser amount of ppl. but i also dont want to live in a huge city like the twin cities. any suggestions on good areas? o, and what i've noticed about ppl is that it's pretty much even anywhere u go....u have nice ppl all over and then theres the not so nice ones. and i make friends really easy and so if u dont talk or keep to urself well then i'm gonna make sure i go the xtra mile to make friends with u then cuz those kinds of ppl just need a little bit of lifting up! :-)

[MidniteBreeze]

Well, the Twin Cities area definitely offers the most economic opportunity, but I do understnad your concerns about not wanting to live in a big metro area.

As you've probably gleaned from these posts, the northern part of the state is (at least IMHO) definitely the most beautiful, but also more sparsely populated, even longer winters and much harder to find a decent job.

You've already looked into Rochester. Some similarly sized Minnesota cities include:

St. Cloud...almost smack-dab in the middle of the state. Growing very quickly, has a lot in the way of shopping, dining, etc. Is facing some problems with all the new growth, but not a bad place to live...close to lakes, but also not too far from the Twin Cities either.

Duluth...my hometown. Very beautiful location on Lake Superior but the economy (aside from low wage tourist jobs) isn't very good. If you CAN find a job there, you'll find that the Duluth-Superior, WI "metro" (about 100,000 people) really offers a lot in the way of both outdoor and cultural activities. The weather is probably the worst in the state though! (you already know aobut Minnesota winters, Duluth has that PLUS cold summers to boot! Lake superior acts as a natural air conditioner when it's hot everywhere else.)

Fargo ND/Moorhead MN: this area really has a lot going for it. Good schools, good business climate, very low crime, 3 major colleges/universities, growing steadily. The biggest drawback (again, IMHO) is the immedate landscape around Fargo/Moorhead is kind of flat and boring, not many trees. Lots of peole drive the 30 or so miles east to the Detriot Lakes, MN area for recreation/outdoors stuff.

Also know that Fargo/Moorhead "metro" has THE coldest winter temps of any other metro in the continental U.S. (even Duluth!!) It can also get ungodly hot in the summer too. If you can get past the weather though, there's a lot of opportunity there.

Hope that helps!

[adavis]

MN is very simialr to Iowa. Actually I think it's a step up. More people, more sights, but not on the larger scale like Chicago. The bugs bit but only during one season and bugs spray works wonders. To be honest I didn't use spray once this summer. The winter is the same as there just a tad colder, unless you go up north toward Canada it's freezing up there. If you ski, snow board, or sled. Our winters are perfect! Plus hot cocoa is especially great tasting here.
MN has such beautiful land, you wont be able to find it anywhere else. There are other places to live in the Mid-West but if you like living with a more diverse culture I'd consider Minneapolis. There's no place like it.

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by adavis

MN is very simialr to Iowa. .

Well, southern Minnesota is a lot like Iowa (rolling hills, farmland, some wooded areas, bluffs along the Mississippi) but northern Minnesota (especially NE MN) is quite different...thick forests, more/bigger lakes, and yes, colder! The north shore of Lake Superior looks a lot like the coast of Maine. Most tourists swear it's an ocean!

Minneapolis certainly isn't Chicago, but it definitely has more to offer than Des Moines.

[the_almighty]

im a mn native & lived there 26 ys. ive boycotted visiting the state for 30 ys. the people worship mediocrity. they believe any flower that grows too hi gets chopped down. they love as many social services as poss. & are prolly the second most leftist state. but theyre intolerant of gays like me (ive been celebate for 19 ys). no deviations please in mn. very passive aggressive (wimpy) people. i cant think of a mn war hero. they really should become part of canada

[the_almighty]

Originally Posted by adavis

MN is very simialr to Iowa. Actually I think it's a step up. More people, more sights, but not on the larger scale like Chicago. The bugs bit but only during one season and bugs spray works wonders. To be honest I didn't use spray once this summer. The winter is the same as there just a tad colder, unless you go up north toward Canada it's freezing up there. If you ski, snow board, or sled. Our winters are perfect! Plus hot cocoa is especially great tasting here.
MN has such beautiful land, you wont be able to find it anywhere else. There are other places to live in the Mid-West but if you like living with a more diverse culture I'd consider Minneapolis. There's no place like it.

beautiful land? ive never seen a book of world beauty spots that includes mn. dont think youve been around much. ive been in 49 states & 29 countries. my choice for beauty is rural england

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by the_almighty

beautiful land? ive never seen a book of world beauty spots that includes mn.

Well, that's OK by us. We have enough tourists already!

[dennis s]

Anyway, I lived in Minn. from 78-82 for school and loved it. I moved to N.Y.C. because there was a major 20% unemployment issue in Minn..I loved the state. I was in Mineapolis. It was clean, with nice people good roads and always stuff to do. I remember around this time of year going to one of the many parks and throwing the football (you bet) around with freinds and then going to a local pizza place and flirt with the waitresses. I remember seing Ahmad Rashad at the Burnsville mall many times. (pre-bigmall). And where else can you drive 20 minutes for some pretty good moguls and hot cocoa at Buck Hill. I went skiing on Christmas day once. Cold? I was on a ski lift once and it was about 30 below with the wind chill. I had icicles on my beard. The cold rarely bothered me. The trick is to own a great coat and eat good. Always park head on into a snowbank. This keeps the wind off of your radiator and the car will start right up. Let your car warm up and scrape the snow off before trying to drive so you can see through all of the windows.
I made pizza in a place in Eagan called "Amore" and all of the snowmobilers would come in for a snack during their tours through the snow. I also worked at Hardware Hank where I learned how to wrap up pipes in your home so they wouldn't freeze. I sold fishing and hunting licenses and plenty of ammo. I used to sharpen skates for the many hockey players in the area. Most of the parks had a rink that would freeze in the winter and a kid was hired to keep the pond shoveled and clean. And Minesota girls........ don't get me started.

Now I've been married twenty years and live in Fla. with our little girl and are thinking of the great school systems in this great area. How is Mendota Heights? and that general vicinity? so anybody want to tell me how it is now? They say you can't go back..............

[golfgal]

Mendota Heights (Sibley grad here) is much like it was when you were there, expensive. The schools are still good but not as good as they were, but still better then most around the country. Right now the 196 District, Eagan (55,000 people now), Apple Valley, Rosemount district is rated tops in the state and one of the best in the nation. It is a well funded, well supported district with 5 high schools all offering a lot for all students. Current unemployment rate in MN is like 2.5% or something very low.