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I despise Wisconsin's winters and so want to move down to the southern tip of Florida then battle my way down to the tip of the tip of the tip in the hottest place possible and live there for all eternity.
Wisconsin is beautiful though.
Winters - Temps can be down to -60 (on rare occurances in some parts) which make Antarctica look like a sauna.
Springs - Cold mornings, and cool-warm days, damp, and colorful, you wake up to the chirping of birds (and the occasional one slamming into your window)
Summers - Hotter than high hell. Temps reached 105F here with 90-100% day humidity, and we were moving outside all day. Not good.
Fall - Warm-cool, colourful, partially sunny, reminds you of little house on the prairie and the olden days. Until a car drives by while you are fantasizing and splashes mud all over you from yesterdays constant rain.
Spring is generally the best since it's usually warm. It's nice to wake up, then look out your window and see the trees (a forest in my backyard) glistening with water droplets, with the birds chirping and the light wind going by peacefully, swaying the grass as it does so, and then stepping out into your hallway, with light pouring through, feeling the warmth and sanctity. Stepping outside you feel the cool grass on your feet and the birds chirping, with the cool wind passing by as the sun gleams down softly.
Truely, it's a paradise.
I've never been down south (besides New Mexico, which is just a hunk of rock with volcanoes)
I experienced this in Summer though! July to be exact! I've never had a Spring at my new home, therefore, I look forward to March and April.
Please check out www.jefflindsay.com...This (broken link) person is a resident of the area and has a fab website that describes all of the great stuff about it
Don't let the fact the he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints bother you. Just don't go to that link on his website. Not that there's anything wrong with it!
Appleton is a great little city! Friendly people, LOTS of jobs now. They have just opened about 10 new hotels in the area! There is a huge golf course/hotel/conference center called Bridgwood in Neenah(10 minutes away).
The winters do seem a little long, but get a damn hobby! Make some friends! With global warming, their winters are nothing compared to 20 years ago! You get the beauty of 4 seasons! YOu can't beat Wisconsin in the fall! You will never want to leave!
I moved to San Francisco 3 years ago, to get away from WI/my parents, etc. Thought I was bored! Couldn't wait to get away! I was 35 years old, lived in WI all my life. I will be moving back in September. I have had enough of San Francisco. The people are either snobs, homeless or Asian. People are VERY unfriendly. I have made 3 friends out here...2 of them turned mental on me. Can't go to Walgreens and have anyone speak English to you! They just speak to eachother in Chinese and ignore you at the register! No thanks.
I can't wait to see my parents again. I can't make enough money in SF to afford to go home more than once a year! It's no way to live. In Wisconsin, I only need to make 1/3 of the salary I make in SF.
Wisconsin residents do have their flaws...some are red-necks, narrow-minded, intolerant, simple. But you will find that everywhere you go!
You can't beat a fish fry, a Packer game, a beer and a brat, deep-fried cheese, snow on Christmas-sometimes, the smell of burning leaves in October...pumpkins, apple cider, beautiful colors of red/orange/gold leaves on the trees...Spring is lovely..a little rainy/unpredictable, but smells of budding flowers, green grass. Summer can get humid and full of mosquitos.....buy some bug spray and have A/C in your house and car, you'll be fine!
I say visit there first, then move there. You will be happy. If not, San Francisco is always looking to cram a few more people into 47-square miles!
I
Winters - Temps can be down to -60 (on rare occurances in some parts) which make Antarctica look like a sauna.
Springs - Cold mornings, and cool-warm days, damp, and colorful, you wake up to the chirping of birds (and the occasional one slamming into your window)
Summers - Hotter than high hell. Temps reached 105F here with 90-100% day humidity, and we were moving outside all day. Not good.
Fall - Warm-cool, colourful, partially sunny, reminds you of little house on the prairie and the olden days. Until a car drives by while you are fantasizing and splashes mud all over you from yesterdays constant rain.
i did not look to see what part of the state necifix lives in, but i have lived in the fox valley all my life and dont ever, ever remember winter temperatures in the -60F range. even factoring the wind-chill. maybe it can get that cold in the northern, sparcely populated areas.
down here, the coldest i recall lately is -20F to -30F or so (including wind chill). Normally we get a cold spell for a few weeks keeping temps below 0F at night and below 10F during the day (not factoring wind chill). for the rest of winter its usually say 0F at night and in the teens or 20's in the day. actually this year we had record high temps in the 40's and 50's for 2-3 weeks in january, and last year (2005) we had a week of 50's and 60's in december. you can ask al gore to explain that.
and snow seems to be hit or miss lately; when i was a kid i remember good snowfall in october. the last few years we've hardly had anything before christmas. actually this year we had literally next to nothing all the way until february, when we had a few big storms plow through inside of a week.
in summer its always very humid but there isn't that many days over 90F. you can expect high 80's for sure as a july and august norm.
oh and for the record, i dont drink, hunt, drive a truck, wear flannel, or watch the packers. plus i strongly dislike winter, mostly because i love to drive and its no fun to drive on cold, salty roads. every year i get a strong case of cabin fever by the end of winter. theres only so much i can do indoors and out of the cold. so i guess i am a bit out of my element. i do love brats though, i ate one in my cubicle just now lol.
but, its home. i've thought about moving away to someplace where palm trees can survive, but its home. there are some interesting things here that are not found elsewhere. crime is low in most areas. we have 93 octane fuel available to us, which, if you have a performance car like me, then thats important!!
i do love it here. in spring and summer, and fall is my favorite. and i'll most likely stay until my kids are grown at least, then i'll get away from the snow. until then i will have everclear's song "santa monica" on virtual repeat mode in my head.
Wisconsin is a Beautiful state--No Doubt!! OH...but that weather. High temp for Appleton Wed, March 3rd--32 degrees. Las Vegas--85 degrees. Whenever I question my move here to L.V., all I have to do is check the weather "Back Home", and I know I made a good choice. Warm weather and ample sunshine-good for the spirit and the soul.
I did have to chime in here quickly and dispute the notion that keeps getting repeated that Wisconsin is fully of very conservative people.
I am not stating an opinion either way - conservative or lib - but the notion that WI is just filled with very heavily conservatives just isn't so.
Here is some case in points:
-Since 1984's Ronald Reagan landslide presidential re-election, beginning in 1988, EVERY presidential election in Wisconsin has gone for the DEMOCRATS! (Including 1988 when George H.W. Bush won in a relative landslide over Michael Dukakis...Wisconsin was one of few states that went for Dukakis!). '92 and '96 both went Clinton, '00 went Gore, and '04 went Kerry. Surely, 2000 and 2004 were both extremely close in WI, but ultimately the Democrat won the popular vote in the state.
-WI's capitol is Madison. Madison is widely considered one of the hotbeds of liberalism in the United States...and it has been so in quite some time. See the history of voting results in Madison...it is just a hugely liberal political city.
-Wisconsin governors, outside of the long Tommy G. Thompson (R) reign, have largely been Democratic. Currently, Jim Doyle - a rather liberal Democrat - was just re-elected in 2006 to his second term as governor...and frankly, the election was a blowout (despite predictions that alleged scandals would put the Republican, Mark Green, in a spot to compete strongly).
-Wisconsin has some of the highest tax rates in the nation, with the exception of the East Coast. This is largely a result of electing more "big government" officials...eg: liberals. Again, I am not making a judgement or opinion either way - some think the higher taxes are good (result in better schools / libraries, etc. - at least hypothetically) and some hate the high taxes. But it just is what it is.
-Wisconsin's biggest city by far - Milwaukee - has voted Democratic for mayor almost exclusively, with generally fairly liberal mayors serving as Milwaukee's mayors. Current mayor Tom Barrett is a pure-bred liberal. John Norquist and Henry Meier...two of the long-standing mayors of fairly recent past in Milwaukee...were also liberals. They generally won election in relatively large landslides. In fact, Milwaukee - from 1948 to 1960 - had Frank Ziedler serving as mayor!!! Ziedler's claim to fame nationally is that he was the last Socialist Mayor.
-Besides liberals currently serving as WI's governor and Milwaukee's / Madison's mayors...WI's two senators - Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl - are both Democrats, and Feingold especially has been a leader of the liberal voice in the U.S. for almost a decade. (Kohl tends to be lower key, however, he is also very liberal and has been re-elected in landslides in WI for quite awhile).
Again, I am not saying all of this is either good or bad. True, there are quite a few conservatives in the state...the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections demonstrated that, along with Tommy Thompson's long run as governor. However, there are also many, many liberals throughout the state, and facts like those mentioned above (among others) demonstrate that if anything, WI tends to lean more liberal than conservative in general!
I would suggest both liberals or conservatives who would want to live or visit Wisconsin would find many others of a similar mindset to themselves. Texas or Nebraska are conservative. New York and California are liberal. Wisconsin is middle-ground.
Wisconsin is a Beautiful state--No Doubt!! OH...but that weather. High temp for Appleton Wed, March 3rd--32 degrees. Las Vegas--85 degrees. Whenever I question my move here to L.V., all I have to do is check the weather "Back Home", and I know I made a good choice. Warm weather and ample sunshine-good for the spirit and the soul.
Hey Gregg - check out the extended weather forecast for Appleton (or Milwaukee) starting tomorrow - Wednesday, April 4 through Easter Sunday. Highs only in the 30s - HIGHS - with lows well below freezing with a chance of some snow flurries on a few days! Northern WI is currently under a Winter Storm Warning expected to produce 6-to-10 inches of global warming...I mean...snow.
While I like you love Wisconsin and miss it quite a bit, I am with you - do not miss the weather from November through mid-April!
Yep-- The weather is the BIG negative in Wisconsin for the period you mentiioned. And just a small addition to your post on liberal/conservative issues. The exception to the liberalism which is really prevalant in the state, would be the Fox River Valley area and Green Bay. My former hometown of Appleton is probably the most Conservative city in the state. Not that I'm "Slamming" Appleton, because I've vowed to never do that anymore.
Yep-- The weather is the BIG negative in Wisconsin for the period you mentiioned. And just a small addition to your post on liberal/conservative issues. The exception to the liberalism which is really prevalant in the state, would be the Fox River Valley area and Green Bay. My former hometown of Appleton is probably the most Conservative city in the state. Not that I'm "Slamming" Appleton, because I've vowed to never do that anymore.
Yep, Wisconsin in many areas is segmented politically. The Fox River Valley area / Green Bay generally lean heavily conservative. The Madison area, and Milwaukee itself, lean very liberally. The west and north suburbs of Milwaukee - very conservative. The Northshore suburbs of Milwaukee - very liberal. The Northwoods, conservative. Racine, liberal.
So I agree...there are some areas very conservative, and some very liberal.
My only point though was that I saw quite a few people mentioning how extremely conservative Wisconsin was in general, and I just had to point out that it is a state with Jim Doyle as governor, and the senators are Feingold and Kohl! Overall...it is fairly split, but a hare of a lean it seems to the "left".
I agree with the most recent posts - you can't define Wisconsin as either liberal or conservative. Like it's location in the US - it's an average of somewhere in the middle.
We had a socialist in office in Milwaukee for years!
On one hand we have such comprehensive aid for the poor that people moved here from other states. On the other hand, we were one of the first states to move from welfare, to more progressive programs, that states all over the country are watching.
So, you'll find all sorts of political ideals here.
As far as the weather - you get used to it. There are pros & cons to having 4 seasons. I'll tell you one thing - Wisconsonites live summer for all it's worth! Come to Milwaukee and you'll have a celebration all summer long - with Summerfest, all of the ethnic festivals, Riversplash, Jazz in the Park, the 4th of July festivities...it goes on and on.
And I think we had to shovel snow all of 5 times in Milwaukee this year. (We get the "lake effect" here. The weather is a bit more moderate.) And, unlike Seattle, we DO get a good amount of sunny days in the winter.
Just like living on the water, eventually, you don't notice it anymore. Live in 78 degree weather all of the time and you can't appreciate it they way we do, LOL!! You'll see people out skating and running and walking all year long, but especially on the warmer days. Back in January we had a couple days in the 70's and a couple weeks ago it was 80 degrees! The old saying, "If you don't like the weather in Wisconsin, wait a minute. It'll change!"
And we are definitely not all hicks and hunters - although we like to play up on the stereotype sometimes, LOL! (we've embraced the cheesehead moniker. But most of us just roll our eyes at those silly hats, too.) There are a lot of college towns in Wisconsin. School (ie. education) is a high priority here. Milwaukee is very cosmopolitan - we have world-renowned symphony, ballet company. art museum, natural history museum and zoo. Milwaukee has set aside a huge percentage of it's land for public parks. You'd be stunned to see our lakefront - a huge portion is parks and a beach.
I haven't lived in any other cities in Wisconsin, but I have travelled all over it. People are always helpful and courteous. I have NEVER heard them referred to as reserved or cold. I am a real estate consultant & agent and work with people transferring in from all over the country and the thing that they most comment on is how great the people are.
And we have other beautiful cities and areas, as well. The Wisconsin Dells, with it's beautiful scenery. Door County with it's New England feel. All of the state - from the north country to the Wolf River to Lake Michigan to Holy Hill to Lake Country to the Mississippi River towns to Lake Superior - they all offer their own special beauty and charm.
And sure, we love our beer, but how can we not with our German, Polish & Irish heritage? But you will also find some of the best dining in the country. We aren't all brats and cheesecurds, LOL! Because of our ethnic variety, you'll find fantastic German, French, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Puerto Rican and Thai food here, too!
So, OK, we aren't perfect. But you show me a place that is. Otherwise, I'd never live anyplace else!
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Appleton/Fox Cities is GREAT!
You'll see people out skating and running and walking all year long, but especially on the warmer days. Back in January we had a couple days in the 70's and a couple weeks ago it was 80 degrees! The old saying, "If you don't like the weather in Wisconsin, wait a minute. It'll change!"
