Should I move to WI? (Milwaukee, Madison: for sale, 2013, renting)
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I've lived in 3 cities in Wisconsin. They were West Bend, Fond du Lac(current resident), and Lomira. West Bend is a nice city with downsides. Firstly the taxes are VERY high. Schools are pretty good no gang activity and not many drugs go around the schools either. Okay one good thing LOL! West Bend's shopping SUCKS. No mall for one. Department stores are currently Boston Store, Wal-Mart, Shopko, Sears Grand, and Kohls. ot a lot of selection. Although there are a lot of restraunts. Not a lot of loading. Hampton Inn and Suites, Country Inn and Suites, Super 8 Motel, AmericInn, and Clarimont Inn and Suites are the only hotels. Only 1 FM radio station 92.5. Thats a summary of West Bend, WI. Lomira is an awesome city. With 3,000 residents Lomira has quite a bit. Theres 2 public elementry schools (one in Theresa same district), and a middle school, and high school. I like there education system. Teachers are great. The school is nice because kids have a chance to go to school with other types of kids in such a small city. I mean the school has African-Americans, Hispanics, Hmongs, and Whites. There are 4 private schools too. The city offers a Subway, Burger King, McDonalds, Bublitz, and Susies Home Cooking. There are also taverens. There is even a hotel, Country Hearth Inn and Suites. All in all choose Lomira for your small city living. Lastly is Fond du Lac. It has 50,000 people. People think Fond du Lac is a bad city. I got to admit there are some gangs. Don't worry they won't bother you! Schools are great. Unfortunaly, drugs are an issue. Like Lomira different ethic groups reside here. There are a lot of restarunts. Country Kitchen, Old Country Buffet, Fazolis, 2 Taco Bells, and 2 Pizza Huts just to name a few. Hotels include Country Inn and Suites, Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn, Microtel Inn, Days Inn, Super 8, Executive Inn (Econo Lodge), Ramada Inn and Suites, Northway Motel, Pioneer Motel, Strech Motel, and Fondy Motel. There are also B&Bs. Unfortunaly, 3 hotels have left FDL. They are Villager Hotel, Economy Inn, and Knights Inn. Theres a mall. Stores in there are Aeropostale, Hot Topic, Pac Sun, Wet Seal, American Eagle, Vanity, Victorias Secret, Orange Julius, Walden Books, CJ Banks, Christopher and Banks, Finish Line and Dunhams Sports just to name a few. Department stores are Younkers(in mall), JCPenny(in mall), Kohls(in mall), Sears (in mall), Target, Wal-Mart, TJMaxx, and Shopko. Theres other stores too like Festival Foods, Mills Fleet and Farm, Menards, Pet Smart, and WG&R Furniture (2). Of course more stores. Theres nice parks. Lakeside is the best. Choose FDL for your new city!!! Minutes to cities.
Milwaukee-45 min.
Green Bay-45 min.
Madison-50 min.
La Crosse-120 min.
Sheboygan-40 min.
Oshkosh-10 min.
Shawno-80 min.
West Bend-20 min.
Racine-90 min.
Chicago-120 min.
*MINUTES MAY BE OFF A LITTLE!!!
I can't believe all this negativity and no sympathy for someone who leaves their cart. You could have walked it over to the fellow collecting the carts instead of just leaving it.
The person parking doesn't have to park where you want them to, their choice and you left the cart, not him.
Gotta admit, I cannot STAND it when people don't return their shopping carts. I hate it when they even kinda walk towards the little return cart area & instead of pushing their cart all the way in, they just push it & walk away, knowing full well it probably won't go all the way in. I know, stupid, but it's a pet peeve of mine. To get back to the subject at hand, yeah, you don't return your cart & just leave it in the open like a vagrant, then expect some sort of retribution. Sorry, but true. And you (not you susancruz) think the people of your town are rude? Just by that little ditty you told us, maybe you've been walking around w/a bit of attitude or a chip on your shoulder? Just a suggestion.
Black River Falls is well worth investigating. We moved here 15 years ago from a Chicago suburb. As a child, (I'm now in my early 50's) we came camping up here every single year because our family enjoyed the area so much. Now after the trickle of time, my entire family lives in this area or in Minnesota.
Since we don't have any children living here or having gone to school here, I can't help you much with that subject.
However, you will find very reasonably priced homes with plenty of elbow room (we have a 40-acre hobby farm just 5 miles from town) and a friendly community of people. Neighbors always willing to help out when needed, no crowded shopping stores, very little traffic and centrally located between two larger cities. (Eau Claire and LaCrosse each an hour drive). Two smaller towns located within a half hour drive. (Sparta and Tomah).
When the snow flies we have pretty good service with road plowing. A four-wheel vehicle is always handy but not a real necessity.
There is a casino owned by the Ho-Chunk Nation Native Americans just on the outskirts of town with a hotel and convenience store. They have a Tribal Office Building that employs hundreds of people. If you need a "quicky-temp" job, there is always Ashley furniture about an hours drive away in Arcadia. They are always hiring!
The Black River runs through town and has some good fishing and canoeing. There is a nice lake area where we have tourists come for camping, boating, fishing and four-wheeling in Hatfield which is about a 20 minute drive from town. They also have a large flea market there several times a year during the summer months. There is a ski mountain in the area also and several parks or county land trails where you can hike, camp and even scuba dive. And if you enjoy house and farm auctions, we have tons of them going on in the spring, summer and fall. You can find just about anything you need at these including some fantastic antiques. Garage sales are abundant in the area also as well as horse auctions and small animal swaps.
If you are a late night person, Wal-Mart, Quik Trip and the truck stop in town are open 24/7.
If you want/need to do home renovations or build a shed, Menards in Eau Claire has a delivery service. Prepare yourself to become a handy man because it is very difficult to find anyone in the area that is qualified or even wanting to do small repair jobs.
There is a small equipment rental store in town if you need a skid steer or post hole digger to use for a few days on bigger jobs. They have quite a good selection of equip.
And as for weather, well there is the good and bad just like anywhere else. The past few years we have seen cooler and wetter than usual spring seasons, but nothing that is severe. Winters haven't been too bad lately with either the snow or bitter cold. This summer was cooler than average also, but is usually very tolerable with only a few weeks of hot, hot humid days. We rarely use an air conditioner here in the country during the day and never at night. Nice cool evenings.
Well, good luck and hope you check out our area. I've never regretted for even one day having moved here.
Annyz,
Great post. We love it here in WI too and have no regrets moving. We have lived in a lot of places and consider this paradise. We also have great service in winter. Roads are cleared pretty quickly. My kids love it here and are so happy we made the move.
We have driven through Black River Falls and it is a nice area.
Enjoyed reading your post, too, Annyz. I'm going to head over that way, I was reading about the area online so I sent for a brochure. I like their slogan, the northwoods closer to home!
I have lived in WI all my life, that is a tragedy I cannot help. Taxes are high, schools are horrid, weather sucks. Madison and Milwaukee are hateful intolerant places you never want to visit. We have 49 other States to pick from, pick another.
I have lived in WI all my life, that is a tragedy I cannot help. Taxes are high, schools are horrid, weather sucks. Madison and Milwaukee are hateful intolerant places you never want to visit. We have 49 other States to pick from, pick another.
Wow, This cold weather must be taking a toll on some.
Taxes are high, well duh! It isn't cheap to live in towns that are so organized and well kept. et cetera.
Schools are horrid? Ok? I had a link to a website that had the percentages from the tests that each state issues to students in 4th and 8th grades. It judges there Math, Reading, Science et cetera. Wisconsin wasn't number one, but it was in the top ten. That does say something.
Madison hateful? I'm guessing your one of those people that get there maybe 3 three times a year and compain about the traffic et cetera? Wow, you have some nerve judging a city from very limite view points. Why does Madison seem to make it on some top ten list for something? Last year Madison was honored with the award of Best teeth in the United States. Middleton, a suburb of Madison was named one of the top ten places to live. Madison ranks high on many perspectives. It has a relatively low unemployment rate. Awesome parks system and bike trails. Health care that is Nationally Recognized.
I can't say much for Milwaukee as I only visit seldomly.
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Like Lomira different ethic groups reside here. There are a lot of restarunts. Country Kitchen, Old Country Buffet, Fazolis, 2 Taco Bells, and 2 Pizza Huts just to name a few. Hotels include Country Inn and Suites, Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn, Microtel Inn, Days Inn, Super 8, Executive Inn (Econo Lodge), Ramada Inn and Suites, Northway Motel, Pioneer Motel, Strech Motel, and Fondy Motel. There are also B&Bs. Unfortunaly, 3 hotels have left FDL. They are Villager Hotel, Economy Inn, and Knights Inn. Theres a mall. Stores in there are Aeropostale, Hot Topic, Pac Sun, Wet Seal, American Eagle, Vanity, Victorias Secret, Orange Julius, Walden Books, CJ Banks, Christopher and Banks, Finish Line and Dunhams Sports just to name a few. Department stores are Younkers(in mall), JCPenny(in mall), Kohls(in mall), Sears (in mall), Target, Wal-Mart, TJMaxx, and Shopko. Theres other stores too like Festival Foods, Mills Fleet and Farm, Menards, Pet Smart, and WG&R Furniture (2). Of course more stores. Theres nice parks. Lakeside is the best. Choose FDL for your new city!!! Minutes to cities.
