Settling in Cambridge, Isanti County (Duluth, Bloomington: renting, new home, landscaping)

[Tyryztoll]

We've been in Minnesota for a year. Moved here from the DFW area of Texas. Originally from Michigan. We wound up renting in Lakeville our first year, and we've enjoyed living here, but for a family of our size (6) the housing prices were just a bit too rich for our blood. We quickly decided we loved Minnesota and wanted to settle here, so we decided to look on all sides of town for a home to buy.

The first time we went up to Isanti County we were astonished at how little there was on that side of town compared to the other sides. Same with Washington and Chisago Counties going up 35. We immediately realized, though, that the homes were much cheaper up there, so we began to look around and explore a little more.

Eventually, we stumbled upon Cambridge. At first we were like "This is just too remote", but we kept going back, and each time we did we liked the town and the area a little more. Long story short, we just bought a beautiful (to us anyway) 4 bedroom home in Cambridge and are closing next month.

We're very excited. We wanted to be more rural anyway, so that aspect doesn't bother us at all. We think the area is beautiful with the woods, the Rum River, and of course many area lakes. My wife is happy that all the basic retail shopping is right there. We were surprised to see so much of that in Cambridge kinda out there all by itself away from everything.

But best of all, we got a great house for a great price and are still only 45 minutes from the cities. We're really thrilled about it, because we weren't sure we could afford a home in this ultra competitive sellers market. I was even able to transfer to one of my companies northside locations to reduce my commute time drastically.

We know the schools, shopping, dining, proximity to everything won't be what is was in Lakeville, and we're good with it. We feel this is a town we can settle in and grow with. As I said, we're very excited to be settling in Cambridge, and in Minnesota after bouncing around the country the past 4 years.

Just wanted to share.

[WoodburyWoody]

Congrats, Tyrztoll!

[Glenfield]

Congratulations on your new home. It’s a nice area.

[Tyryztoll]

With 4 kids we’ll be in search of a good pediatrician in the Isanti/Chisago vicinity, so if anyone has any recommendations please pass them to me.

[chessgeek]

Congrats on your new Cambridge home, Tyryztoll!

From there it will be much easier to enjoy northern Minnesota getaways on weekends than it was from Lakeville (Duluth & Lake Superior north shore, Grand Rapids, Bemidji, Nisswa, etc).

[Ghengis]

welcome neighbor! after growing up in Bloomington and living mostly in S Mpls as an adult for many years, we also made the move north and we've now been up here for about 25 years. Love the area, the closeness to Duluth and the easy commute to work in the northern metro.

Be sure to check out KBEK (95.5) radio out of Braham for your music fix across every genre imaginable.

Purple Hawk is a pretty decent golf course if you're into that.

Green Barn down 65 in Isanti is a good garden center, a little spendy, but good quality. There's also Wayne's Nursery and Branch Landscaping, both just south of North Branch.

Cambridge has a performing arts center at the high school and while I think shows are somewhat infrequent they do get some pretty decent artists there, saw Leo Kottke a few years back. A newer venue has opened in conjuncture with KBEK in Braham that seems to get a regular schedule of artists through.

https://www.c-ischools.org/school/co...upcoming-shows

Wiese Auditorium/Tickets - KBEK 95.5 FM

Shoot me a DM if you have any questions about contractors or the like if any of those pesky home projects come up, we've pretty much ran the gauntlet over the past couple-plus decades. I also have a name of a pretty good do-all, construction guy that is reasonable in cost and does high quality work.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by chessgeek

From there it will be much easier to enjoy northern Minnesota getaways on weekends than it was from Lakeville (Duluth & Lake Superior north shore, Grand Rapids, Bemidji, Nisswa, etc).

Yes, and we're only an hour from Mille Lacs now, too!

Conversely, we're an hour further away form the Mississippi driftless area we love so much, but had to sacrifice something to make this happen. We plan on taking advantage of our newfound proximity to the St. Croix Valley in order to get that fix. The rivers in this state are absolutely beautiful.....and they are everywhere. We've already started talking about frequenting the Rum, the Snake, the Ann rivers up in our new area......and those are just the ones we know about so far. We love rivers.

While exploring we went up to Mora last week. That's a cool little town. Was surprised to see they even have a decent sized medical center there.

We also love how Cambridge sits right an the juncture of the deciduous and coniferous forest regions. Makes for a very diverse and fascinating landscape.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

welcome neighbor! after growing up in Bloomington and living mostly in S Mpls as an adult for many years, we also made the move north and we've now been up here for about 25 years. Love the area, the closeness to Duluth and the easy commute to work in the northern metro.

Be sure to check out KBEK (95.5) radio out of Braham for your music fix across every genre imaginable.

Purple Hawk is a pretty decent golf course if you're into that.

Green Barn down 65 in Isanti is a good garden center, a little spendy, but good quality. There's also Wayne's Nursery and Branch Landscaping, both just south of North Branch.

Cambridge has a performing arts center at the high school and while I think shows are somewhat infrequent they do get some pretty decent artists there, saw Leo Kottke a few years back. A newer venue has opened in conjuncture with KBEK in Braham that seems to get a regular schedule of artists through.

https://www.c-ischools.org/school/co...upcoming-shows

Wiese Auditorium/Tickets - KBEK 95.5 FM

Shoot me a DM if you have any questions about contractors or the like if any of those pesky home projects come up, we've pretty much ran the gauntlet over the past couple-plus decades. I also have a name of a pretty good do-all, construction guy that is reasonable in cost and does high quality work.

Thanks so much, appreciate all of that. We can't wait to get up there and get settled in.

You know what the north side of town needs? A CRACKER BARREL! There's only one in all of Minnesota and it's in Lakeville! How is there only one Cracker Barrel in this entire state???

I also have to ask after looking at it for all these long years.......why does your locale say Bel Air, CA?

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

Thanks so much, appreciate all of that. We can't wait to get up there and get settled in.

You know what the north side of town needs? A CRACKER BARREL! There's only one in all of Minnesota and it's in Lakeville! How is there only one Cracker Barrel in this entire state???

I also have to ask after looking at it for all these long years.......why does your locale say Bel Air, CA?

partly as a slight variation and homage to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, but mostly because it bugs a certain type of person, based on some of the comments on it I've seen over the years

[mr roboto]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

Thanks so much, appreciate all of that. We can't wait to get up there and get settled in.

You know what the north side of town needs? A CRACKER BARREL! There's only one in all of Minnesota and it's in Lakeville! How is there only one Cracker Barrel in this entire state???

I also have to ask after looking at it for all these long years.......why does your locale say Bel Air, CA?

There used to be one in Brooklyn Center or Maple Grove didn’t there?