Am I crazy to want to move to MN from CA?? (Minneapolis: transplants, safe area)

[psychomamma]

My husband grew up in Minneapolis. I have lived my whole life in CA and AZ, but have moved about 30 times and feel like I could live anywhere. We have been married for 12 years and come back to the Twin Cities twice a year, so I have been there in winter often, albeit only visiting. My husband is the youngest of 14 kids, my kids are grandchildren #39 and 40, and almost everyone in the family lives in the Twin Cities and gets along great.

I don't have a very good relationship with my family, and here in CA we don't live by either of our families and don't have a huge group of friends (everyone is way too busy for that!). Every time we come back there, I have the greatest time with family -- I also love going to Twins games and Gopher sporting events, love the numerous yoga studios and downtown shopping. Our schools here in CA stink and right now we are paying $20K a year for private school because there is no open school plan and our neighborhood school stinks.

My husband is about to get a job offer back there. He is afraid I will hate it there when I'm actually living there and want to move back to CA. We love the weather here, for sure, but I'm not really an outdoorsy person anyway - I'd rather sit by the fire and read a book any day.

I say what is important to me is family, close relationships and good schools. Could weather really override all of these very important things???

Lisa...

[uptown_urbanist]

No, you're not crazy. You'll find lots of former Californians and lots of former Minnesotans-turned-Californians-returned Minnesotans in Minneapolis. I can certainly understand; I love California, but given the economy in CA, the shape of the schools, the budget crisis, and the overall cost of living it's not an easy place to live right now. With all your savings that come from having a lower cost of living in Minneapolis, plus saved vacation time from not having to use it to come visit family, you can always go back and visit CA. You can always move back to CA down the road (or at least that's what we tell ourselves; this is coming from someone who feels pretty strongly connected to both CA and MN, but has decided that at this point in life MN is the right choice.) Weather isn't everything.

[jclark198]

Not crazy at all. I'm actually in the opposite situation because I'll be moving to San Diego later this summer. At first you will have a definite culture shock, because almost everything is different than CA. Weather, weekend getaways, stores, etc. CA is beautiful, but MN is beautiful in its own way.

[northstar22]

I think you would have to be crazy to want to live in California! Minnesota is awesome! Beautiful lakes, trees, rolling hills, and prairie. Even the weather is better here than in CA (we get four seasons, snow, and gorgeous fall foliage, and NO earthquakes or mudslides). With your husbands family all being from here, it sounds like you guys would love it here. Also, Minnesota isn't as cold as most people think.

[nick is rulz]

I have two friends here who are CA transplants. One from LA, and one from the Inland Empire. Both of them really like it.

Cost of living is a lot less here, which is a plus.

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by psychomamma

My husband is about to get a job offer back there.

No you're not crazy at all, especially if he is getting a job offer. Getting a job is one of the hardest obstacles to face when moving long distance especially in this economy, so since you have that, you would be crazy to NOT move.

[mmhl]

The schools alone are a great reason to move, and it sounds like the reasons you want to come here are good ones, your kids will love being by grandparents and their many cousins! And there is nothing like reading by the fire during a snowstorm

[Voyageur]

Not state-to-state preference is crazy - it's just a matter of personal preferences.

Anyone who thinks any state is universally "better" really needs to understand that their tastes are subjective.

It all depends on you. You may well be happier in Minnesota over California.

[knke0204]

::: Another misconception of how bad the weather is in Minnesota :::

Only November, December, January and February are cold and only Jan. and Feb. being extremely cold. Other than that, it's pretty much like California.

If you can get your mind over the thought of it being Siberia part deux here, than you'll have no problem. The Twin Cities are a top-ten city in MHO.

[jilin]

I will be moving to the Twin Cities area in the fall for school. Coming from central CA, I know my way around my area from what is good and what isn't. However, I have been told Twin Cities area is pretty much same as central CA. I will be living half a hour from the UMN St. Paul University. I only know the street and the zipcode is 55130. I googled the address on google map and the place doesn't seem to be too "metro"... someone please explain to me what area zipcode 55130 and how is it there?

I meant to post this on another thread about safe/unsafe areas in the twin cities area, but that thread is closed.

Thanks!