Visited Minnesota/The Midwest/The North, for the first time. My thoughts.. (Minneapolis: fit in, transplants)

[Wellstone]

I think you were in Shoreview, not Roseville. Most of the local tv towers are in one area along highway 694. I don't know why they put them all there, but yes it is a bit unusual. Typically it would be at highest elevation but this area is fairly flat.

[Kayekaye]

BadgerFilms I would be interested on your take of our extreme winter. Are you coming back during January or February? The short dark days give the best of us cabin fever. It's something you have to experience if you are thinking of moving here. Good luck.

[Pincho-toot]

Originally Posted by Wellstone

I think you were in Shoreview, not Roseville. Most of the local tv towers are in one area along highway 694. I don't know why they put them all there, but yes it is a bit unusual. Typically it would be at highest elevation but this area is fairly flat.

Oh no, it was for sure in Roseville! Address was on Cleveland Avenue, near a Wal-Mart. I don't think they're TV towers. They're for power lines. They look like this http://www.eng.uwo.ca/people/esavory/tower1.jpg

[nickerman]

Let us hear what you have to say after a year or so of living up here. Minnesota and especially the twin cities look good on the outside. Almost perfect being clean etc. But you haven't lived among st the Minnesota people yet and before you make any final judgement you must do that. Good luck. I wouldn't live in Minnesota if they payed me.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by nickerman

Let us hear what you have to say after a year or so of living up here. Minnesota and especially the twin cities look good on the outside. Almost perfect being clean etc. But you haven't lived among st the Minnesota people yet and before you make any final judgement you must do that. Good luck. I wouldn't live in Minnesota if they payed me.

did you mean to say spayed me or paid me?

[vladlensky]

Native Minnesotan here. The comments in this thread are completely reflective of some of my friends' reactions when they visited me in Minneapolis from the East Coast, South, etc.

The overwhelming consensus is that Minneapolis is clean, clean, clean. I moved to NY in 2013 and was just back in town recently and that was my first impression as well. Now, having the perspective of living in another Metropolitan area, Minneapolis is indeed very clean in the downtown area! It's also very, very deserted and quiet in the evening apart from 1st Ave and some areas of Nicollet Mall, which takes some getting used to.

For Southern folk considering moving, I'd highly advise visiting the Twin Cities for at least a week or so in Mid-January to get a feel for the 'true' winter climate. November/December can still hold the promise of being reasonably temperate (see e.g. East Coast climes) but the true dry, windy, bone-chilling cold usually hits in Jan-Feb. If this does not present an issue and you can see yourself handling sub-freezing temperatures from November - May, MN may indeed be the place for you! I'm of split opinion - one one hand the summers are short but amazing, the winters are brutal and the city offers a lot of great amenities for it's relatively small size, fantastic bike trails and infrastructure. On the other hand, I don't miss the bone-dry Arctic cold that seems to last forever. It's a toss-up, and if you can find a good way to survive during the winter, I would say go for it!

[Citykid3785]

I think in general the South's loose zoning laws give way to more ugliness. I know whenever I go to the south, you will see a mobile home next to a mansion, an abandoned strip mall (with overgrown weeds in the parking lot) next to a new thriving one. You see move homeless because it's warmer out and the economy is worse.

In MN, and I love this about MN BTW, trashy areas are generally concentrated in very small areas, vs. being spread out and peppered over nice areas, thus, you can completely avoid trashy parts of the city at all costs and never set foot in them.

[Pincho-toot]

Originally Posted by nickerman

Let us hear what you have to say after a year or so of living up here. Minnesota and especially the twin cities look good on the outside. Almost perfect being clean etc. But you haven't lived among st the Minnesota people yet and before you make any final judgement you must do that. Good luck. I wouldn't live in Minnesota if they payed me.

I've lived in Florida, and I live in Texas... I think I can handle it lol

[Pincho-toot]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

I think in general the South's loose zoning laws give way to more ugliness. I know whenever I go to the south, you will see a mobile home next to a mansion, an abandoned strip mall (with overgrown weeds in the parking lot) next to a new thriving one. You see move homeless because it's warmer out and the economy is worse.

In MN, and I love this about MN BTW, trashy areas are generally concentrated in very small areas, vs. being spread out and peppered over nice areas, thus, you can completely avoid trashy parts of the city at all costs and never set foot in them.

Idk if its related to zoning laws, but we noticed how compact houses were. Here in Texas, lots of people have spacious lawns, where in Minnesota, lawns were smaller, but houses tend to be two storey. It is true what you say about mobile homes and such. You can find a gorgeous Victorian house next to what looks like the house of a meth head.

There's no homeless problem where I live, (I mean there's a bit more than similar sized towns cuz its a college town) but there definitely is in Miami.

[Pincho-toot]

Originally Posted by Kayekaye

BadgerFilms I would be interested on your take of our extreme winter. Are you coming back during January or February? The short dark days give the best of us cabin fever. It's something you have to experience if you are thinking of moving here. Good luck.

I'm definitely coming in winter. I wanna see Minnehaha falls frozen! I wanna bust out the ice skates on a lake. I actually planned to come last Christmas but that didn't happen. This Christmas I may or may not be in Oregon. However whenever possible I will make a winter trip. As far as handling it? I can't stand a Texas summer yet I'm still living here.

What's making me leave Texas isn't the heat, it's the fact I never really planned to make this my permanent home anyway (moved for a relationship) and while I do love a lot about Texas, my lifestyle isn't as suited for life down here, as it is for somewhere further north. Being gay has at least a good amount to do with it. Texas may be one of the more gay friendly southern states but it's miles away from Minnesota or New England in terms of LGBT tolerance. We're still legally discriminated employment wise in Texas. Wages are also extremely low down here. Especially for anyone that works for tips.

Anyway, point is, if I could handle Texas 90-100+ heat in summer, I can handle occasional below zero dips in winter. I'm more a winter/autumn person anyway. I get hot sooner than I get cold. To me, overall quality of life comes before weather, though I must have at least some seasons. Meaning, I'd rather be in Fort Worth than Detroit, but I'd rather be in Minneapolis than Fort Worth.