Starting to Explore Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Wausau: for sale, movers, houses)

[Ragnar]

Wisconsin has rattlesnakes too, so make sure your wife knows this. Most species tend to congregate in the South/West portion of the state near the Mississippi and other rivers, but some live up north as well. Some are endangered so you may not see very many (and they all tend to disappear during the winter), but they are around in the summer. There are plenty of other snakes to be found in WI too.

[timberline742]

There aren't really any timber rattlers (or saugas) in Northern Wi. Unless you consider St Croix co Northern.

[explorearkansas]

I try not to bring up snakes to DW. It only aggravates the situation. There are far more venomous snakes(quantity and variety) in AR than in WI. I have learned thru experience that snakes prefer to stay away from humans as much as I prefer to stay away from them. Never had an issue in 60 years. As a kid, I would catch snakes. Only once did I snag a copperhead. It was that experience that convinced me give up playing with snakes.

DW is willing to move to AR because I like it. Her comment was "I just won't go outside anymore"! Since DW does not make a likely Martyr, we are now gonna explore the Northwoods.

[Rynldsbr]

Originally Posted by cfbs2691

My parents retired to Eagle River years ago.
One thing that's important to consider, which they didn't... decent healthcare is a few hours away.
FWIW.

Incorrect. Excellent healthcare is in Minocqua. Marshfield clinic, in conjunction with Mayo clinic offers everything necessary for excellent care including oncology specialist that my family was abl to benefit greatly from. In an eight year battle with cancer, only one specialist was as far away as Wausau.

[Rynldsbr]

After reading the comments and the explanation of what you are looking for, I am going to suggest looking at areas south of Minocqua, just far enough out to get away from some of the cost increases associated with a tourist economy but still close enough to take advantage of a tourist economy for your wife's business.

Minocqua, Woodruff, and Arbor Vitae all run together and you will be hard pressed to know when you go from one to another. In the summer it grows from a small little northwoods town to a messy combination of people that don't know where they are going (tourists), people who can't remember where they are going (retirees), and the rest who can't get where they are going. Tourist money keeps home values a little high here.

Just south you will find the least taxed community in the state of WI, Hazelhurst. They offer nothing other than a volunteer fire department and a unified elementary school with Minocqua and Lake Tomahawk. Your tax bill reflects that lack of services. Lots of little lakes and plenty of public access to them so you don't even need to live on the water. Plan on taking your own garbage to the "dump" and recycling center, shovel or plow your own snow, and understand the Sheriff is the only law enforcement and may be on the opposite end of the county. You will want to check out the Willow Flowage for fishing.

Lake Tomahawk is between Minocqua and Rhinelander and is also home to the Rainbow Flowage. Lots of water, low taxes, and access to larger communities. Also the snowshoe baseball capital of the world. Should be on your list. It is a real town with a hardware store, a few restaurants and pubs, and a seasonal ice cream joint.

Further south are a few little unincorporated nothings that also have inexpensive properties on or off water that will provide the northwoods lifestyle at a relatively bargain price. Cassian and Goodnow are not really towns, just areas where some people live near each other and get together at a local bar for darts, pool, and a fish fry.

Good luck.

[explorearkansas]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

After reading the comments and the explanation of what you are looking for, I am going to suggest looking at areas south of Minocqua, just far enough out to get away from some of the cost increases associated with a tourist economy but still close enough to take advantage of a tourist economy for your wife's business.

Minocqua, Woodruff, and Arbor Vitae all run together and you will be hard pressed to know when you go from one to another. In the summer it grows from a small little northwoods town to a messy combination of people that don't know where they are going (tourists), people who can't remember where they are going (retirees), and the rest who can't get where they are going. Tourist money keeps home values a little high here.

Just south you will find the least taxed community in the state of WI, Hazelhurst. They offer nothing other than a volunteer fire department and a unified elementary school with Minocqua and Lake Tomahawk. Your tax bill reflects that lack of services. Lots of little lakes and plenty of public access to them so you don't even need to live on the water. Plan on taking your own garbage to the "dump" and recycling center, shovel or plow your own snow, and understand the Sheriff is the only law enforcement and may be on the opposite end of the county. You will want to check out the Willow Flowage for fishing.

Lake Tomahawk is between Minocqua and Rhinelander and is also home to the Rainbow Flowage. Lots of water, low taxes, and access to larger communities. Also the snowshoe baseball capital of the world. Should be on your list. It is a real town with a hardware store, a few restaurants and pubs, and a seasonal ice cream joint.

Further south are a few little unincorporated nothings that also have inexpensive properties on or off water that will provide the northwoods lifestyle at a relatively bargain price. Cassian and Goodnow are not really towns, just areas where some people live near each other and get together at a local bar for darts, pool, and a fish fry.

Good luck.

Thankyou for that post . Hazelhurst is where we we are staying for our 2nd stop in the journey. What do you think about the surrounding area of Rhinelander which is our first stop. We will surely live outside of town as we always have.

[explorearkansas]

We currently live in similar circumstances you describe above. We hire garbage pickup, take care of our own everything including personal protection. I have served as a fire protection program manager for the past 10 years and take home fire risk seriously.

I look forward to not commuting 100 miles for work. 888 days until I pull the plug, but who's counting. Right now we live 40 miles from real civilization. We hope to cut that down to more like 10-15 miles. Minocqua and Rhinelander both look big enough to provide the services we want to be within arms reach of. The summer trip is to confirm the reality with the online research.

I hope we can see past the tourism.

[Rynldsbr]

My mother still lives in Hazelhurst, I grew up there. It is a nice little area close enough, but not too close, to most anything you need if you are used to limited services. Just remember, in the winter, there are times it may take a day or two to get the snow cleared to get into town. Plan ahead. In the summer, you will not want to go to town on the weekend, particularly holiday weekends. Plan ahead.

Rhinelander is okay. It is a blue collar town, relied heavily on the paper mill there for a long time. Some of the surrounding areas are pretty, and as all of Northern WI holds true, there are lakes and water everywhere. When I was growing up, Rhinelander was the closest city with any kind of a department store or McDonalds. Now Minocqua has pretty much everything, or order on Amazon. I don't know why, maybe it was growing up with the smell of the paper mill, but Rhinelander never appealed to me. You will need to make your own call on that.

The beauty of some of the smaller areas I mentioned is that they are easy to get to either area. Lake Tomahawk is literally on the highway between Minocqua and Rhinelander. Some of the areas like Cassian and Goodnow are just off the path but easily accessible to either. Even living near the Willow Flowage south of Hazelhurst, Hwy 8 is now a nicely improved road and offers an easy commute into Rhinelander ~30 to 40 minutes from most places.

Central WI airport in Wausau offers decent connections to Milwaukee and O'Hare for the most part. Madison has a great little airport that competes pretty well with Milwaukee on pricing in some cases. Otherwise you are 4 hours from Milwaukee and about 4 hours from Minneapolis/St Paul as well.

A good meal in Hazelhurst is Jacobi's - not cheap but generally been highly rated. In Minocqua there is a landmark place at the bridge going into town from the south - used to be called "Bosacki's" but now I think is "The Boathouse". Mom recently said the walleye was as good as she remembered 30 years ago.

[explorearkansas]

Thank you Rynldsbr. Your posts prove most helpful. We will be sure to check out Lake Tomahawk.

[GraniteStater]

Also, look into the towns north of Woodruff and Eagle River. You can be in more remote areas of Vilas County within a 15-20 minute drive of Minocqua and Eagle River. Places like St. Germain, Boulder Junction, Conover, Manitowish Waters, etc. Real estate in those areas away from large lakes is less expensive, but it may be more spendy than the more remote towns in the Northwoods outside of places like Phillips, Park Falls, Tomahawk, Crandon, etc.