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Old 03-25-2012, 03:16 PM
 
Location: Boilermaker Territory
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Minnesota seems less wooded overall compared to Wisconsin and Michigan.

 
Old 03-26-2012, 01:39 AM
 
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
Minnesota seems less wooded overall compared to Wisconsin and Michigan.
Yes, because a large part of the southern part of the state is part of the plains, but central and northern Minnesota is quite forested. I think MN has a more varied set of environments than you'll find in either WI or MI...
 
Old 03-27-2012, 12:17 PM
 
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Originally Posted by rcsteiner View Post
Yes, because a large part of the southern part of the state is part of the plains, but central and northern Minnesota is quite forested. I think MN has a more varied set of environments than you'll find in either WI or MI...
And then you have the eastern portion of Minnesota, near Wisconsin, which has some cliffs and bluffs near Winona and Red Wing.
 
Old 03-27-2012, 01:44 PM
 
Location: Portland, OR
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Originally Posted by Dr.drew View Post
Alaska may one day be connected to the rest of the states. Quebec has tried unsuccessfully a couple times to become independant from Canada. If it had been successful, some of the western provinces were talking about becoming part of the United States.
Personally, I like the pop culture story line of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon seceding from their respective countries to form "Cascadia"

Cascadia (independence movement) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sorry, off topic, I know!
 
Old 09-26-2015, 01:26 PM
 
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Sorry to bump an old thread but I didn't want to create a new topic.

I've been looking into the upper midwest for a good while now and I honestly don't know which one I prefer. I think I can narrow my choice down to WI vs. MN, but with MI out of the picture it's like a stalemate.

The two things I've noticed about both states is that you have a couple big city areas with a large population and the rest of them are sparsely populated with not much going on. The other thing I learned is that people are mostly arguing over which one has more lakes

I'd be happy in either state because Madison is great and so are the twin cities. Which one I ultimately land in time will tell. I guess I'll have to live in both states for a while but moving around a lot is going to be expensive, especially with a lot of stuff to haul around.

I wish I could have both
 
Old 10-25-2015, 05:40 PM
 
Location: Minneapolis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Angel Heart View Post
Sorry to bump an old thread but I didn't want to create a new topic.

I've been looking into the upper midwest for a good while now and I honestly don't know which one I prefer. I think I can narrow my choice down to WI vs. MN, but with MI out of the picture it's like a stalemate.

The two things I've noticed about both states is that you have a couple big city areas with a large population and the rest of them are sparsely populated with not much going on. The other thing I learned is that people are mostly arguing over which one has more lakes

I'd be happy in either state because Madison is great and so are the twin cities. Which one I ultimately land in time will tell. I guess I'll have to live in both states for a while but moving around a lot is going to be expensive, especially with a lot of stuff to haul around.

I wish I could have both
The big, big difference as far as population distribution is that WI is a lot more evenly spread out. Roughly the same number of people, but a significantly smaller land mass (25% smaller than MN), and there is no large metro that completely dominates. In MN the Twin Cities metro basically controls the state, and there isn't much going on outside of that. The Twin Cities are 3.5 million people and roughly 60-65 percent of the population of the state. In WI you have a smallish "major" metro (Milwaukee at 2 million), a bigger "medium" metro (Madison at 500K) and then big towns and medium cities all over the rest of the state.

Minnesota population density:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...5631815b61.jpg

Wisconsin population density:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...lation_map.jpg


Small towns in WI tend to be a little nicer and have better economies, it's more of a small town/small city oriented state.

Also, while Wisconsin has its own big city with Milwaukee, it's also tied to the larger Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul metros on either end.
 
Old 10-26-2015, 10:36 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Angel Heart View Post
The two things I've noticed about both states is that you have a couple big city areas with a large population and the rest of them are sparsely populated with not much going on.
I don't know about this. Minnesota is more this way but I certainly wouldn't say outstate MN has "not much going on" since it's mostly incredibly scenic and has more than 800k acres of wilderness area (2nd-most east of the Rockies after Florida). But the population is heavily concentrated in the Twin Cities, yes. Wisconsin isn't that way, though. Milwaukee is the biggest city, but there are a lot a lot of small cities too. The population is much more spread out.

If you want to live in a big city you should go with Minneapolis, if you want to live on a coast you should go with Milwaukee, if you want to live in a college town you should go with Madison (or the University neighborhood of Minneapolis I guess).
 
Old 10-27-2015, 09:52 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by michigan83 View Post
Not trying to get into a nerdy geography fight, but Minnesota only has the "most shoreline" based on a technicality. Michigan has 3,288 miles of shoreline along 4 of the 5 Great Lakes, compared to only 189 miles of Great Lakes shoreline for Minnesota. Most of Minnesota's shoreline is along inland lakes. The miles and miles of Great Lakes shoreline in Michigan are more impressive to visit than the inland lakes in Minnesota. Inland lakes are nice, but they are not going to "wow" anyone. Michigan also has more than 11.000 inland lakes and I know Wisconsin has a lot too, so inland lakes are very common in the Upper Midwest. But having almost the entire state surrounded by four Great Lakes is very unique. I think most outside visitors would be much more impressed with the Great Lakes shoreline.
As a transplant from the west coast to MN (who likes it for the most part) I could not agree more. We stay at a cottage in Ottawa Beach/Holland for a couple weeks in the summer and it is just stunning. I love Michigan. I sometimes scratch my head when it comes to what Minnesotans consider a "lake".....but then again that's probably because I'm not a native.
 
Old 10-27-2015, 10:29 AM
 
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At first glance, yes Wisconsin's population is more evenly distributed, but there are pockets outside of the Twin Cities with activity. Moorhead ( part of the Fargo, ND metro area), St. Cloud, Duluth, Mankato, Rochester, etc. But yes, MSp does dominate the state..
 
Old 10-27-2015, 10:50 AM
 
Location: Bel Air, California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BPtransplant View Post
As a transplant from the west coast to MN (who likes it for the most part) I could not agree more. We stay at a cottage in Ottawa Beach/Holland for a couple weeks in the summer and it is just stunning. I love Michigan. I sometimes scratch my head when it comes to what Minnesotans consider a "lake".....but then again that's probably because I'm not a native.
Minnesota actually has a pretty high threshold when counting their official lake total compared to the relatively dry state to the east; 10 acres or larger and named. The official count is 11,842 but that doesn't look as good on the license plate and appears to be unbecomingly boastful.

Lakes, rivers & wetlands: Minnesota Facts & Figures: Minnesota DNR

I think the same criteria applied to Wisconsin would be a couple hundred lakes at the most.

btw, Minnesota also has over 69,000 miles of rivers and streams.
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