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Old 07-31-2014, 12:47 PM
 
Location: Salinas, CA
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You may want to consider the town of Buffalo along route 55 northwest of the Twin Cities as a retirement option. It has about 15,000 people. It is larger than Annandale. and should provide most of your medical care, grocery and restaurant options right in town. It is also on a lake and is considered safe. My old neighbor from Fridley used to know someone there and speaks fondly of it. It is within an hour of Minneapolis and about 40 minutes from St. Cloud.
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Old 08-03-2014, 07:51 PM
 
Location: Moved to Gladstone, MO in June 2022 and back to Minnesota in September 2022
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My mom and dad lived in Buffalo back in the late 80s/early 90s with my older siblings (I wasnt born yet) and my older sister lived there from 2008 until 2013 when me and her moved down to New Hope together.
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Old 08-03-2014, 11:58 PM
 
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Want concerns me the most, after being in mild weather Seattle for years, is those long icy cold winters there in MN....to be honest....and what the friendly factor of people there is....I read that Minnesota nice is a fable....
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Old 08-04-2014, 12:10 AM
 
Location: Salinas, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starrider434 View Post
Want concerns me the most, after being in mild weather Seattle for years, is those long icy cold winters there in MN....to be honest....and what the friendly factor of people there is....I read that Minnesota nice is a fable....
"Minnesota Nice" has sometimes been exaggerated, but the friendliness will be better than the "Seattle Freeze" that gets frequently mentioned in the Seattle forum. It should be an improvement for you IMO. I don't mean this to be blunt, but reassuring. I have found the majority of Minnesotans to be friendly when I lived there in my childhood and on subsequent visits.

Because you are considering the area for retirement, at least you won't have to commute to work five days a week during the winter and that alone should help make the adjustment easier.

Last edited by chessgeek; 08-04-2014 at 12:57 AM..
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Old 08-04-2014, 12:14 AM
 
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yes true.....I would be at home most the time, in doors, but I still would have to go the VA monthly in St Cloud, and would still have to run errands and etc...and I have a sedan car...no 4 wheel drive truck.....I could get one though, as a winter vehicle. I just been reading how brutal the last winter has been...then I read that the summers are short of full of mosquitoes on the attack..
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Old 08-04-2014, 01:40 AM
 
Location: Salinas, CA
15,408 posts, read 6,196,330 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starrider434 View Post
yes true.....I would be at home most the time, in doors, but I still would have to go the VA monthly in St Cloud, and would still have to run errands and etc...and I have a sedan car...no 4 wheel drive truck.....I could get one though, as a winter vehicle. I just been reading how brutal the last winter has been...then I read that the summers are short of full of mosquitoes on the attack..
You may want to consider two towns just west of St. Cloud that were not previously mentioned, if you need to be closer to the VA. Waite Park is to St. Cloud's immediate west. It does have an enclosed mall called Crossroads if you need to get out of the house for awhile in the winter to walk and do something to avoid the "cabin fever" effect. A few miles west of Waite Park is St. Joseph.

Both are within 10 miles of St. Cloud and close to the VA medical center. In addition, you would have the restaurants, parks and cultural offerings of the St. Cloud area nearby. Sauk Rapids is another nearby small town to consider that was mentioned previously. St. Joseph and Waite Park each have about 7,000 people. Sauk Rapids has about 13,000 people. All three are safe towns.
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Old 08-04-2014, 08:31 AM
 
Location: Somewhere out there...
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These are all nice towns, if you like winter, a slower pace and small towns. Monticello has more to offer as far as shopping and restaurants go, Zimmerman and Princeton are very similar. They both have their issues.
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Old 08-04-2014, 09:25 AM
 
32,944 posts, read 3,928,374 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starrider434 View Post
yes true.....I would be at home most the time, in doors, but I still would have to go the VA monthly in St Cloud, and would still have to run errands and etc...and I have a sedan car...no 4 wheel drive truck.....I could get one though, as a winter vehicle. I just been reading how brutal the last winter has been...then I read that the summers are short of full of mosquitoes on the attack..
Personally, I see no reason to get a 4-wheel drive vehicle. I have been driving front wheel drive sedans for decades in Minnesota winters and have been fine. Ten of those years I lived in Cloquet and had to travel to work in downtown Duluth, which if you are familiar with the route on I-35, you know there are some hills to contend with. Even driving around on the hills in the city (once off the interstate) I didn't have any troubles. I think the state of Minnesota does a great job of taking care of its highways. Plus, St. Cloud is flatter than say, Duluth.

Best wishes to you.
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Old 08-04-2014, 01:56 PM
 
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thanks
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Old 08-05-2014, 12:25 AM
 
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I have no idea what to expect in MN, I have driven thru there a few times....the trees seemed tiny....compared to out west.....lol...I have read that folks tend to be clannish and not overtly warm.....and I have spent time in Fargo once....in the winter and it was brutally cold...
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