****Are there any transplants to MN who are happy with their move to MN? (Winona: for sale, apartment)

[folkguitarist555]

I have read some pretty tough things about MN, from never ending, brutally cold winters, to mosquito infested short summers, to people who are generally not overtly friendly, and extremely standoffish and aloof. I driven thru the state a few times over the years, and thought it looked clean and nice. I know nothing about the state though, as far as living there, which I am considering. Can any transplants chime in and give me their opinions on their new lives as transplants to the state of MN? Much appreciated.

[folkguitarist555]

I guess not

[Minntoaz]

I'm a transplant to the twin cities but was raised two hours north, moved to Phoenix when I was 18 and lived there for 6 years. My husband and I just moved here in March. He's from Seattle. He likes it, we do have some friends and family in Minnesota so that helps. I like it but it's a lot different from a lot of cities.

People are overall very nice here and it still throws me off. I'm used to a lot harsher attitudes. Sometimes it drives me nuts but sometimes I really appreciate it. I don't like the fake nice but some people are really genuine. People are a lot slower to warm up to you here but they come around. It's nothing fancy but I think it keeps people focused on what's important.

As for the winter... We will be experiencing out first one this year so we will see. I grew up here though and it's not like the world stops. There are plenty of things to do.

[folkguitarist555]

thanks I am looking at the rural areas southeast of St Cloud....Big Lake, Becker and etc......I am not a fan of long cold winters, but I am also not a fan of long scorching hot summers....the area attracted me due to homes for sale with acreage in my price range, and the St Cloud VA being nearby....I read some blogs that were really making me rethink my potential move to MN in general, that is why I was trying to get some feedback from transplants....

[13levine]

Originally Posted by starrider434

I have read some pretty tough things about MN, from never ending, brutally cold winters, to mosquito infested short summers, to people who are generally not overtly friendly, and extremely standoffish and aloof. I driven thru the state a few times over the years, and thought it looked clean and nice. I know nothing about the state though, as far as living there, which I am considering. Can any transplants chime in and give me their opinions on their new lives as transplants to the state of MN? Much appreciated.

I came from places where it is far colder than here and far hotter in the summer time. The difference here is the cold comes to stay as a rule, which I like because when it isn't real cold one day and warm the next there is a lot less colds and flues than with constantly fluctuating temperatures.

In summer it seldom hits a 100 like where I came from but lots of 90s and very humid so lots of sweat. The places where I came from it was so dry (no water around) that if a person does sweat it was instantly gone.

As far as I am concerned Minnesotans are a bunch of wusses when it comes to weather. They absolutely love to talk about how tough they are but if it stays around zero (very seldom goes to 30 below here where I live) very long all you hear about is how terrible cold it is or the favorite is depression over "cabin fever". Most have never learned to get tune ups or check their batteries in the fall so, since I live in an apartment and have a starter pack, I start lots of cars (free) when it gets below zero.

In the summer time if it is in the nineties very long it is constant belly aching about the heat. Some of the favorite words in the summertime you hear endlessly are: sultry, muggy, sticky, close, humid and I am sure there are a lot more, that is just ones I can think of at the moment.

There is around 5 months of no jacket or coat necessary and 7 of jacket or parka.

There is not much about Minnesota I don't like really except I am used of wide open spaces where you can see for miles. Here (where I live) you can't see around the next curve. The roads remind me of paved over cow paths they are so winding. It makes it kind of fun in the winter time after a rain at about 30 degrees (which happens at least once nearly every winter) and no sand or salt or whatever else they use has been applied yet.

On the other side of the coin I think the schools and work places here have far more bullies. By the way, I worked in schools and factories for years, both here in Minnesota and other states. Bullying is pretty much ignored even though a lot of noise is made about it and the solutions on TV.

As far as the people go, it is exactly the same as anywhere else. It is seldom, to never, that no one will help you if you need help. Most people are very friendly and inquisitive about you when you first meet, then when they figure out where you figure in the scheme of things in their life, then, they either become good friends or they sort of disappear. I think that is pretty logical.

[folkguitarist555]

so as long as a car is garaged it should start during the winter? I lived in Fargo briefly in an apt, and had to plug my car in at night, had a battery warmer or something you wrapped around the battery....lord, I sure hope somewhere like Big lake MN is not as cold as Fargo in the winter. I was hoping to look for a home around Winona, cause the hills and bluffs, but the housing inventory is very skimpy there, at least in my price range....as I am in Seattle...and will miss the forests and mountains....the majority of nicer, newer homes seem to be around St Cloud, Princeton, Big Lake and Becker....

[bjvanh]

I like it here.

Winters? They're not as bad as I was expecting. I'm surprised how well I deal with them. It is very, very cold but also generally calm. I haven't experienced much stormy, disruptive weather here (compare to say, Chicago). Winter is winter, and as long as life goes on as normal with no major disruptions to my commute or whatever, I don't care if it's 20 or -20 outside.

People? I have no problems. They are much friendlier than in the Pacific NW, where I grew up (the "Seattle freeze" phenomena is very real). I would not describe Minnesotans as "standoffish and aloof" at all, at least compared to where I'm from. In fact, the niceness still throws me off, to the point where I'm suspicious it's fake.

Knowing what I know now, I'd definitely still move here. Maybe I'll move on someday, but it's a great place.

[folkguitarist555]

I live in Seattle, and yes the Seattle Freeze gets old real fast, near impossible to date, the women are the most standoffish, and most unapproachable more then anywhere else I ever lived in the USA....the men are hard to converse and BS with...what was troubling me other then winter in MN, was a few blog sites that I read that were really bombarding Minnesotan's as being, also overly reserved, unfriendly and aloof. So I was concerned about moving to a similar place like Seattle, where folks were equally aloof, unfriendly and standoffish. I got this from a few blog sites online that were hating real hard on Minnesotans, socially speaking. I wont put up the links cause they are very harsh.

[Kamsack]

I live in East Grand Forks MN.....pretty much North Dakota.... and have been in the area for 15 years. I moved up here due to job and because I like winter cold. We certainly get cold up in far northwestern MN and we live in the prairie section and the Red River valley is flat, as you know from living in Fargo. I have a nephew and his family move from North Carolina to Chaska MN due to a job relocation over 10 years ago and they love it there and would never move back south. I was born and raised in Kentucky and I would never ever move back that far south mainly due to the warmer summers there and also much prefer the people here than the overtly noisy southern Baptists down there.

But I have moved around other spots before relocating to where I am at now....Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and each area honestly as its owns good and bad. It is what you make of it and learned long ago what someone thinks has very little to do with how I experience things.

Good luck with move

Dan

[folkguitarist555]

thanks it is either going to be North West AR or MN......outside of Saint Cloud....