Florida to Minnesota, anyone else do this? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: house, neighborhoods)

[Hoosier]

We've lived in both Florida and Minnesota. It's just different. Minnesota has four seasons, Florida has two. We loved all the great things Florida had to offer in the way of beaches, Disney and more. I believe the biggest difference you will see, and appreciate are healthcare and living standards. When we lived in Florida we were shocked at the overcrowded doctors offices, most of the one we went to had degrees from the islands (and they were on our healthcare plan). We lived in Kissimmee. The doctors here are phenomenal. My kids and wife have severe asthma, allergies and other issues that keep us busy. We have found some excellent healthcare facilities up here.

The people are very nice up here. You will find many transplants from other places here, but more times than not people have lived here their entire lives. It's a very family friendly place to live. Now we do have our problems, as all places. As one who has lived in 13 states, including Florida, Minnesota is one of the friendliest places to live...excellent schools...lots and lots to do whether outdoors or indoors. I highly recommend living here. We've had the opportunity to move elsewhere, but we're here to stay!! Best of luck!

[monti]

Holy ****, slow down a minute there - a couch potato?

Let me tell you that you can find me any given day of the week (and weekend) at the JCC either working out or swimming for atleast 1 1/2 hours per day.

I also regularly take 2-3 hour jogs, every day, in the summer WHEN IT'S WARM (It's more to let my eyes relax and stretch out than get my body in shape, as I take good care of myself anyways - ie structured diet, rigorous morning facial routine)

I hope I didn't give you the impression that I'm a slob, but what I meant to instill is the notion that 90% of the people out here are people who have NO AMBITION and waste their time doing trivial things like shopping, drinking, and partying in peoples basements.

The problem I have is all people here want to do is waste their lives away running around until they finally have to fess up and realize that they need to go to business school so they can become a "big time manager" at burger king.

This mentality that these people are perfectly fine with being "average" it just doesn't make sense to me. Growing up here I've watched people mature - and go through the routine of graduating college, getting a job, getting married and having kids

Great job, after 10 years of work you're average just like everybody else, freezing your a$$ off in an arctic tundra where all you're going to do is go to an odd birthday party, or house party, or bar every weekend after work and then go home and schlup your wife.

Excuse me, but what the fck?


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The things you mentioned:
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Dress for the Weather: Today I wore a t shirt, sweater, sweatshirt and coat, with underwear, long pajamas and jeans, and big boots, and a scarf and bomber hat and guess what

I WAS STILL COLD AS HELL

Then again this is coming from a guy who has been known to repeatedly wear his winter jacket for hours on end in 80+ degree weather after track practice in middle school to make a point

Heat doesn't bother me, I've jogged from St Louis Park to Eden Prairie in 105 degree weather this summer without really breaking a serious sweat

Cold on the other hand just hits me really hard, I can barely stand it - I'm basically dying in 40 degree and below weather, so you can imagine how sucky it is for me when we're hit with NEGATIVE 25 degree windchill weather. It's terrible, it really is terrible, sometimes it makes me want to cry



It's beautiful in the fall? Now comon, that's a bit of a matter of opinion, don't you think? I would disagree, I think everything looking brown and grey with minimal contrast and no saturation is quite ugly...

I know one thing for sure, HELL AIN'T WARM

Rollerblading: Ok sorry but who rollerblades in the winter, it's so COLD - yes there's lots of places and cool things to do when rollerblading here but only for 3 months out of the year

Biking - See above

"fabulous walking... shopping... great supermarkets... fishing... local high school and college plays..."

You have failed to list ANYTHING that I can't do in atleast 48 other states - all while being warmer, more comfortable, and cheaper than here.

I still don't understand what fabulous walking means, really...


Also, you forgot to mention the Walker Arts Center

The Walker Arts Center - Great place, had my work shown there several times, but the problem with it (and many of the Arts centric buildings you listed) is that it really has limited usage.

Sure you can rollerblade or bike everyday in the summer, which is something I'd call "un-limited" usage. But the Walker updates their selections maybe every 4 months. So basically it's good for 3 visits for a YEAR. An entire year - so there we've taken care of 3 nights out of 300+ to fill with things to do in MN this year. Let's just add in those other places you mentioned so thats maybe another 10 days total.

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[monti]

Wow ran out of space, only allows 5000 characters, 1 second...


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"maybe lardo is that person's lifestyle,,but some of us have made the effort to enjoy life"

Eek wow, not only am I not out of shape in any way but what frustrates me is you make the assumption that I haven't made an effort to "enjoy life"

I grew up on welfare and foodstamps, and have moved around Minnesota my whole life, constantly. In my 18 years I've moved 17 times. This not only hinders me from having any close circle of regular friends but also has kept me on edge and freezing many times when we couldn't pay the bills for heating in the winter.

I never enjoyed the priveledge of going to places where it took money to enjoy like.. well every single thing you mentioned on that list. The gist of my life in the winter would be sledding and hanging around my mom's college. Constantly freezing.

I was given the opportunity to go to a fairly exclusive highschool without paying any fees (Minnehaha Academy) so I got to see how the other half lived. I would watch as kids pulled up in their dad's Hummer or Porsche, and I watched from even closer in these same kids basements watching them sit and simply drink and do drugs every weekend. They have all the ins and the resources but they don't use them and it kills me.

I see the kids who are poor, like me - and it's the same story with them, no ambition.

Then I go out to LA and meet people who - surprise - actually give a **** about creating things - about money - about image. I get to do the EXACT SAME THINGS i can do here in the summer except all year round and better.

Rollderblading in Santa Monica along the beautiful beach. Volleyball. Shopping in Melrose for a much wider variety of clothes (everything isn't disgustingly boxy Abercrombie and Fitch Polos) being able to see actual professionals working on set, the ocean, surfing, much tastier restaurants than I've ever eaten at than in Minnesota, and on top of it all I cannot fathom the amounts of money being thrown around.

Same thing when I went to Miami a month ago, I was in bliss, I didn't feel depressed and unhappy, the warmth and the sun refreshed me and my appearance, my skin felt hydrated and smooth, sporting a matte finish. My hair and nails felt similar benefit.

I take pride in being able to come from the bottom and go straight to the top, and if there's one thing I want to do it's spread the word about how this state almost got the better of me, it's quite horrid and I've nearly frozen to death on 2 occasions in my life. This state is a horrid place to grow up with no money, no connections no nothing.

Being in the same situation in Hawaii for example wouldn't be nearly as bad, I'm quite sure of that.

Now maybe you understand where I'm coming from...

[MidniteBreeze]

Monti,

Ok, I'm a little confused. I get the idea that partying in people's basements isn't the most "ambitious" thing to do, but do you really think this kind of behavior is unique only to teenagers in Minnesota?

And how do you define "ambition"? Going to college, getting a job and having a family is a bad thing? Do you equate success with having lots of money and living a "celebrity" lifestyle? I guess that's fine if that's what you really want, but some people just have different priorities. As long as they can support themselves and are happy with their lives (even if the DO manage a Burger King), then what's the problem? I can think of much, much worse ways to "waste" a life.

To say that "90% of the people lack ambition" is just an unfair statement. Sure, Minnesota has its fair share of losers/slackers/drains on society--just like anywhere else--but we also have some of the best ranked educational and healthcare systems in the country. Is either perfect or equally accessable to everyone? Certainly not...but those kinds of accomplishments don't happen because 90% of the state is comprised of people who don't care and/or lack ambition.

I understand that growing up poor is hard, but it's hard ANYWHERE, not just in MN. I almost think it would be harder in California where the virtual absence of your despised "average" middle class folks only highlights the stark difference between the "haves" and "have nots". Try growing up poor in ghetto LA...you can't even ASPIRE to be average in a place like that.

And if you think things will be cheaper in Santa Monica, you've really got some research to do! Have you even LOOKED at how much a house costs in SoCal or Miami? (Especially in a neighborhood where you don't have to worry about getting robbed, raped or shot?)

As far as the climate...I understand it's not for everyone. But when you do move to a warmer place, do remember that overexposure to sun does MUCH more damage to the skin than cold

Please understand that I'm not trying to attack you personally, just giving you a few things to think about. Sometimes when you're so unhappy with where you are, you tend to over-idealize the place you think you want to be, only to be disappointed when you get there and realize it isn't what it was cracked up to be. Not that Santa Monica or LA or Miami are necessarily horrible places to live...but it is wise to research the realities (both good and bad) of a place before you actually go and live there. Going on vacation is one thing, but actually LIVING there can be a whole different experience.

Of course sometimes we DO need a change of scenery and it CAN do a world of good. I once felt a lot like you did at one time and I moved out of MN too. I had a great experience while I was away, but as I got older and my priorities changed, I realized that it really wasn't so bad after all and have since come back.

I get that Minnesota isn't the place for you and that's OK. In fact, I'm sure people appreciate your honest opinion about your experiences here. But for the sake of people looking for information on this board, I think it's important to try not to present broad generalizations and/or opinions as "fact" when possible. (I should know, I've done it too!)

I do sincerely wish you luck, though, and hope you find happiness somewhere.

[nashvegas]

I grew up in MN but have lived near Fort Myers last 25 years, but still have business in MN so I usually spend several days a month up there. You'll be really cold sometimes, but it's mostly a matter of your mindset. If you think you're going to hate the weather, you will. The people are very different, you'll be amazed at how "nice" the average person is. But then, the reason most of FLA is becoming such a piece of crap place to live in is because of all the people who've come from some place else, mostly the northeast states.
SW FLA was great when everybody from the NE went to SE FLA and then they discovered SW FLA. Now they're ruining this area too.

When we moved here most people in SW FLA were natives of FLA and we got along just fine. Now, the quality of life has gone downhill so fast that many of them want to leave except they can't sell their homes.

We've been lucky enough to sell our home here and are renting until our new place in Nashville is finished. I would probably move back to MN except for my wife's health issues, she can't stand the cold in Minnesota's winters although I will say that in recent years it has seldom been very cold when I'm there.

[ihatefonddulac]

I am a native Minnesotan and lived here until my husband insisted we had to move for him to get job experience and then come back and get a better paying job (which we did). We lived for two years in IN, two years in SC and one year in WI. I was homesick for MN the entire time. We thought we'd try SC, because neither me nor my husband are real fans of below zero weather. Although the lack of the cold winters was nice, I kind of missed the snow, and we traded the clean air of SE MN to very polluted air in NW SC, so we decided that cold clean air is better than warmer polluted air. I am back home now, and I told my husband if he gets laid off from his job and can't find another one in his profession here, he can just flip burgers at McDonald's. I am NOT moving out of MN again!!!!

MN is a beautiful state, friendly people, clean air, good water, decent schools, and not too bad cost of living and not too high crime unless you live in the Twin Cities. I wouldn't live anywhere else!!!

[whatever]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Its pretty obvious that every region has inhabitants that love it or hate it and we have make decisions based on personal preference and lifestyle. That's what our family is doing.

Many helpful posts here. Again, thanks to all. Maybe a few of us can meet for a beer in a basement when all is said and done

(J/K Monti, I like Florida/Miami about as much as you like Minnesota so I feel your pain in a way).

[MidniteBreeze]

"Maybe a few of us can meet for a beer in a basement when all is said and done."

LOL, just say the word and I'll tap the keg!

[getoutofmn]

Couldnt agree more with "monti" The weather will be a shock to your system and you will hate the cold and winds, snow and endless winters. Monti is right about the pollution and crowding, its here too...Oh and the crime, its only gotten worse in and around Minneapolis (just go to StarTribune or Pioneer Press and look at all the murders in Minneapolis, armed robberies in the "safe" suburbs and home invasions in the rural areas) Sorry folks, these arent isolated incidents anymore. Plus no tax breaks here like in FL. You will be taxed to death in MN...My advice, look at North Florida, Georgia, SC etc, all more temperate and less crowded than either South FL or Mpls. Dont come here, you'll regret it

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by getoutofmn

Couldnt agree more with "monti" The weather will be a shock to your system and you will hate the cold and winds, snow and endless winters. Monti is right about the pollution and crowding, its here too...Oh and the crime, its only gotten worse in and around Minneapolis (just go to StarTribune or Pioneer Press and look at all the murders in Minneapolis, armed robberies in the "safe" suburbs and home invasions in the rural areas) Sorry folks, these arent isolated incidents anymore. Plus no tax breaks here like in FL. You will be taxed to death in MN...My advice, look at North Florida, Georgia, SC etc, all more temperate and less crowded than either South FL or Mpls. Dont come here, you'll regret it

Well, I'd have to agree with a lot you say about the Twin Cities...you couldn't pay me to live there. Of course I'm not really not much of a "big city" person, so a lot of that is just my personal preference, of course.

But MN is more than just the Twin Cities, the only (biggest) problem is that's where most of the jobs are in this state. Where I live though, we have lots of CLEAN lakes and forests, very little crime (we don't even bother locking our doors much of the time) and there's still room to breathe. Real estate is still reasonable (especially if you don't live on a lake) and even plain old middle class folks like us can afford a comfortable 3-bedroom home on an acre of land (paid about $150K for our house in 2004). And yes, the taxes are high compared to some other states, but we DO have good social services and schools to show for it, at least. (Our roads could use some help though!)

As with anywhere, you have to take the good with the bad. But after living in other parts of the country, I can tell you MN does have a lot going for it...more than I had realized until I had been away for a while. Just my .02 (again, lol.)