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. Traffic is a disaster right now due to poor mass transit and the bridge collapse last August. Good luck
Oh, yeah. My friend and I were meaning to apologize about the bridge collapse. The two of us kind of drag bad luck along with us (we cannot even get in the same check out line without something happening like the power going out. I'm not kidding.) and when we went on our road trip in June, well, bad luck followed us. We drove through the Sierra's and a massive wildfire started 48 hours after we left. We drove through Utah and a lightning storm that we just missed by minutes triggered another outbreak of wildfires. We stayed for several days in the Black Hills of SD and there were major fires in the Deadwood/Lead area (we stayed in Deadwood). Then we stayed in Bloomington (by the MOA) and drove all around MN/St Paul. We crossed the I-35 bridge, via instructions from our GPS, to get to a place where we could see the Mississippi. Almost two months to the day later, the bridge collapsed. Our luck didn't stop there. I firmly believe that our bad luck is at least partially responsible for the fires and thunderstorms that pounded ND, MT and Idaho about a week after we drove through to get home. This is why the two of us will NEVER go on another road trip together again. We have combined bad karma. By ourselves we're fine so when I move out there, you all should be ok. :-)
In all seriousness, I was shocked when that bridge collapsed. We had met quite a few people back there and prayed that none of them, nor their friends and family, were injured.
On top of that.. I would much rather walk to the lake/park/forest and drive to the city than vice-versa. I spent the majority of my youth in Nowhere, VT.. I miss nature desperately after five years in LA. I want to be surrounded by green trees, I want to see leaves change, I want to bundle up and slap on some cross-country skis and go exploring.
If you really want nature, skiing, and exploring. I highly encourage you to drive 2 hours north and explore Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Amazing fall colors, alpine skiing (for the midwest), cross country skiing, snowmobiling heaven, and plenty of outdoor activities. Minneapolis has some trails too, but not nearly as many as Duluth. Duluth has the Lester River Trail, Congdon, Chester Park, and Western Waterfront Trail all in the city as well as Hartley Park which has snowmobile and cross country trails all in the city too. The Snowflake Nordic Ski Center is right outside town as well as Spirit Mountain and Chester Bowl in the city.
Minenapolis has Bryant Lake, Bass Pond Trail, Chain of Lakes, and French Park is good too. I like French Park the best. I lived in both places but I am biased toward Duluth. I love it here-I was fortunate enough to find a good paying job up north!
1. We're looking into renting a house or a large apartment somewhere in the suburbs. From what I've read, it seems like Eden Prairie is a terrific place to live, and that Edina and Minnetonka are also great. Are there any great places to live that don't get the same sort of press?
There are many good suburbs in the cities, I live in Eagan which is close in to both MPLS and St. Paul. Here's what I wrote about Eagan on another post: We moved back here from the east coast about 10 years ago and had a similar situation, we were looking more in the northern St. Paul suburbs like Shoreview, which is very nice by the way. However, we ended up choosing Eagan and am glad we did. Eagan had more housing choices, is REALLY family friendly, lots of great neighborhoods where you feel like you are kind of in a small town yet have really good freeway access to St. Paul (really less than 15 minutes most of the time) and really good access to all the suburban quality of life things like being close to a Walmart, Target, restaurants, etc... On top of that Eagan has great parks and lakes. Lebanon Hills is this great big county park where you can hike, camp and feel like you are out of the city. Eagan is hilly and has good access to both rivers. There are tons of bike routes and city parks. It has a very nice summer water park, too. The only thing it is missing is a "downtown." It is after all, a suburb, and it kind of missed the "new urbanism" town center movement that has popped up. I'm really glad we ended up in Eagan even rather than Apple Valley or Rosemount, which are very similar, but just 10-15 minutes farther out. Eagan is 15 minutes from downtown St. Paul and only 25 minutes from downtown MPLS; and close to the airport, too. We are close in yet not as busy or over populated as the closer in suburbs on the MPLS side of the river.
2. Forgive the ignorance of this question, but - we pay $1400 at the moment for a smallish 1-bed 1-bath. We've found full 3-or-4-bed houses for $1400 a month or cheaper. While the optimist in me is excited about this, the skeptic in me is wondering if there's something I'm missing. Are there certain things we should be wary of when it comes to finding a place in Minneapolis? Or is it really possible for us to find a terrific house for the same price as our crappy L.A. apartment?
Rod: This actually might be a good time to rent because the housing market is a little down, but it actually may also be a good time to buy. Remember a $220,000 mortgage probably wouldn't be much more than $1500/month. And you can probably get a decent 3 bedroom house for about that much right now.
3. Commute isn't a huge issue for us (we're used to the worst), but I was curious. I've heard that for most of the suburbs, heavy traffic will yield a 30-minute trip to downtown. Is that as bad it's going to get? Or are those exaggerations?
Traffic: I've been to lots of cities with much worse traffic. One of the advantages of the cities is that it has several different business centers that draw traffic (downtown MPLS, downtown St. Paul, and Bloomington). What is most important is the pattern - if you live in a far out suburb and need to commute to downtown MPLS - that is pretty much the only bad traffic problem. Actually the streets, for the most sense, make geographic sense in that in MPLS it is pretty much a grid. The freeways are also a grid with a circular beltway (494/696). When you compare it to a similar sized city like Denver - there is no comparison - the cities freeway system seems so much saner and logical.
4. I grew up in Vermont (and was actually born in MN) - where I grew up, a snowstorm would render highways unusable or dangerous for days at a time. But the people I've talked to in Minneapolis have told me that it's not much of an issue. Does "not much of an issue" really mean working from home during a storm, or does it mean that plows are out at all hours during the winter?
Rod: We rarely shut down. I would say on average, we only have maybe one day a year where you might choose to not go to work. We have lots of plows.
5. We're aware of the terrific culinary scene in Minneapolis, but one of our concerns is that moving from L.A. will deprive us of good ethnic food. Are there really good, authentic Mexican/Indian/Thai/etc restaurants in Minneapolis? And if so, are they few and far between?
Rod: I would agree that this will definitely be more challenging. You'll have to be on the lookout.
6. What are the larger gyms in the area? Are gyms frequent in the suburbs, or would we have to drive a bit?
Rod: They are all over the place.
7. What are the best/worst cell phone providers to have in Minneapolis? Are there any that are especially bad in the Twin Cities area?
Rod: I've had good experience with T Mobile and bad with Verizon.
You might want to rent a luxury apartment in either downtown. You can get a 2 bed / 2 bath for $1100 - $1400 / month and you will HAVE WAY MORE FUN!
Then after a year you can move to a suburb if you really want to :-)
Don't forget about Ramsey, Dakota and Washington counties; they have nice cities too (Roseville, Arden Hlils, Shoreview, etc.). Just as nice as Minnetonka and St Louis Park (hennepin county)
2. Forgive the ignorance of this question, but - we pay $1400 at the moment for a smallish 1-bed 1-bath. We've found full 3-or-4-bed houses for $1400 a month or cheaper. While the optimist in me is excited about this, the skeptic in me is wondering if there's something I'm missing. Are there certain things we should be wary of when it comes to finding a place in Minneapolis? Or is it really possible for us to find a terrific house for the same price as our crappy L.A. apartment?
I'm not sure what qualifies as a "terrific" house, but renting (or buying) should be much cheaper in the Twin Cities than L.A. After all, L.A. is a world-class city, the 2nd largest in the U.S., and the Twin Cities, while still metropolitan, isn't in the same league.
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3. Commute isn't a huge issue for us (we're used to the worst), but I was curious. I've heard that for most of the suburbs, heavy traffic will yield a 30-minute trip to downtown. Is that as bad it's going to get? Or are those exaggerations?
It depends which suburbs.
In the farther-out suburbs, congestion can be pretty bad during rush hour. It might take longer than that, but I don't have experience.
I really only visit the Twin Cities during weekends, and there's very little traffic congestion then.
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4. I grew up in Vermont (and was actually born in MN) - where I grew up, a snowstorm would render highways unusable or dangerous for days at a time. But the people I've talked to in Minneapolis have told me that it's not much of an issue. Does "not much of an issue" really mean working from home during a storm, or does it mean that plows are out at all hours during the winter?
In Duluth, which is probably much worse than Minneapolis, the roads might be bad for one day, but then the plows sweep all the snow away and it's (unfortunately) business as normal.
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5. We're aware of the terrific culinary scene in Minneapolis, but one of our concerns is that moving from L.A. will deprive us of good ethnic food. Are there really good, authentic Mexican/Indian/Thai/etc restaurants in Minneapolis? And if so, are they few and far between?
Ah, this is my subject
There's plenty of ethnic food in the Cities. I compiled a list for another website that you can download at this link:
I'm going to be updating it some time soon. Last time I did so was in August.
That's a list of restaurants serving rarer ethnic cuisines, not common ones like Thai and Mexican. As for Mexican food, I would see what the local holes in the wall offer; judging from the signs, their ownership / clientele seems to be the local Mexican community, which though nowhere near L.A.'s in size, is one of the larger ethnic groups in the city.
One interesting place I was recently at was La Hacienda in a strip mall in St. Paul, which had a menu of Salvadoran, Mexican, Peruvian, American, and (yes) "Mediterranean" food. I ordered carne desfilada (shredded beef) and pupusas...yum!
For Indian, Bombay 2 Deli is really good and cheap; they have really good Indian street food. Many say the scene is dismal otherwise (despite dozens of Indian restaurants). Kabobs Restuarant and Great India generally get good reviews, however, as do The Vegetarian and Mysore Cafe, which are South Indian restaurants. People seem to like The Everest Cafe in St. Paul, which does Nepali (like Indian).
I don't know about Thai food specifically, but Minneapolis has a very large Southeast Asian immigrant community. You can find authentic Hmong, Lao, and Thai food from vendors at the International Hmong Market in St. Paul, and probably on University Ave. Minneapolis seems to have a good reputation for Vietnamese food too - Quang Cafe on Nicollet St. is a local favorite.
Minneapolis also has a large East African immigrant population. There are five or six Ethiopian restaurants, an Eritrean joint, as well as numerous Somali places, mostly small-time operations, places where women and men sit in separate areas.
I'm going to be updating it some time soon. Last time I did so was in August.
That's a list of restaurants serving rarer ethnic cuisines, not common ones like Thai and Mexican. As for Mexican food, I would see what the local holes in the wall offer; judging from the signs, their ownership / clientele seems to be the local Mexican community, which though nowhere near L.A.'s in size, is one of the larger ethnic groups in the city.
One interesting place I was recently at was La Hacienda in a strip mall in St. Paul, which had a menu of Salvadoran, Mexican, Peruvian, American, and (yes) "Mediterranean" food. I ordered carne desfilada (shredded beef) and pupusas...yum!
For Indian, Bombay 2 Deli is really good and cheap; they have really good Indian street food. Many say the scene is dismal otherwise (despite dozens of Indian restaurants). Kabobs Restuarant and Great India generally get good reviews, however, as do The Vegetarian and Mysore Cafe, which are South Indian restaurants. People seem to like The Everest Cafe in St. Paul, which does Nepali (like Indian).
I don't know about Thai food specifically, but Minneapolis has a very large Southeast Asian immigrant community. You can find authentic Hmong, Lao, and Thai food from vendors at the International Hmong Market in St. Paul, and probably on University Ave. Minneapolis seems to have a good reputation for Vietnamese food too - Quang Cafe on Nicollet St. is a local favorite.
Minneapolis also has a large East African immigrant population. There are five or six Ethiopian restaurants, an Eritrean joint, as well as numerous Somali places, mostly small-time operations, places where women and men sit in separate areas.
Oh, man. Thank you so much for that. It's especially cool (and kind of surprising) that there are a few good Ethiopian places in Minneapolis. There aren't even that many good Ethiopian places in LA.
Oh, man. Thank you so much for that. It's especially cool (and kind of surprising) that there are a few good Ethiopian places in Minneapolis. There aren't even that many good Ethiopian places in LA.
There's a lot of great Ethiopian and Somali restaurants, unfortunately I'm the type of person that isn't observant when i go somewhere with friends/ coworkers and forget the names/ street addresses (now that I'm posting on here, maybe i'll get better with this). Kilamanjaro (Ethiopian) on Cedar Ave is very good - there is an awesome Somali/ East African restaurant that is on Nicollet, they just moved a few blocks down (I want to say there's a "lion" somewhere in the name but might be wrong about this) from their old location - went there several weeks ago and was very pleasantly surprised by a great buffet that was very high quality - the americans, somalis, and ethiopians in my group were all very impressed/ happy with the food.
There is quite a large Ethiopian population in Minneapolis/ St. Paul - both Amharic and (moreso here) Oromo. Some came as refugees, others come through the Diversity Lottery Visa....they are a mix of Christians (Orthodox, Lutherans, 7th day adventist, etc.) and Moslem persons and many have high levels of education/ skill. A lot of TC residents I think confuse Ethiopians as Somali as Somalians have been the largest immigrant/ refugee group to the TC in recent years and there are a lot of Ethiopians living in Cedar Riverside, Philips, etc., but these are very, very different cultures - actually there are big cultural differences (and sometimes tensions) between the Oromo and Amharic cultures here as well.
There's a lot of great Ethiopian and Somali restaurants, unfortunately I'm the type of person that isn't observant when i go somewhere with friends/ coworkers and forget the names/ street addresses (now that I'm posting on here, maybe i'll get better with this). Kilamanjaro (Ethiopian) on Cedar Ave is very good - there is an awesome Somali/ East African restaurant that is on Nicollet, they just moved a few blocks down (I want to say there's a "lion" somewhere in the name but might be wrong about this) from their old location - went there several weeks ago and was very pleasantly surprised by a great buffet that was very high quality - the americans, somalis, and ethiopians in my group were all very impressed/ happy with the food.
There is quite a large Ethiopian population in Minneapolis/ St. Paul - both Amharic and (moreso here) Oromo. Some came as refugees, others come through the Diversity Lottery Visa....they are a mix of Christians (Orthodox, Lutherans, 7th day adventist, etc.) and Moslem persons and many have high levels of education/ skill. A lot of TC residents I think confuse Ethiopians as Somali as Somalians have been the largest immigrant/ refugee group to the TC in recent years and there are a lot of Ethiopians living in Cedar Riverside, Philips, etc., but these are very, very different cultures - actually there are big cultural differences (and sometimes tensions) between the Oromo and Amharic cultures here as well.
You're probably thinking of the Safari Restaurant.
They also run a fast food operation on the side in the Midtown Global Market.
Them Somalis cook some interesting food. Kind of a mix of Ethiopian, Indian, and Italian.
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lots of answers
