it snows!
lol

it is a semi-growing area, cheap housing (compared to orlando or big metro areas), DEATHLY cold, snowey.... the cold and snow is what is keeping us from going there. DH is kinda job hunting while in grad school and there are plenty of engineering openings there that pay more than FL and housing is nearly 50% of what we'd pay here to get into a custom 2,500 sq ft house. do your research and visit several times especially at this time of the yr LOL ~ liz

The people are very friendly, as are most Midwesterners. If you don't freeze to death, you would probably enjoy living there. Summers are short.

I've lived in St. Paul for 22 years and love it here. I can't imagine living anywhere else. The Twin Cities are really wonderful--lots of cultural and educational venues, especially theatre and music, and plenty of good restaurants. There's more and more ethnic diversity although not nearly as much as my hometown, Chicago. People are low key and friendly (although a reserved German/Scandinavian friendly and not Southern style friendly). Obviously the weather will be the biggest change for you. If you don't mind the long winters it is an all around great place to live.

Winter aside, it's a beautiful city with its sister city, St. Paul. Beautiful older buildings with lots of tall new ones. A huge mall--I think the largest in the US, if not the world. Gorgeous lakes and parks. Summer must be pure heaven! Unfortunately, I spent most of my time in our MN office in the winter! Once one of my contacts froze in my eye. Ouch! But overall, I think you'd like it. You get used to the cold just like you do the heat.

Just about the nicest people ever. I couldn't believe cars who couldn't get over on the interstate cars would actually slow down a lot just to let oncoming cars merge. No fear of being rear-ended as everyone expects it, I guess. I've never seen that anyplace else.

They have wonderful food--walleye (fish) and wild rice being two of my favorite. I wish I could buy walleye. Even frozen it would be good.

They have a funny accent. :-)

It is true that summertime, although short, is a real paradise here. It is a healthy place to live--people love being outdoors running, biking, dog walking, skiing, etc. I'm a bike rider and the entire cities and surroundings are connected by the most wonderful off street trails--plenty of green spaces go right through the heart of the cities and then out into the surrounding country. As to drivers, to me Minnesotans can be cautious to the point of being dangerous. I never saw people stop on the merge strip before merging until I moved up here! Not far from the Twin Cities, too, are all the great little river towns such as Stillwater, Hastings, etc. with cute places to shop, antique, and eat. And BTW, Garrison Keillor lives about two blocks from me and still does his weekly show down at the Fitzgerald.

wow patti you sure have some good selling points mentioned! huge mall of america, walleye (YUMM) and nice summers...maybe i'll send DH and visit for 6 months of winter and live there for summer lol ~ liz

I lived in St. Paul for about 9 1/2 yrs, moving from there 5 yrs ago. If you are going to be moving there, the best website for house shopping is edinarealty.com. On that website, St. Paul neighborhoods that are very accessible to the airport are Mac/Groveland and Highland.

I hated the Mall of America and DH/I never went there to shop. We would, however, go there for exercise walking in the cold winters! We'd go to other malls instead to shop....in our experience, primarily out of town tourists shop there.

marita must live close to where I used to live because I know exactly where Garrison Keillor's house is and we lived 1 block away.

People in the TC are outdoors all year round, cold or not. Gardening is huge up there and people do NOT hire others to do it. The Friends School plant sale each spring is a great, inexpensive place for all plant types. My husband used to say that he felt out of place at work onn Mondays because all his co-workers either hunted or fished and yakked about their weekend doing one or both! Historic preservation is big in the combined TC area - we were active members of the TC Bungalow Club.

You can find both great and awful schools, both public and private in the entire metro area.

If you move there, particularly at this time of year, you will need warmer clothes than you may be aware even exist. The first Jan I lived there, the high temp for the entire month was 0. Yes, 0.

Good luck in this process.

Wow, I can't wait to show DH this thread. Although we've been in Georgia quite a few years, I was born and raised in Maine and lived there until we moved here for his job 22 years ago. DH is from Salt Lake, so we're both used to the cold. I think it's a trade-off--living in a colder place means leaving a lot of undesirable stuff behind in the warmer climate.

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to post such helpful info. I will show him everything here. Thank you so much!

How exciting for you! DH must work for Delta! LOL!! I love Minneapolis, when I owned the travel agency we were part of Carlson Companies, I think that family owned or owns Minnesota! We visited often and have to say that the folks there were the nicest, healthiest and most honorable I have ever met. The first time we were there was in September....it snowed. OH!!! And I got chased by a goose!

That's what I was thinking too - DH must work for Delta. I've lived in Mpls/St. Paul area most of my life - spent a brief stint in the south which I obviously didn't care for since I came back here. We recently considered moving to KC - spent some time there - and it reminded me how great it is to live here.

I love nature and outdoors and this area has wonderful lakes, parks and trails - a lot of these. It's also clean and well maintained for the most part. People will complain about potholes in the roads during the times of year when that's common but overall for a large city it's a nice one. Minnesota in general is very nice with all the lakes including Duluth on Lake Superior.

It's wonderful to be outside all year round - especially nice in the winter when we have snow - which we do now. It's rarely so cold that you don't want to be outside - you can dress for just about any cold weather. You do need to learn how to drive in winter weather however things don't come to a halt when it snows or other freezing precipitation as is the case in some more southern states. People continue to move about unless there's a lot of snow and by that I mean dumping a foot or more in one storm. And even then it's pretty clear and passable within a day - though I think there are some exceptions in the city of Mpls and maybe St. Paul. I live north of St. Paul and work in downtown Minneapolis and travel to the airport quite a bit. Getting around is pretty easy especially if you can read a map and use alternatives to the freeway at rush hour.

Let me know if you need more info.

In a word, beautiful.
There is nothing to compare to it IMO.

Lynn I roared at the pic of you being chased by a goose! What an ungrateful wretch! (the goose not you!LOL)

Yup, patser, I live in Cathedral Hill. And I was on the first board of the Twin Cities Bungalow Club for many years! I no longer own a bungalow but am endlessly working on my 1913 "transitional."

The Twin Cities of MPLS/St. Paul are fantastic places. I lived in the Highland Park section of St. Paul for two years. People who have never been and manage to find themselves there for a business trip or whatever are generally most impressed.

Yes, it's cold, freezing cold in fact, but it's so much easier to get warm than it is to get cool. You dress for the weather - only the "outlanders" think the trendy cloth coat and fancy high heeled leather boots are just the thing for a snowy day. LOL. We're where you put away the white on Labor day and maybe bring it out again on Memorial Day.

After many years away from Minnesota, I now live 150 miles north in Duluth - lovely city wrapped around the tip of Lake Superior. We get hordes of Twin Citiers up here in the summer; it's a tank of gas away with big parks (among many other interesting things) and one of the best right on the ship entry. You're so close you can feel the breeze of a 1000 footer gliding by. It's also cooler up here and no humidity. We also have large neighborhoods of true mansions built by the mining, timber, shipping, railroad, and grain barons at the turn of the century.

"Minnesota Nice" is something real. If you get a chance, and the move looks imminent, why not fly in for a little visit and do a little recon.

Every once in a while, I reconnect with St. Paul - my brother lives in the suburb of Woodbury; apparently an easy drive to the airport and the Mall of America (though I have never been to the mall).

I spent 32 years in Metro DC - so the worst of traffic in the Twin Cities is pretty much nothing compared to that.

If you enjoy the change of seasons, then MSP is perfect.
It can go down to 30 below in January(and 70 below wind chill), and over 100 in August- I've heard it said that the mosquito is the state bird :).

Yes, it does snow....and many of the locals in Minneapolis area are overconfident in snow, wrecks are common( a co-worker is an EMT in Minn).

The Winter carnival in St Paul is beautiful, and the state fair in the summer is one of the best.

Fried Walleye pike is fantastic.

The airport is actually in Bloomington, between the twin cities. A very nice, affordable area.

I love the area, great people....miss going there since I retired.

Your library should have a book called "Places Rated Almanac" that lists all of the big US cities and every imaginable kind of data about them including education statistics, weather stats, racial diversity -- everything you'd ever want to know about any and all big cities. The almanac is updated every year, I think. I lived in Mpls for about 20 years and it was a great place to live!

I lived here all my life, for as much as I complain about the winters, here I would never leave the state.

I have a cabin in the Brainerd Lakes area and we play all year long up there. Fish and swim in the summer, snowmobile, snowshoe and ice fish ( not me) in the winter.

Near some great medical clinics/hospitals--Mayo for one, in fact many of the people from here go because of the specialists.
Little cold, nice summers, humid ( I think) lots of things to do. heard that driving is interesting, but then Los Angeles is interesting too.

Marita, Then you must know Nina St - 7 yrs there and another 2 at Lexington/Grand.

I was born in the Detroit area, lived there til 22 yrs old, then a few yrs in Chicago, a couple in NYC, back to Michigan and then to the TC. I hate to say it, but the Minnesota drivers are the worst:( Pot holes are nothing compared to people who will NOT let you into a lane as you are entering a highway or those who drive super slow in the left hand lane!

Other than that, the TC are good! We also have friends who play ice softball...metal spikes on the baseball shoes and off to the diamond on the frozen lake they go - Lake Phelan!

I'll also vouch for Mayo being great!

I agree with Patster as far as the drivers. They think they are the best anywhere but I disagree with that statement. Other than that, the TC is not a bad place to live. If I were you I'd live about an hour out and make the drive in or cath the bus or train. I know people that do that and work at the airport. Just visit the area and see what you like for yourself. As far as the cold, you will get used to it and will learn to complain just the the rest of us. You can always take a vacation to a warm destination in the winter.

The best thing about Minnesota is the reputed cold winters. It helps keep the riff-raff out!

Weather is a big topic of conversation because it has an impact on so much of the lifestyle of the state. Not just for recreation but also for agriculture and other occupations. Outdoor or indoor recreation, there's variety. Overall consistently one of the highest rated for public education and after talking to people from different parts of the country, I see that's quite true. Quality of life is subjective, but overall the health of Minnesotans is up there too.

The Mayo, mentioned before has treated presidents and worldwide royalty. When people have serious illnesses, the Mayo is the top of the lists for places to go most of the time.

The Mall of America is the largest in the US, the Edmonton mall is the largest in the world, both malls built by the same guys. Skiing, golfing, fishing, hunting, crafts, cooking, eating, naps and many other hobbies are among Minnesota favorites.

January is the coldest month with an average high of 22° and July is the hottest with an average high of 83°. The highest recorded temperature was 108°F in July of 1936. The lowest recorded temperature was -41°F in January of 1888. Many vehicles around here are equipped with heaters and air conditioners so it's not quite like Little House on the Prairie with the horse and wagon in the blizzard. I haven't even taken out my winter coat yet. I use a quilted flannel shirt. It hasn't gotten cold here yet. It might though.

There's lots of webcams to have a look at the metro area, traffic cams, there's even loon cams fish cams and more.

Because we have so many lakes and woods and more, we tend to have a few mosquitoes. The major metro areas treat for them so they're not as big a problem as many think.

Lakes and air are very clean. Canadians sneak across the border to partake in our reasonable prices. But we're likable and forgiving people - we don't kick them "oot", eh? I think they like the big bobber water tower.

Most of our houses don't have wheels on them and most have basements under them. I'll never forget when my Texican cousin first visited, she couldn't get over the basement and spent most of her time down there!

Soon you'll receive your Lutefisk lessons and venture out to go to the fishhouse parade in Aitkin or watch the ships come and go in Duluth/Superior. Want to see an open pit iron ore mine? Take a quick video tour. We'll be glad to share some hotdish recipes too. Then it's of to greet Paul, Babe, Herman the German, the big Otter the largest prairie chicken and the big ball of twine.

Go watch "Old Gluepot" run the Ken-L-Ration Derby at Canterbuy Downs. Pick a pony there. Entertaining.

BTW, Walleye is good, no doubt... but you ain't et fish 'till you et fresh caught Sunfish. Fry them with the skin on - there's a fat under the skin that's indescribably delicious.

Ah yes, Minnesota, where the winters are cold and the women are colder, the men are tough enough to fry bacon without a shirt on and all the mosquitoes are bigger than average.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lots of links to check out

The Mall of America is the largest in the US,

Nope, second largest....the largest is KOP mall in PA.
I don't like Mall of America, Prefer Rosedale mall. Mall of America is a 4-story building with a large amusement park in the center, ringed by stores. Only 4 department stores (at the corners) in the place...rest is small stores.

King of Prussia has 8 major national department stores in it.

Yeah, what everybody else said :)
Mpls/St Paul is filled with something for everyone: beautiful outdoor trails, fresh air, ethnic-as-well-as-sophisticated art/dining opportunities, the fantastic (I love it!) Mall of America and an unlimited supply of kind, good-hearted people.

Yes, it's freezing cold in the winter and swealteringly steamy in the summer and yes, there are 10,000 lakes and 10 billion mosquitos . . . but that's what makes us a hearty bunch :)

Good luck with your transfer, if it happens, and may you move next to someone who brings over a welcome-to-MN hotdish and cookie basket!

I didn't know that there were so many fellow Minnesotans at the KT. Looks like I am in good company.
I've lived in two states, Mn and Montana. Sorry, I would take MT over Mn any day.
Cynic, you should be writing brochures for the Chamber Of Commerce.

I forgot that once when I was there we went to see the ice sculptures in St. Paul (I think.) The year I was there they were all done by Japanese artists and included a large dragon--which probably didn't melt until July judging by how darned cold it was! They were gorgeous!

Were the ice sculptures in Rice Park?

Monica_pa, I stand corrected. I don't follow malls. Was the KOP built after MOA? I'm not a mall-walker or a mall shopper. Never been to the MOA and no desire to go see it. So I don't keep up on them.

Fer cryin out loud, I use an electric cart in Target. No way I'm hobbling around a megamall! MegaMenards maybe...

Info on the Winter Carnival. Find the medallion and win a prize. Don't forget about the Holidazzle Parade held Thurs-Sun from Nov 26th - Dec 19th. Here's a few shots of it. We're not isolated from some hokey coverage too, while the bargain basement meteorologist interviews Bullseye, but at least you can see more of the parade if you're interested.

No - KOP was built first, in 1966...and expanded several times.

For those who care about big malls, it appears that KOP is about 14,000 square feet larger but that MOA has 122 more stores than KOP - if Wikipedia can be believed. I thought MOA had an addition planned but that may have gone on the back burner with the great recession. I wonder if these malls make strategic plans to out-do the other so they can claim to be the largest?