Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Thank you for the nice and informational response.


q]Originally posted by: BIGLAR73
I live about an hour south of Minneapolis/St Paul, or "The Cities" as referred to by the locals. Both downtown areas have extensive skyways that connect many of the buildings. My son lived in an apartment building in downtown St Paul and could walk to many areas without ever going outside. They also have a light rail system that could take you from St Paul to Minneapolis and all the way to the airport and the Mall of America. Downtown Minneapolis has many bars and restaurants and ample arts venues including the Ordway, Orpheum, Guthrie theaters, Walker arts center, and a Symphony orchestra. As with any large metropolitan area, the traffic during rush hours can be daunting. There is a large Indian casino, Mystic Lake as well as a racetrack in the southwestern suburb of Shakopee. Minneapolis as many parks and urban lakes. My son regularly bikes and rents a kayak just blocks from his Uptown Minneapolis apartment. Many people enjoy boating on the Mississippi river or sailing on Lake Pepin just south at Lake City, Mn. If you are an outdoorsman, there are plenty of opportunities for hunting and fishing; after all Minnesota is "The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes". Brush up on your hockey lingo, this area is teaming with rabid hockey fans, both college (Gophers) and professional (Wild). Oh, and stay the hell away from the Lutefisk. I was invited to a friend of mind parent's house one Christmas Eve many years ago and they always have a traditional Norwegian meal which included lutefisk. When I walked into their house, it smelled just like a tannery that I used to visit when I was a kid. No way was that stuff getting past my lips. Uff Da, and good luck.


Wow - that'll be a change from brownsberg. Ive never been to either city but have a few friends from that area who love it. Its a good sports town
I've had fun every place I've lived, so Minneapolis will be fine. If they could just move it south of thousand miles.
I live in Minneapolis.

In addition to harsh winters in MN, taxes are on the high side in Minnesota. Both the new Twins and Vikings stadiums were/are partially funded by 'John Q. Taxpayer'. In fact the sales tax was RAISED in the county where Minneapolis is located to help pay for Target Field...the home of the MN Twins. However MN is one of the few states where there is NOT a sales tax on clothing or food. If you happen to want to buy any alcohol on Sunday you'll need to travel to Wisconsin because liquor stores are not open on Sundays in MN. Also during late winter/early spring the potholes on the roads can be the size of Moon craters. Alignment shops here do well during that time of year.

Minnesota has four seasons: Winter, Spring, Fall, and Road Construction.

Minnesota also has one of the best State Fairs in the U.S. It takes place for 12 days every year in late August/early September with the last day on Labor Day. www.mnstatefair.org

One more interesting note about the (too) long winters. Last year and the year before (2015 & 2014) there was NO SNOW on the ground on Christmas Day so we had TWO "brown" Christmases in a row! (Which was OK with me). If it's less than a week before December 25th and there's no snow yet lots of people get worried that we won't have a "white" Christmas. These people act as though their Christmas will be ruined if there's no snow on the ground. I think this is just pathetic.

Hope this helps. If I think of anything else I'll add to this posting.




I'm laughing a bit as I type......I've lived in Chicago my whole life. For 10 years I traveled the Twin Cities area extensively. I thought I knew all there was to know about snow and cold......I didn't have a clue. The talk here has been a bit about "long" and "harsh" winters. Be prepared! Long and harsh just don't give you enough warning in my view. I really don't know how anyone can inhabit the Twin Cities. Unless you are very outdoorsie, and/or skier, skater or ice fisherman just say no.

Think about the possibility of driving your F10 Pickup across a lake in April. That is not the kind of weather I like at all. The city is covered much of the winter with cinders.....yes, it looks pretty ugly, but salt doesn't work on the roads up there, it's just too cold.

The motto of Twin Cities ought to be Abandon All Hope Those Who Enter Here.

Best of luck but be prepared, be very prepared.
I have checked, and the average high temperature in Minneapolis is about 5 degrees colder than my childhood home 35 miles Northwest of Chicago. Minneapolis, on the other hand, is about 14 degrees colder in Winter than my current hometown of Indianapolis.
Of course, I am sorry to see you leave Indiana, but I can understand you moving to a very liberal area to seek better opportunities because Pence and Daniels have devastated our state.
LOL, devastated Indiana??? I wish they would both come to Illinois and devastate us for a while!!!
Only get an engine block heater if your car is outside, I live in Wisconsin, one thing I found out is everyone goes to bars early and leaves early, not sure if this is the case still cause that was 10 years ago. Good airport, best mall anywhere, and you can walk and walk for miles indoors downtown!
I will be staying in hotels a couple of nights a week, in a very cold climate. I'm going with the engine block heater Kama if I move there.

Thanks for the thought, however
Already a LVA subscriber?
To continue reading, choose an option below:
Diamond Membership
$3 per month
Unlimited access to LVA website
Exclusive subscriber-only content
Limited Member Rewards Online
Join Now
or
Platinum Membership
$50 per year
Unlimited access to LVA website
Exclusive subscriber-only content
Exclusive Member Rewards Book
Join Now