Originally Posted by Squirrelmaster

Just an update guys. My company hasn't officially made me an offer yet, but they have made mention of me getting a position up there. I haven't started negotiations, nor do I have any idea when that might happen. All I know is that if it does happen, it will probably happen quick (it always does with my company. It's either "Hurry! Hurry! Wait." or "Wait, wait. Hurry!" ).

So now a few questions. Is it necessary to have a 4wd vehicle? I know there can be a lot of snow, but do they maintain the roads well enough to escape without having one for a season or two? I have 4wd now, but I may only have my Explorer when I move up there, and it's only 2wd. Also, does the housing market appear to be getting better or worse (for the seller)?

Also, can anyone give me a quick rundown of available colleges in the area that are decent? I've googled some in the area, but it's hard to gauge stuff like that without any experience, or even being able to see them in person.

DrkPhx - No worries, I get kind of snippety at times; didn't mean to come off like a jerk. Sorry.

Thanks for all the help guys !

Tom

Originally Posted by greg campbell

Squirrelmaster,

Just wanted to give you an outsider (of the cities), rural MN perspective. I am from very northern MN, and it's cold there. The cities is what I would call temperate, much more comfortable except July and August. If you like the outdoors then "upnorth" is the place to visit/vaction. I prefer Itasca county, it has 1000+ lakes, lots of state and federal land to explore (lots of bike and snowmobile trails). The hunting and fishing is the best in the state. Late September and October has the best weather, cool nights 35-45, warm days 55-70 and there's less slickers around to disrupt your outdoor time.

I currently live on the northeast side of the cities, housing is high hear like the others said. I also finished my graduate degree at Hamline which only took fifteen minutes to get to from White Bear Lake, at peak rush hour. I was going against the grain though. There is a lot of education opportunities available here as well. The "U" is expensive and it's big so you've been warned.

I have to admit there is a lot of car activity here in the cities. Every Friday there's a car show in North St. Paul. It's mostly street rods and muscle cars (I'm into those as well). In June there's Back to the 50's, it's a lot of street rod stuff. I've never been because I'm usually in NC then, but maybe this year. In July there's Show N' Go and Muscle Car shoot-out in Brainerd (2 hours north of the cities). Then there's Car Craft at the fair grounds. I probably missed others like smaller shows but this is just what comes to mind. There's also some car action usually going on around University Avenue on Fridays and Saturdays during the summer too.

Good luck on your move here. The people in the midwest are good people as a whole. There are a few wannabe's that watch too much MTV with their pants hangin' but there usually not that bright and under 21-25, depending on the maturity level. These are everywhere nowdays, some are harmless, some are not. We'll probably never meet because I'm returning home to Itasca county this summer for good because my tour of duty here in the cities is soon over with, thank God. Good luck again and you'll like it here, there's a lot to offer a younger person. One last thing, the taxes do suck. What else would you expect from a Democrat controlled "blue" state.