Gorgeous is a liiiiiiiitle bit of a stretch. While there are absolutely gorgeous areas of the state, 96% of the old growth forests in Minnesota were clear cut in the 1930s, so there are almost no old trees in the state. It’s such a tragedy. I grew up 30 miles from Minneapolis, and I love that city and the state, but the geography isn’t why people love living there. I moved to the West coast because the hiking in Minnesota is pretty bleak.
Lake season is phenomenal, of course, and there’s always people grilling and having a good time at every lake, all summer long. Clips like this make me want to move back to Minneapolis, but it’s so hard to give up actual nature to go live among unhealthy secondary forests in the Midwest.
They should’ve been more careful with the trees in Minnesota. Itasca State Park should’ve been a national park, and significantly larger.
Yeah, that’s fair. I was referring to the lake areas in northeen part of the state. I haven’t been there in the winter time, so I only have the summer to go off of.
The pretty areas of Minnesota are fantastic, they’re just too small and too few for me. I go on weekly hikes/camping trips here in Washington, which is why I moved here. There are so many trails here that I could go on a different hike every week for years and years before I repeat anything. I tried to do that in Minnesota before I moved and ran out of new places in just a few years.
Most people go to these sorts of places just a few times a year, so Minnesota has plenty of gorgeous places for them. It’s just not adequate for backpackers like myself.
Awww see I live in NorCal now, and we’re trying to decide where to go when we retire, and St Paul/Minneapolis are one of the top spots on our list. We’ve never been there, but we have a handful of friends who moved there when they exited the military and they LOVE IT.
I need a blue city in a blue state with 4 seasons and good public transportation. Giving up the beauty of Cali is gonna be HELLA hard though.
I want to be a public defender (specifically in a red state because those people are going to be who MAGA laws will fuck the most), but I don’t want to LIVE in a red state. Figured I could live in St Paul and go to law school/take the bar in Wisconsin.
St Paul is a solid choice, especially if you want to buy a house. The city of St Paul has a lot of empty houses that they’re trying to fill, and they have a program for lower income people where they’ll help you with your down payment. Make sure you check into this program before moving because it’s been a few years since I’ve lived there and it might’ve changed.
There’s a light rail that links St Paul and Minneapolis together so you get the benefits of living in a city that is less crowded and cheaper than Minneapolis while being able to cheaply get into Minneapolis for events and such.
Minnesota is showing the world what kind of people live there and I imagine there’s going to be a lot of people moving there after things settle down.
The climate and geography are the worst things about Minnesota, so if you can tolerate those things you’ll do fine. Giving up the California climate and national parks is going to sting, though.
Madison and Milwaukee are fantastic cities. The Wisconsin college system never really recovered from the Scott Walker days (he cut $250 million out of it) but I imagine that Madison is still a solid place to go to school. Milwaukee is a very cool city, right on lake Michigan and there’s a train you can take to Chicago, which isn’t far. Northern Wisconsin is quite pretty as well and is attached to the upper peninsula of Michigan, which is a nice bonus.
Wisconsin broke my heart in 2016 when it went red, and again in 2024. It used to be a solid blue state. Wisconsin is prettier than Minnesota, with more interesting geography and better rivers, but I would still rather live in Minnesota because of the political climate and strong social programs.
Thank you so much for this dope ass comment laying everything out! I genuinely appreciate it!
Honestly, you’re right, the people of Minnesota have been a beacon of light and optimism in this fucked up time period. I don’t doubt that there will be many who flock there in the near future. Renee Good and Alex Pretti would be so fucking proud of the way that Minnesotans have banded together to fight back. I am still, as I’m sure many are, fucking gobsmacked that their tragic deaths occurred in the first place, and even more outraged that their murders may go completely unpunished.
As for the climate, I’m a four-seasons girlie, and I’ve been living in primarily extended hot climates for much of my adult life. It’ll be nice to break out the “winter clothes” tote and pack away the “summer clothes” for a bit. You’re right that I’m going to miss the national & state parks though. We’ve only been to Sequoia since moving here, and it was breathtaking. Got pretty much all of them on the list though!
Our friends who already live in Minneapolis also did a brief stint in Madison for an internship, and they had nothing but glowing things to say about it. It makes me excited to go and visit! And Chicago is also on our list of places to live if we could make it work financially. We’ve been there a handful of times and we LOVE IT. It also helps that my BIL and wife live there, and my BIL is like my husband’s best friend. Having an easy way to get there where we don’t rely on a car is also a huge plus. Honestly, I can’t see hardly any downsides to moving to Minnesota.
I’m sure Wisconsin did break your heart when it went red. I was really attached to Las Vegas and wanted to move back (and still do occasionally) but Nevada went red in 2020 as well. I get it. It sucks. But hopefully, around the country, people are starting to wake up to the sheer idiocy & pure evilness of the MAGA movement. I’m trying my very best to be optimistic.
Gorgeous is a liiiiiiiitle bit of a stretch. While there are absolutely gorgeous areas of the state, 96% of the old growth forests in Minnesota were clear cut in the 1930s, so there are almost no old trees in the state. It’s such a tragedy. I grew up 30 miles from Minneapolis, and I love that city and the state, but the geography isn’t why people love living there. I moved to the West coast because the hiking in Minnesota is pretty bleak.
Lake season is phenomenal, of course, and there’s always people grilling and having a good time at every lake, all summer long. Clips like this make me want to move back to Minneapolis, but it’s so hard to give up actual nature to go live among unhealthy secondary forests in the Midwest.
They should’ve been more careful with the trees in Minnesota. Itasca State Park should’ve been a national park, and significantly larger.
Yeah, that’s fair. I was referring to the lake areas in northeen part of the state. I haven’t been there in the winter time, so I only have the summer to go off of.
The pretty areas of Minnesota are fantastic, they’re just too small and too few for me. I go on weekly hikes/camping trips here in Washington, which is why I moved here. There are so many trails here that I could go on a different hike every week for years and years before I repeat anything. I tried to do that in Minnesota before I moved and ran out of new places in just a few years.
Most people go to these sorts of places just a few times a year, so Minnesota has plenty of gorgeous places for them. It’s just not adequate for backpackers like myself.
Awww see I live in NorCal now, and we’re trying to decide where to go when we retire, and St Paul/Minneapolis are one of the top spots on our list. We’ve never been there, but we have a handful of friends who moved there when they exited the military and they LOVE IT.
I need a blue city in a blue state with 4 seasons and good public transportation. Giving up the beauty of Cali is gonna be HELLA hard though.
I want to be a public defender (specifically in a red state because those people are going to be who MAGA laws will fuck the most), but I don’t want to LIVE in a red state. Figured I could live in St Paul and go to law school/take the bar in Wisconsin.
St Paul is a solid choice, especially if you want to buy a house. The city of St Paul has a lot of empty houses that they’re trying to fill, and they have a program for lower income people where they’ll help you with your down payment. Make sure you check into this program before moving because it’s been a few years since I’ve lived there and it might’ve changed.
There’s a light rail that links St Paul and Minneapolis together so you get the benefits of living in a city that is less crowded and cheaper than Minneapolis while being able to cheaply get into Minneapolis for events and such.
Minnesota is showing the world what kind of people live there and I imagine there’s going to be a lot of people moving there after things settle down.
The climate and geography are the worst things about Minnesota, so if you can tolerate those things you’ll do fine. Giving up the California climate and national parks is going to sting, though.
Madison and Milwaukee are fantastic cities. The Wisconsin college system never really recovered from the Scott Walker days (he cut $250 million out of it) but I imagine that Madison is still a solid place to go to school. Milwaukee is a very cool city, right on lake Michigan and there’s a train you can take to Chicago, which isn’t far. Northern Wisconsin is quite pretty as well and is attached to the upper peninsula of Michigan, which is a nice bonus.
Wisconsin broke my heart in 2016 when it went red, and again in 2024. It used to be a solid blue state. Wisconsin is prettier than Minnesota, with more interesting geography and better rivers, but I would still rather live in Minnesota because of the political climate and strong social programs.
Thank you so much for this dope ass comment laying everything out! I genuinely appreciate it!
Honestly, you’re right, the people of Minnesota have been a beacon of light and optimism in this fucked up time period. I don’t doubt that there will be many who flock there in the near future. Renee Good and Alex Pretti would be so fucking proud of the way that Minnesotans have banded together to fight back. I am still, as I’m sure many are, fucking gobsmacked that their tragic deaths occurred in the first place, and even more outraged that their murders may go completely unpunished.
As for the climate, I’m a four-seasons girlie, and I’ve been living in primarily extended hot climates for much of my adult life. It’ll be nice to break out the “winter clothes” tote and pack away the “summer clothes” for a bit. You’re right that I’m going to miss the national & state parks though. We’ve only been to Sequoia since moving here, and it was breathtaking. Got pretty much all of them on the list though!
Our friends who already live in Minneapolis also did a brief stint in Madison for an internship, and they had nothing but glowing things to say about it. It makes me excited to go and visit! And Chicago is also on our list of places to live if we could make it work financially. We’ve been there a handful of times and we LOVE IT. It also helps that my BIL and wife live there, and my BIL is like my husband’s best friend. Having an easy way to get there where we don’t rely on a car is also a huge plus. Honestly, I can’t see hardly any downsides to moving to Minnesota.
I’m sure Wisconsin did break your heart when it went red. I was really attached to Las Vegas and wanted to move back (and still do occasionally) but Nevada went red in 2020 as well. I get it. It sucks. But hopefully, around the country, people are starting to wake up to the sheer idiocy & pure evilness of the MAGA movement. I’m trying my very best to be optimistic.