Moving to Minneapolis | Questions?

[I_Bleed_B&G]

I'm moving to Minneapolis in late June for 1 year.  My wife will be working on a 1 year fellowship at the University of Minnesota.

 

I've never been to Minneapolis so I have a few questions:

 

- What is there to do?

- Where is the best place to live? (Wife wants separation of work and personal life so she doesn't want to live right next to work)

- Areas to say away from?

- Are there any Skins bars?

- What places have good food that we must try?

- How cold does it get?

 

Any suggestions would be great even if they don't fall into the questions above.  I'm looking forward to it since it's only for a year so I'd like to know all the cool things I could knock out in that time period.

[Big Weirdo]

This guy might be able to tell you about some of the extra curriculars in Minneapolis. At the very least he can sell you a car. Get the TrueCoat. It's a heck of a sealant.

[Kosher Ham]

Figure out what ever happened to "Art" the former (I believe) Mod here.

 

Pretty sure he lives up that way.

 

Good Luck, enjoy.

[Mocountyskins]

People walk in underground walk ways like moles because it is too cold. And if you get stuck outside and caught in bad weather you might die from exposure. 

 

It is very common for it to be sub 0 except for the summer which there only lasts 3 months. Back when I had friends who just moved there they got a canoe in the spring to go to a lake.. When they got to the lake in late april the lake was still frozen.

[Kosher Ham]

I believe Ren and Dfitz used to live there also.

[Chants]

I am from DC.  Grew up there for my first 26 years of life.  I moved to the Twins 23 years ago.

 

Here is what happens when you move to MPLS/STP:

 

You realize that the general population is very smart and fun.

 

You realize that it is very cold.

[Bubble Screen]

I am from DC. Grew up there for my first 26 years of life. I moved to the Twins 23 years ago.

Here is what happens when you move to MPLS/STP:

You realize that the general population is very smart and fun.

You realize that it is very cold.

How smart can they be to live where it's always cold. ::movesfast::

[I_Bleed_B&G]

Thanks for your input guys. It will be a change but it is only for a year so it can't be that bad. I have lived in Maryland for 32 yrs so yea lol.

I assume we need a AWD car/suv or are they on top of things as far as cleating snow from the roads. All I keep hearing is that it is cold so I am preparing for the worse

[GoSkins0721]

I spent about 8 months flying in & out of MSP weekly while working on a project in Rochester, MN.

 

Rule #1 - do not underestimate the cold. Frostbite cold. I was there in January when it was -20 without the wind chill. After putting $10 of gas in my rental car my ears were burning (forgot my hat that week). Residents need to have heaters installed on their car engines to keep the blocks from freezing. It starts snowing in October. The air is very, very dry. Snow kind of evaporates instead of melting. Tossing a cup of hot water in the air actually does turn to vapor instantly at the temps they have there.

 

Rule #2 - The 3 months of not-Winter are fun. But stock up on mosquito spray. They will pick you up and carry you around for those 3 months. Those 10,000 lakes attract a lot of bugs. Lots. The summer days are long - I have played golf until 930pm a couple of times because it was still light outside.

 

MSP is supposed to be a very good foodie city. The Mall of America has many very nice restaurants. The mall is huge. You can spend a week there and not go in every store.

 

Pike. You will eat a lot of pike. If you don't like fish, there's always moose

[DCsportsfan53]

Thanks for your input guys. It will be a change but it is only for a year so it can't be that bad. I have lived in Maryland for 32 yrs so yea lol.

I assume we need a AWD car/suv or are they on top of things as far as cleating snow from the roads. All I keep hearing is that it is cold so I am preparing for the worse

 

This is a pet peeve of mine.  You do not need AWD.  The only thing that contacts the ground is your tires, the most important thing is to have tires that are meant to work in cold and snow.  In almost any kind of snow that you would be willing to attempt driving in any old FWD **** box will do fine in the snow.  You won't run into trouble until the snow is so deep ground clearance becomes a problem, meaning there's a foot or more unplowed on the roads.  A FWD civic/jetta/corolla on snow tires will out brake, out handle and out maneuver an AWD car/suv that's on standard all season tires.  Even when it's cold but dry outside, once it's below 45 degrees winter tires perform better than all seasons (which are really 3 season tires) because the construction of the tire is meant to work in those temps.  Unless you plan to go driving through blizzards on roads with feet of snow on them buy a cheap set of steel wheels with snow tires mounted on them and put them on when winter comes.  I got through the 09/10 snowageddon winter in DC, driving through every storm, passing by stuck Audis, Subarus and 4WD SUVs in a 91 VW Golf with snow tires on it without ever coming close to getting stuck.  Parked uphill on side streets with a standing foot of snow and it blasted right out.  All seasons in snow is like wearing cleats on a hardwood indoor basketball court. 

[Bonez3]

I was there in Oct for 4 days and was literally shocked how cool the city was. From East Coast, I have preference there. I lived in Boston, Philly and just preferred that for some time.

 

The weather those few days were great, that helped. But what really grabbed me was the bar/restaurant/entertainment scene. Defintely has East Coast type feel and very cool vibes. Sports bars, music bars, high end eateries. The 'skyway' connects downtine with like 5 miles or something of walkways, so you don't have to go outside. There are different places to eat and shop there to. Just a cool city IMO.

 

I think for a year you will find plenty to do. Plus, it has all 4 major sports. I just didn't expect that.

[Shiv]

I live in Chicago right now and I'm scared of how cold it gets up there.  Good luck.

[I_Bleed_B&G]

This is a pet peeve of mine.  You do not need AWD.  The only thing that contacts the ground is your tires, the most important thing is to have tires that are meant to work in cold and snow.  In almost any kind of snow that you would be willing to attempt driving in any old FWD **** box will do fine in the snow.  You won't run into trouble until the snow is so deep ground clearance becomes a problem, meaning there's a foot or more unplowed on the roads.  A FWD civic/jetta/corolla on snow tires will out brake, out handle and out maneuver an AWD car/suv that's on standard all season tires.  Even when it's cold but dry outside, once it's below 45 degrees winter tires perform better than all seasons (which are really 3 season tires) because the construction of the tire is meant to work in those temps.  Unless you plan to go driving through blizzards on roads with feet of snow on them buy a cheap set of steel wheels with snow tires mounted on them and put them on when winter comes.  I got through the 09/10 snowageddon winter in DC, driving through every storm, passing by stuck Audis, Subarus and 4WD SUVs in a 91 VW Golf with snow tires on it without ever coming close to getting stuck.  Parked uphill on side streets with a standing foot of snow and it blasted right out.  All seasons in snow is like wearing cleats on a hardwood indoor basketball court. 

 

Yes I'm aware of having secondary shoes and snow tires.  Like I said, I've lived in MD all my life and have snow tires on my cars.  The reason I was asking about SUV's is more so for my wife.  She will be working at the hospital and will be on call so she will be traveling to and from the hospital in all hours of the day and night.  I want her to be safe because she will be the one driving and not me as I'll be working from home.  I'll put snow tires on her suv/car but I was mostly concerned with the amount of snow and clearance needed on the roads and if the city cleared the road ways quickly.

 

I don't think you can compare DC winters with Minnesota.  So it it snows a foot or more, she still needs to go to the hospital.  She can't call out. I want whats best for her while we are there for a year.

[I_Bleed_B&G]

I spent about 8 months flying in & out of MSP weekly while working on a project in Rochester, MN.

 

Rule #1 - do not underestimate the cold. Frostbite cold. I was there in January when it was -20 without the wind chill. After putting $10 of gas in my rental car my ears were burning (forgot my hat that week). Residents need to have heaters installed on their car engines to keep the blocks from freezing. It starts snowing in October. The air is very, very dry. Snow kind of evaporates instead of melting. Tossing a cup of hot water in the air actually does turn to vapor instantly at the temps they have there.

 

Rule #2 - The 3 months of not-Winter are fun. But stock up on mosquito spray. They will pick you up and carry you around for those 3 months. Those 10,000 lakes attract a lot of bugs. Lots. The summer days are long - I have played golf until 930pm a couple of times because it was still light outside.

 

MSP is supposed to be a very good foodie city. The Mall of America has many very nice restaurants. The mall is huge. You can spend a week there and not go in every store.

 

Pike. You will eat a lot of pike. If you don't like fish, there's always moose

 

Thanks for all the info.  I love food so I'll be trying all kinds of stuff.  Jucy Lucy sounds delicious!

 

I suppose we will have to buy some heated coats lool.

 

I was there in Oct for 4 days and was literally shocked how cool the city was. From East Coast, I have preference there. I lived in Boston, Philly and just preferred that for some time.

 

The weather those few days were great, that helped. But what really grabbed me was the bar/restaurant/entertainment scene. Defintely has East Coast type feel and very cool vibes. Sports bars, music bars, high end eateries. The 'skyway' connects downtine with like 5 miles or something of walkways, so you don't have to go outside. There are different places to eat and shop there to. Just a cool city IMO.

 

I think for a year you will find plenty to do. Plus, it has all 4 major sports. I just didn't expect that.

 

Nice.  I'll be going there sometime in April to check out the area and figure out where we want to live.  I'll spend a few days there to get a feel of the city.  Sounds very interesting though.

 

I live in Chicago right now and I'm scared of how cold it gets up there.  Good luck.

 

Damn that says something.  I hate the cold too.

[Springfield]

My dad lived up there and I visited him in my youth. It was summer so it wasn't cold but there were definitely mosquitos everywhere. Very nice areas it seemed like. He lived in a city called Eden Prarie which if I recall was south of the cities by a little bit.

I visited the Mall of America. Ride my first roller coaster there. Very cool place. Saw a Twins game in the Metrodome. The angle on the stadium seats was STEEP! Cool to see an out of town ball game though.

Overall I thought it seemed like a nice place without too much crime. This was probably 15-20 years ago though. It, along with other areas of Canada are areas I wouldn't mind moving to if I ever wanted to escape DC.