Hello Minnesotans,
In about a month I'll be joining your ranks. I'm buying a house just outside of St Cloud. It's not my first pick in terms of politics from what I've read, but the state laws are far better for my family than where we live now.
Aside from the fact that we're moving in November, which is one of my more brilliant strokes, to be sure, I'm very excited for this change.
I'm looking for any and all of your Minnesota advice.
I've got a pretty big family, gaggle of kids (from 2nd grade to sophomore in high school), a few dogs, and ambitions on some waterfowl next year maybe.
I'm not afraid of driving in snow, I grew up in MO, we got our share of snow, so I know that often judicious throttle control is better than frantic braking. However, I've never dealt with snow on that scale that sticks for that long. I think we're going from an average annual snowfall of 12ish inches to 40-something annual inches of snow.
Will a self-propelled two stage snowblower kill me on a couple hundred feet of driveway?
Do I really need to scrape the snow off my roof?
How do I help the dogs with the cold? (Do dog boots and coats actually work?)
Got any recommendations for cold weather clothes? (I know we need layers, I'm already a fan of wool, but I need some advice on sourcing stuff that my kids will want to wear)
I love gardening, how much more time will a greenhouse give me in terms of growing season?
How the heck do I make Minnesota friends? I'm not a church person, so I expect this to be difficult for me.
DMV advice?
Best restaurants to visit?
Our family has spent the last year grieving and trying to process what has often felt like some kind of absurd unreality. I want to make this transition as positive as I can.
You don't get to pick where you're born, but you do (to some extent at least) get to pick where you live. We picked Minnesota because of the people, the land, and even the weather.
Sorry for being a stereotype, but I really don't know how else to ask aside from the non-stop googling and YouTube I'm already doing.
TL;DR:
Yet another "I'm moving to Minnesota, help me!" Post.
Edit: You all have given me some great ideas and places to start! Thank you so much!
I'm really excited to start this new chapter and you all have helped relieve some of my worries about being buried alive in snow at least :)
There are some gems for food in the St. Cloud area. I moved away from the area about three years ago into the Twin Cities, so can't speak to more recent additions, but White Horse downtown was always good food if you could put up with unnecessarily slow service. Olde Brick House downtown also good. Old Capital Tavern in Sauk Rapids is solid. Krewe in St. Joseph is probably my favorite restaurant in the area though, and make sure you stop at Jupiter Moon Ice Cream afterwards.
Overall Minnesota is a great place to live. Don't hesitate to get into the twin cities and suburbs as much as you can - you will have way more high end food options, way more activities for the kids, and way more opportunities for your own socialization. Don't fall into the St. Cloud mentality of the Twin Cities being 45-60 minutes away meaning you can't take advantage if it.
Spend some time farther up north when you have time for weekend trips. Rent a cabin up in Bemidji, take the kids to Duluth, get into whatever kind of outdoor winter sports you can put up with. Take the kids tubing at Powder Ridge this winter.
Welcome!
Also, don't fall for the "The cities are a war zone, you'll get shot down there" crap that a lot of people outside the metro try to sell. Minneapolis really isn't any worse than any other city that size and neither is St. Paul. A lot of the people who are deathly afraid of the cities are really just afraid of cities in general and don't have any real concept of what is or isn't a bad neighborhood.
Also, I'm seconding the food recommendations but I'd add that my wife and I were in St. Cloud this spring and we went to Arroy Thai & Filipino which was also great.