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Minneapolis or Milwaukee

discdude

discdude

Lampin in the cut
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Has anyone had any experience living in either city? In terms of relocating, they aren't first options but they may come into play in a decision process. I would love some insight into either. I figure I may include the notion that my wife and I are active, and would love to have as many options as possible in regard to outdoor activities. Cold weather is not an issue. We would like to live in single family house that has some green land around it and isn't in the heart of the city, but allows us easy access and out. For example, would love to be able to get drunk and get some sort of public transportation back to the house. Do either offer this option?
 
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I currently live in Minneapolis and lived in Milwaukee for 6 months doing a co-op so I have knowledge of both.

At first, I really didn't like Milwaukee but I have to say it grew on me. From having attended UW, I really like the whole Wisconsin drinking/brat/cheese curd type culture and having it in a big city like Milwaukee compared to Madison was pretty cool. With that sad, when I was in Milwaukee I always felt like if I took a wrong turn, I was just blocks away from being in a bad area no matter where I was downtown. Milwaukee is just a couple hours south of the Door County area up by Green Bay which gives the opportunity for outdoor activities. I lived by UW-Milwaukee which is a nice area and I did take the bus around pretty frequently but I wouldn't say it has great public transportation.

I love living in Minneapolis. It's much more of a modern, professional city in comparison to Milwaukee. Combined with St. Paul, I feel like it has much more diverse options of things to do than Milwaukee would offer you. Minnesota offers similar outdoors options with all of the lakes up north. Duluth has some great rivers with waterfalls that I love hiking along. Minneapolis does have a light rail that the state is continuing to invest in. It's not very extensive though so you still end up driving to it to take it downtown. Overall, from my experience, I don't think either city has great public transportation that makes it really easy to get from the suburbs to downtown.

If you've got other specific questions that I can try to answer just let me know.
 
I grew up in Minneapolis (lived in Plymouth). It was great. So many awesome parks with good programs for adults and kids. I used to go downtown very frequently for sports and other things. Never had too much trouble getting in and out by car. However, I never used public transportation so I cannot speak to it. It's my favorite place I've lived.
 
IslandDeac said:
I grew up in Minneapolis (lived in Plymouth). It was great. So many awesome parks with good programs for adults and kids. I used to go downtown very frequently for sports and other things. Never had too much trouble getting in and out by car. However, I never used public transportation so I cannot speak to it. It's my favorite place I've lived.
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Where else have you lived, if you do not mind me asking?
 
BadgerDeacon said:
I currently live in Minneapolis and lived in Milwaukee for 6 months doing a co-op so I have knowledge of both.

At first, I really didn't like Milwaukee but I have to say it grew on me. From having attended UW, I really like the whole Wisconsin drinking/brat/cheese curd type culture and having it in a big city like Milwaukee compared to Madison was pretty cool. With that sad, when I was in Milwaukee I always felt like if I took a wrong turn, I was just blocks away from being in a bad area no matter where I was downtown. Milwaukee is just a couple hours south of the Door County area up by Green Bay which gives the opportunity for outdoor activities. I lived by UW-Milwaukee which is a nice area and I did take the bus around pretty frequently but I wouldn't say it has great public transportation.

I love living in Minneapolis. It's much more of a modern, professional city in comparison to Milwaukee. Combined with St. Paul, I feel like it has much more diverse options of things to do than Milwaukee would offer you. Minnesota offers similar outdoors options with all of the lakes up north. Duluth has some great rivers with waterfalls that I love hiking along. Minneapolis does have a light rail that the state is continuing to invest in. It's not very extensive though so you still end up driving to it to take it downtown. Overall, from my experience, I don't think either city has great public transportation that makes it really easy to get from the suburbs to downtown.

If you've got other specific questions that I can try to answer just let me know.
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Thanks. I will probably have some more questions in the coming weeks.
 
Isn't Milwaukee a quintessential drinking town? I've always heard surprisingly positive reviews of Milwaukee.
 
I was in Minneapolis for a weekend in mid-February a couple of years ago and was struck by how active the city was even though there was a foot+ of snow on the ground and it was 4 degrees. I drove up there to help a buddy move in for an internship and thought it was crazy when he said he was going for a run the morning after we got there. I looked outside to see how miserable he was and I saw about 20 other joggers, some people cycling, a couple of pick up hockey games on the lake, some ice skating, and some wind-snowboarding. It was wild.

The city has all these great pockets of neighborhoods, too, with restaurants and bars and old time storefronts; great music scene and other arts; and at least the city proper is pretty diverse for what one might think would be totally whitebread Nordic types. I dug it.

Never been to Milwaukee.
 
bigdoublezero said:
Isn't Milwaukee a quintessential drinking town? I've always heard surprisingly positive reviews of Milwaukee.
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My fiancee is from there, and we went a couple times while we lived in Chicago. I always had fun--I think they have the most breweries per capita of any city in the nation--and got really drunk. As with all the midwest cities, summers are delightful. They take advantage of the lake, obviously, and have a couple festivals along their lakefront parks.

It's not the prettiest town though, and I believe that parts of it are pretty rough. In general, it just doesn't have nearly as much money flowing around as St. Paul/Minneapolis.
 
Never been to either, but I would like to cast a vote for Minneapolis.
 
I also live in Minneapolis. Moved here from the east coast about 4 years ago. My wife and I really enjoy it. Badger has hit it pretty well on the head. It is very much a young professional scene that has a lot going on both inside and outside. There is a ton of green space, even within the city. My wife and I live about .5 miles from the city and have a decent sized lot including a backyard so you dont have to go to far out to get green space. The majority of my friends live downtown in apartment/condo or in the souther suburbs in a house. Of the ones in the burbs several use the bus to come in and out of downtown.

also happy to answer any other questions.
 
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