North Dakota is West Minnesota and Iowa is South Minnesota. They are all pretty white-bread, but they have cities that function reasonably well IMHO. Prince liked it well enough that he atayed when he could afford to move anywhere he wanted.
I've lived in two of those three, plus Utah. Biggest drawback to the northern Plains is February, and the biggest drawback to Utah is Mormons. All have substantial plusses.
I didn't care for Texas (DFW). Too hot, too crowded, too full of Texans. Moving due north 1,200 miles solved all those problems!
As a native Utahn I have very mixed feelings about this . As far as outdoor recreation Utah would have to be at the top of any list .Skiing, hiking, river rafting , National parks etc .As far as the cultural climate then it would be near the bottom. The government being run by and for Mormons . Just about any place of employment being surrounded by Mormons ,some of them are OK if they are not in the majority and if they dominate the workplace you might as well be in sacrament meeting. I live in Salt Lake which is fairly moderate to liberal but I cannot imagine living in Utah County. I'm going to retire in about six years and going to leave Utah behind . probably move to Las Vegas or Tucson and be warm
The national parks provide natural scenic backdrop to where I hope to retire. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. And the climate is warm year round.
Aa Wrote: --------------------------------- > Best States (According to U.S. News and World Report) > > #1 Iowa > #2 Minnesota > #3 Utah > #4 North Dakota > #5 New Hampshire >
Best how, what, where, when, why?
> I'd suggest they go visit [ALL 50] first.
Note: this is not the best magazine from which to get your information.
I have some very fond memories of filming at CFTO in Toronto...me (an American) getting a somewhat illegal (I could have been arrested for trespassing, but I wasn't), scoop on the American press at a certain country's embassy in Ottawa :D!!! ...and a wonderful, totally unexpected, community get-together, about Moliere, in French, at a restaurant in Winnipeg.
Toronto's nice. It's the traffic that's a nightmare getting there and back via the freeway driving. It can get very confusing without GPS, and even with that it's difficult navigating.
My GPS went out when I was driving there last time. I had to wing it. By then I was off the freeway at least, but it was tough going.
I looked it up. It is based on infrastructure, health care and education and those of course are based on someone's statistics and polls and their idea of what is good.
All I got to say is "One man's meat is another man's poison" as the old saying goes.
Personally, I like me a little more diversity than those states offer. I like more options. And in the end the best state is your own personal state of mind when you are at your best. Then it doesn't matter where you live.
Love Canada! Very pretty and super nice and polite people, almost too polite.I thought that was just an American stereotype about Canadians. They really are polite. I have only been to the Maritimes and Windsor, across the under water tunnel from Detroit. I want to go back , see Quebec this time, then Alberta.
That’s funny. “ I’m so sorry that I hit your car”, when they’re the ones who ran into you , totaling your car, and you’re apologizing because of your car wasn’t there, they wouldn’t of hit you when they went trough the red light
I love that video! I only hope if that happened here,when we were playing a Canadian team, that we could do the same. I noticed right away when I first started loving hockey, that the Canadian fans always sang along to “ O Canada”. I only know “ O Canada” and “ God save the Queen/ King” , because growing up in a military town, we learned in grade school,our closest allies Anthems , along with 2 verses of ours. The only weird thing is that I still on occasion sing “ The true north ,proud and free”, instead of “ Strong and free”. I never seem to get that line right. I love my Blackhawks, but I HATE how a lot of our fans cheer and clapthrough out the Anthem, it’s embarrassing. Just my luck, it had to be MY team’s fans that do that. We do have the best singer though. I’m for Toronto in the Atlantic division. When we were in Nova Scotia, we were in one store , where I was talking to one of the ladies working there. She was very nice. When we were leaving, I noticed the other lady counting money in the cash register and the lady that I was talking to came out right behind us I then noticed the “ Closed” sign on the front door and that they closed at 4:00. It was 4:17. I was so embarrassed. I didn’t know that . If that was here, they’d let you know that they were getting ready to close. They were very nice and talkative and didn’t even mentioned that they were closed.
Lucky duck, you. Very nice videos, nice scenery. I love when leaves change colors, green mountains,light houses. You’re also only a few hours from Canada. Vermont is nice too, and Bar Harbour, Maine
Hockeyrat Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lucky duck, you. Very nice videos, nice scenery. I > love when leaves change colors, green > mountains,light houses. > You’re also only a few hours from Canada. > Vermont is nice too, and Bar Harbour, Maine
I do consider myself very lucky. Montreal was a two hour drive away. I love Vermont and Maine as well. We used to go to Maine every summer when I was growing up.
Wages are low; the place a is nightmarish theocracy, and if it weren't for my family I'd have left long ago...
The mountains and the wilderness scenery are first rate, of course, but the &@%! real estate hooligans are trying to plant them in oil and gas wells or subdivide them every chance they get.
Cabdriver Philosophical Conclusion: They relied on "self reporting" for this one, and with 60-70% of TBM's replying, what could one expect?
A friend of mine moved to a Minneapolis suburb, and likes it quite well. Personally, I couldn't take all of the snow. I'm happy in Maryland. It has lots of waterfront, lovely vistas, four season weather, and good employment opportunities and wages with two major cities close at hand (Baltimore and Washington, D.C.) On the downside, finding an affordable place to live might be a challenge.
It looks like the top five in this particular report are all in the snow belt. Not everyone likes to deal with a lot of snow.
A guy in Fargo, ND, started a software company (Great Plains Software) doing primarily Windows accounting software. The company partnered with Microsoft. It had a personnel turnover rate of about 2%. Microsoft was just stunned at that, and wanted to know the secret. They couldn't come anywhere near that low a rate, even with the beauty of Seattle and the Cascades. And Fargo had flat land and February.
Long story short, MS bought the company and made the founder, Doug Burgum, an MS VP.
Doug has since retired from Microsoft, moved back to ND, and was elected governor in 2016.
ND is sort of a blank white spot on the map in most people's mind. Nobody grows up planning to move there. They usually end up there sort of by accident. Most decide that however improbable it appears, it is a delightful place to live. Ok, winter is an acquired taste, and there are a ton of ND snowbirds in Phoenix area. If you remember Sheriff Marge and her husband from the movie Fargo, there's more than a few people there who are like that, almost comically decent.
You could do worse.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2018 08:39PM by Brother Of Jerry.
Brother Of Jerry Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you remember > Sheriff Marge and her husband from the movie > Fargo, there's more than a few people there who > are like that, almost comically decent.
My paternal grandparents were born just over the state lines in South Dakota and in Minnesota, but they moved to North Dakota around the time they were teenagers and got married, and their two sons were born in Bismarck.
My Grandma and Grandpa were two of the all-time most decent and wonderful people I have ever known, so I really know what you are talking about here.
Sorry Tevai. I think my grandparents cancel out yours. My grandfather was born in North Dakota and grandmother born in Minnesota. They ended up at the same high school and eventually got married. Grandmother was more disturbed than indecent. Grandfather was a real horse's hind end. They are probably why Mormonism looked so nice and normal to me. Compared to that side of my family, Mormonism is sane and logical.
But, as a side note, my grandfather's brothers were very decent men. My dad loved them dearly. And I believe my grandmother's sisters and one brother were pretty nice and normal. My dad just won the lottery for crazy parents. The strange part is that my dad turned out pretty great but his siblings, not so much.
Pooped Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sorry Tevai. I think my grandparents cancel out > yours. My grandfather was born in North Dakota and > grandmother born in Minnesota. They ended up at > the same high school and eventually got married. > Grandmother was more disturbed than indecent. > Grandfather was a real horse's hind end. They are > probably why Mormonism looked so nice and normal > to me. Compared to that side of my family, > Mormonism is sane and logical.
I am sorry for your Dad and for YOU, Pooped...his and your growing up must have been rough, especially when either or both of them were acting out. :(
> But, as a side note, my grandfather's brothers > were very decent men. My dad loved them dearly. > And I believe my grandmother's sisters and one > brother were pretty nice and normal. My dad just > won the lottery for crazy parents. The strange > part is that my dad turned out pretty great but > his siblings, not so much.
I'm glad your Dad turned out well...for him, and for you, too.
In my family, I have always been consciously aware that I totally lucked out with my paternal grandparents...
...but with my maternal grandparents (there were three of them, including a "horse's hind end" step-grandfather, all from the Oklahoma/Kansas area), when I was growing up I just tried to hang on as best I could, and somehow weather through whatever storm was going on at any particular moment.
Don't move to California. It's awful here. The weather is stubbornly fair, and the coast predictably lovely. Boring blue skies ruin 300 days of the year.
donbagley Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Don't move to California. It's awful here. The > weather is stubbornly fair, and the coast > predictably lovely. Boring blue skies ruin 300 > days of the year.
I loved California weather & sunshine. It was the traffic & congestion that left me wanting to escape for greener pastures.
Some places I really liked better than the cities. Like Placerville, what I remember of it. Little gold mining town with yesteryear charm. That was where Thomas Kincaid lived and made his career from. It's bucolic.
My company has a branch in UT and none of my current coworkers want to move there. Some of them were offered a pay raise, different responsibilities, growth. Their response....I'd rather deal with traffic in NY, cost of living here, rude people than living in Utah and being surrounded by that culture.
All of us travel a lot for work, so they experienced Utah
I have always loved the places where I have lived. My three years in Kentucky were much too short. It's such a wonderful state to explore geologically, however, their biggest asset is their people. I have never met such friendly people. I can actually say that Kentuckians are seemingly friendlier than the average person in my native Canada.
My youngest son has passports to three countries due to being born in Kentucky, to me and my Japanese wife. I envy my son. He has the freedom to live wherever he pleases between Canada, Japan, and the United States. All wonderful countries in their own right. It would be tough to choose one place to settle down in. I've had children born in all three countries so they are thoroughly confused as to their allegiance and their identity! It's not a bad problem to have actually.