Left the City Behind, Loving Rural Life

We moved here from Bismarck, North Dakota on Labor Day last year and fell in love with our small town here on the range. The people are incredibly friendly. When we moved in, our neighbors visited to introduce themselves and we’ve attended many neighborhood bonfires and gatherings. Our kids love their teammates on their baseball, hockey, basketball and cross country teams. We found good jobs and love that our annual property taxes are about ¼ what we paid for a similar home in North Dakota. We’ve spent time canoeing the lakes, hiking the trails, picking berries and enjoying all the wonderful outdoor adventures available up here.

We were a little worried if we’d miss the amenities that come with living in a city. We thought our kids might not get the same educational opportunities. To be honest, we don’t feel like we’ve missed much and our kids have thrived in schools with small class sizes and teachers who really
care about the community. We’ve found good local restaurants and enjoyed the local theater, the fine arts programming from Northern Lights and watching high school sports surrounded by friends.

You’ll never find a place that is absolutely perfect. We love it here, and we can do almost everything we want but I do like to watch professional sports and our town can’t quite support a 60,00 seat stadium. When that bug hits we jump in the car and take a short trip down great roads to the Cities to watch the Vikings or Wild. It’s a short enough trip where we can be there and back in a day, and there’s nothing quite like the feeling of the big city stress evaporating as you drive north knowing you’re going home.