Anyone ever live in Norfolk, VA or Mount Pleasant, MI? Thoughts on either location?

[consolibyte]

Anyone ever live in Norfolk, VA or Mount Pleasant, MI?

Thoughts on either location? The fiancée is finishing up her PhD in May and it looks like we might end up moving to one of those two places (from Connecticut).

What are they like? Nice places to live? Housing prices?

 

[DesiPower]

Folk will check in soon, but it seems like these 2 places are like miles apart. One is a proper big city and the other is a small country town... or maybe an university town.
Its totally upto you folks... what you like? big town or small town...

 

[Fausto]

Mount Pleasant is small, kinda boring, safe, cheap. It's probably a bit funkier than your average mid-michigan burb thanks to CMU, but it's definitely not a cultural hub.

That said, you are two hours or less from the Great Lakes, Detroit (yes, it's kind of a dump but there are still some cool things to see and do), and all of the beautiful areas in northern MI. Winters are long and gray, but there is skiing and other stuff to do and the summers are wonderful.

 

[rudeguy]

Mt Pleasant is a college town. That's really the only thing going on there. Its not a bad place, just lots of snot nosed kids. Plus it is in MI, so the winters here are not fun. The plus side is the cost of living here is great.

I would love to live in the Norfolk area. But then again I'm a history and military nerd.

 

[Linflas]

Norfolk itself is nothing to write home about but depending on where you and your wife will be employed you may be able to live in Virginia Beach which has some nice areas. No clue about anything in Michigan.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Norfolk is Norfolk... I wouldn't live there, or in any bigger, busier port city w/ a military base. Nice places to visit though.

Minneapolis / Saint Paul aren't so much a city(cities), as a bunch of closely packed small towns full of people who know everybody within walking distance of their homes and absolutely hate to drive.

That's personal preference though. Basically, the two are completely different, and if you're a small town person or a big city person, you'll be more comfortable in one than the other.

If you have a job, there's nothing wrong with Mt. Pleasant. That's true for most of MI. Michigan: The Unemployment State. Ahh, memories. Even then, as mom used to say, "the only things to do around here are get fat, get drunk, and get pregnant."

So I'm not in a hurry to move back, either. :shudder:

 

[PrinceofWands]

Lived in Norfolk for about 18 months while in the Navy. It's a bigger, southern city, a military city, a port city. Any one of those makes it a place for lower educated, lower class, higher bigoted, crime-inclined persons. The place is, well, a hole.

That being said it's close to some fairly nice areas. Virginia Beach was livable, and Chesapeake was great. You're close enough to some great areas to go have fun, but far enough out to not suffer from it.

If you can live in a better area than Norfolk proper, it might be ok. Then again, I HATE the weather in that area (and pretty much anything else that far south). I also hate the east coast mentality, and the southern mentality. So for me, that area is ass regardless of exactly where you're living.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Norfolk traffic sucks, especially around the tunnel

 

[roguerower]

I worked on Norfolk Naval Base last summer as an intern but lived in Virginia Beach, would definitely do it that way again. I love to fish and that area is perfect for salt water fishing.

Wouldn't mind going back there so long as I could find a drop zone to jump at.

Norfolk traffic sucks, especially around the tunnel

This is especially true. Last 4th of July me and my GF were trying to get out of there to drive north. One of the tunnels leaving town sprung a leak and was shut down and all of a sudden all roads out were shutdown. We ended up getting out by taking back roads south, then west, then got onto 95. DON'T LIVE ANYWHERE WHERE YOU HAVE TO TAKE A TUNNEL TO WORK!

 

[rcpratt]

There is nothing exciting anywhere within 90 minutes of Mt. Pleasant.

 

[KentState]

Avoid Mt. Pleasant or almost any other place in Michigan.

 

[KentState]

There is nothing exciting anywhere within 90 minutes of Mt. Pleasant.

Lansing is about the only thing close ore the Soaring Eagle Casino.

 

[Kalmah]

I current work in Mt Pleasant myself. (moved from georgia to michigan a while back) A few things to note..

It is a college town.
There really isn't anything there. If you want to go to a mall, prepare for a very long drive.

Yesterday in Mt. Pleasant, is rained, then snowed about 6 inches(so thick you couldn't see a foot in front of you).. then it thunderstormed for the next 10 hours.
Strangest weather I've seen in a long time.


I would suggest Lansing if you're going to move to michigan.

 

[ProfJohn]

Norfolk sorta sucks, but Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are both very nice.

VaBch is a beautiful city with lots of green areas and parks and TONS of water due to all the bays. You'd be close to the beach as well and the Outer Banks of NC are only an hour away.

I lived there for 9 years total. Enjoyed it mostly.

One nice thing about the area is that the large military establishment helps to isolate it from economic down turns.

BTW it is also close to Busch Gardens Williamsburg which is the most beautiful theme park in the country and home to some awesome roller coasters

 

[Slick5150]

As a Lansing resident, I can say I'd much rather live here than Mt. Pleasant, but that being said I do head up that way once in awhile to goto the casino. As far as indian casinos go, Soaring Eagle is actually pretty nice. I generally prefer to goto the MGM or Motor City casinos in Detroit, but they're also a further drive.

but as others have said, there's not a lot else going on in Mt. Pleasant if you're not a CMU student.

 

[Scotteq]

Norfolk sorta sucks, but Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are both very nice.

VaBch is a beautiful city with lots of green areas and parks and TONS of water due to all the bays. You'd be close to the beach as well and the Outer Banks of NC are only an hour away.

I lived there for 9 years total. Enjoyed it mostly.

One nice thing about the area is that the large military establishment helps to isolate it from economic down turns.

BTW it is also close to Busch Gardens Williamsburg which is the most beautiful theme park in the country and home to some awesome roller coasters

Visited Norfolk in the late 80s when I was in the service for a couple weeks of temporary duty. Had an afternoon free, so I went wandering around town. Saw a sign in front of someone's house that read "Dogs and Sailors Keep Off The Grass". Figured I wasn't welcome, so I went back to the base and watched TV.

Never went back to Norfolk.

 

[ProfJohn]

Visited Norfolk in the late 80s when I was in the service for a couple weeks of temporary duty. Had an afternoon free, so I went wandering around town. Saw a sign in front of someone's house that read "Dogs and Sailors Keep Off The Grass". Figured I wasn't welcome, so I went back to the base and watched TV.

Never went back to Norfolk.

Most likely a joke.

The military is the life blood of that town. At least 10% of the areas work force is military and when you add in support jobs and jobs that rely on military spending it probably jumps to over 25% if not closer to 50%.

Maybe I am biased because I am from a military family and nearly everyone I knew was in the military, but I never saw any anti-military bias at all.

 

[Scotteq]

Most likely a joke.

The military is the life blood of that town. At least 10% of the areas work force is military and when you add in support jobs and jobs that rely on military spending it probably jumps to over 25% if not closer to 50%.

Maybe I am biased because I am from a military family and nearly everyone I knew was in the military, but I never saw any anti-military bias at all.

Certainly, south of the Mason/Dixon folks are/were hugely more supportive of the military than they are in the NY Metro area. The same is true even now; after a couple decades of 'Support Our Troops' you'll still find some rather negative views around here. Mostly prefaced with "...well it's not the fault of individual servicemen but..." < you should put on your asbestos suit here because you're about to get flamed >

And I'm sure no actual harm was intended. I figured it was some old curmugeon.

At the time, though, I was just 20. And then the attitudes in my little corner of the northeast towards the military were such that it wouldn't even occur to me to wander around at home in uniform. So if it was a joke, I was unreceptive to the humor since I could believe the sign was serious because people really were like that where I grew up.

I wasn't there for long, anyhow. <shrug>

 

[ViviTheMage]

Minneapolis / Saint Paul aren't so much a city(cities), as a bunch of closely packed small towns full of people who know everybody within walking distance of their homes and absolutely hate to drive.

I am not sure where you got people absolutely hate to drive here, as that's the 'only mode of transportion around here, haha...and the fuckload of bikers.

I read, somewhere, that Minneapolis is the number 1 place in the US, for bike friendly.

Found em :

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/...186.html#s79376&title=1_Minneapolis_Minnesota

http://www.bicycling.com/news/advocacy/1-minneapolis-mn

 

[Linflas]

Norfolk sorta sucks, but Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are both very nice.

VaBch is a beautiful city with lots of green areas and parks and TONS of water due to all the bays. You'd be close to the beach as well and the Outer Banks of NC are only an hour away.

I lived there for 9 years total. Enjoyed it mostly.

One nice thing about the area is that the large military establishment helps to isolate it from economic down turns.

BTW it is also close to Busch Gardens Williamsburg which is the most beautiful theme park in the country and home to some awesome roller coasters

And over 400 years of history beginning with Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown, and the peninsula campaign civil war battlefields to cover some highlights.

 

[CVSiN]

Anyone ever live in Norfolk, VA or Mount Pleasant, MI?

Thoughts on either location? The fiancée is finishing up her PhD in May and it looks like we might end up moving to one of those two places (from Connecticut).

What are they like? Nice places to live? Housing prices?

NoFuck.. is a shithole.
Dreaded by every Sailor in the Navy as one of the worst duty stations in the world.

Hated that place every time we went there. Nothing to do other than the On base clubs.

 

[Linflas]

NoFuck.. is a shithole.
Dreaded by every Sailor in the Navy as one of the worst duty stations in the world.

Hated that place every time we went there. Nothing to do other than the On base clubs.

I loved it. The squadron would head back to Florida anytime we were in port for more than a week and 5 of us volunteered to stay behind to watch our compartments. I would stand an 8 hour duty day and head home to NOVA for 4 days. Closest thing I ever had to NAS Hometown.

 

[CVSiN]

I loved it. The squadron would head back to Florida anytime we were in port for more than a week and 5 of us volunteered to stay behind to watch our compartments. I would stand an 8 hour duty day and head home to NOVA for 4 days. Closest thing I ever had to NAS Hometown.

Well that's only so you could go home haha!.

The place itself sucks! the E clubs and that huge Movie Theater with the arcade in it were ok though..

 

[zzuupp]

Greetings from the other side of the bridge-tunnels.

& yes, they are natural, and frequent choke points.

Since you said "finishing up her PhD", I'm assuming ODU. This is a pretty good part of town, Larchmont. Like any city, just a few blocks away, things can be different, Lamberts Point.

If one really doesn't like heat & humdity, then the summers here will be tough.

 

[Linflas]

Well that's only so you could go home haha!.

The place itself sucks! the E clubs and that huge Movie Theater with the arcade in it were ok though..

Only time we ever went to "downtown Norfolk" we found these bars on Granby that looked like they were straight out of a WWII movie. They even had these beat lookiing women that would dance with sailors for 2 bucks or something like that. Even that was better for us than the area around ODU. This being a few years post Vietnam the college students were still hating on anyone military. I remember going into a bar across from the university called Friar Tucks, the looks we got you would have thought we walked in and took a dump in the middle of the floor. A few blocks down was another place called Batman's Den. Evidently that was a different neighborhood than ODU, it was like the road trip bar scene in Animal House when we walked in. We generally headed to VA Beach for off base outings, much more to do there than Norfolk.