KMKeller --
Depending on your interests, Minnesota can be a great place. It's an excellent place to raise kids. If you're single, there are lots of nice Scandinavian women here
.
There is good hunting and fishing within hours or minutes of almost anywhere in the state. I hunt turkey and pheasant between Owatonna and Rochester. I hunt grouse and deer just north of Elk River and up in Northern Minnesota. There are thousands of wildlife management areas and tracts of federal and state forests all over Minnesota open to public hunting. Just get a map from the Minnesota DNR and drive out and walk around with your hunting tool of choice.
I live in the uber-liberal city of Minneapolis, but Eagan is probably one of the better suburbs -- nice upper middle class with a lot of kids. Working in Eagan, you also have the option of buying/living further out on a some land or even living in one of the smaller towns south of the cities -- like Cannon Falls or Hastings. They are in the middle of renovating Highway 52 - which goes from Eagan to Rochester, so buying anywhere along this corridor will eventually be a nice commute and go up in value.
You can also live in the excellent (except for the politics) cities of Minneapolis or St. Paul and have a ~25 minute commute to Eagan. I suggest checking out southwest Minneapolis by the chain of lakes or the Highland area of St. Paul near the Mississippi river. The Lake Nokomis area in Minneapolis is a little less expensive than the lakes further west and also very close to Eagan. A house in either of these areas will continue to appreciate in value, but you will pay a lot more per square foot than you will in Eagan or anywhere in the 'burbs.
As far as shooting goes, there is a nice gun club just southeast of Eagan called Dakota County Gun Club
http://www.dakotacountygunclub.org/. The club does not allow competitions, but it is a nice place to shoot. You have to be a member. New memberships start in April. There is also the MN Rifle and Revolver Association in Elk River (way on the other side of town) which has a 300 meter range with auto-scoring targets -- International competitions one Sunday per month. Armored Fire, Burnsville Pistol Range and Treasure Island Casino (!) all have good indoor pistol ranges.
Good things about Minnesota -- great place to raise kids, good public schools, a recent shift to the right in State politics, the snow STAYS and piles up all winter (no mud, great for kids and adults to play in), people acclimate to winter and actually get out and do stuff all winter, lots of outdoor events year-round, home and hub of Northwest Airlines - so it's easy to escape to anywhere, nice clean cities and roads, lots of lakes and boating opportunities, cold weather tends to send the riff-raff packing.
YOU WILL PAY HIGH STATE TAXES, SO NEGOTIATE THIS WITH YOUR EMPLOYER!
Things to do in Minnesota: Baseball -- St. Paul Saints (northern league) games are a blast, rollerblading or biking around the Minneapolis lakes, weekend trips up the North Shore of Lake Superior, weekend trips to the seaport town Duluth, MN, rent a pontoon or jet ski on Lake Minnetonka and go to Big Island to anchor out with the party crowd, ski or snowboard on weeknights at Buck Hill or Hyland Hills (~20 minute drive) or drive a few hours to Spirit Mountain or Lutsen Mountain (not really mountains, but better than most Miwestern states), icefishing, golf/snowmobile/boat/fish/camp up near Brainerd, MN, listen to Joe Soucheray's Garage Logic and Jason Lewis on AM1500 , listen to Michael Savage and others on AM 1280-The Patriot, join a softball/volleyball/kickball or
broomball league.
YOU WILL PAY HIGH STATE TAXES, SO NEGOTIATE THIS WITH YOUR EMPLOYER!
AND Minnesota just got CCW.
