It was early morning on February 26, 2011. I was saying goodbye to my family. Not the most pleasant of days. Two years ago today, I began the journey of moving to Minnesota. I left the family behind to work onsite at my new job in Minnesota until our house in Texas sold. Its one of those scenarios that "seem like only yesterday" and at the same time I think, "that was 2 years ago?".

Looking back, everything worked out almost perfectly, even though we didn't realize it at the time. All we knew was that we were moving to Minnesota, but that our family would be separated until the house sold and they could join me. We had no idea of knowing how long that might be. We had no idea if we would like Minnesota. But we did know we were ready for an adventure and believed everything would work out in the end.

Boy, has it ever. It turned out that I was only up here without the family for about a month. It was difficult, but it could have been much worse. We found a great house in what we now know to be a perfect community for us, with outstanding neighbors.

On one had, it was difficult to leave Texas. We lived there most of our lives. Cori and I grew up together there. We were married there. All three of our kids were born there. We still have friends there and a ton of great memories.

But Minnesota has not disappointed.

A lot has happened since we've been here. I've changed jobs since then. We've done some remodeling. We've taken vacations. And we've had many visitors from out of state. All of this activity makes it seem like we would have needed more than two years, but that's the way its worked out. We absolutely love living here.

Here are just a few reasons we love living in Minnesota:

All in all, it was the right decision. And if you're ever looking for a great place to live or take a vacation, you might consider Minnesota - it might be right for you, too.