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I could never live in Green Bay. I hate it there.

I've got nothing against small towns. I grew up in Stevens Point, and have never been happier in my life. And right now I live in a little hiccup of a town in rural Kentucky that's so small the people still run out into the front yard to point at airplanes, and I'm happy here too - but Green Bay is absolutely the most boring town I've ever seen in my life. My dad lived there the last 10 years before he died, so I spent a lot of time there, and never found a single thing that was remotely interesting to me other than the Packers. It was even worse than Milwaukee, and that's saying a lot.
It was an OK place to grow up, regardless of the Lombardi Packers. It's conveniently central for outdoors activities if those are primary in your life. And the toilet paper economy gives it a little more immunity to economic upheaval. But we, my parents and siblings, started leaving in the mid 80s and only my older brother remains. No one else is tempted to return.
quote:
Originally posted by grignon:
It was an OK place to grow up, regardless of the Lombardi Packers. It's conveniently central for outdoors activities if those are primary in your life.


I didn't grow up there but went to college there. Maybe Green Bay itself doesn't have tons of cultural type activities, but if you like the outdoors you've got Door County just a short drive away and of course just the standard stuff you can do like golf, bowl etc. that you can do in many decent size cities.

If you want world class museums, art, plays, etc. Green Bay will bore the hell out of you. But if you're more the outdoorsy type, I think it's a pretty decent place.

I personally loved all the people I met up there when going to college. There were a lot of people from small towns and everybody was friendly and liked to have a good time. The people and the Packers are what make the town fairly cool as it certainly isn't a cultural mecca of the world.
I miss some of the food options and the genuine nature of the people there. I miss being in GB anywhere between 8 and 10 Sundays in the fall every year and I miss Indian Summer, but that's honestly about it.

No way I could tolerate those horrible winters anymore. I grew up there and spent a lot of time there during my post-secondary education years, and the other thing I grew sick and tired of was the fishbowl environment. Everyone knew or was trying to find out everyone else's business so it could be placed on the small-town gossip wire. Some folks like the small-town feel of things and that's great. It's just not for me.

I always say this to folks when it looks like a conversation is going to deteriorate to 'where you live sucks/where I live is awesome' stupidity - if I was to trade locations with someone who likes living in NE Wisconsin and they had to come live in San Diego, I'm sure we'd both be unhappy and want to trade back very soon.

To each his own. Could I go back? Nope.
Not sure who originally wrote the following, and I'm sure there are variations of it:

quote:
A traveler stepped off the train in a new town hopeful to find a new place to live. He noticed an old sage sitting on a bench quietly whittling a small piece of wood. The stranger approached the old man, "Say old man, I was wondering if you could tell me what the people are like in this town?".

The old sage stroked his beard and responded, "Well, what were people like in the town you're coming from?" The stranger told the old sage the people in his old town were rude, mean, kept to themselves and were never willing to lend a hand and that he couldn't wait to get out. The sage stroked his beard a couple more times, looked up and said, "I'm afraid to tell you that's exactly the kind of folk you're gonna' find in this town". Dejected, the stranger picked up his luggage and stepped back on the train.

A short time later, the train stopped again and another stranger stepped off and spotted the old sage whittling away. He too approached the old man as he was also looking for a new place to settle down. He asked what the people were like in this town. The old sage , without looking up, asked "What were the people like in the town you're coming from?" The stranger said they were fine people, willing to help, kind and generous". The sage looked up at the stranger and told him "You're in luck, that's exactly the kind of folk we have living in this town"


Where you live is pretty much what you make it.
quote:
Originally posted by Timmy!:
quote:
Originally posted by Coach:
I seem to recall Bryce Paup doing so.


Absolutely, Coach.
Not sure that he lives in town or in the 'burbs, but he and his wife attend a church in the Green Bay area.
KGB and family also did, although I can't swear they still do.


Harry Sydney, Larry McCarren, and I believe Bill Schroeder also lives in Green Bay now. Bryce Paup coached Green Bay Southwest to their first conference title since 1975 but has since accepted a position at Northern Iowa.
I have been gone from the GB area since the mid 80's and I do miss it. I miss the area, I miss the food badly, I love the hunting there, and especially the fishing. But, I could only live there from June through Christmas. After that the winters are too long for me and my blood has thinned too much to stay there over the winter. I am the type that doesn't need a lot of culture and a ton of things to do to be happy so yes I could live there most of the year.
Gosh, I haven't been here in a few years but...I'm born and raised in Green Bay. Got the hell out of dodge when I graduated and took off to explore the country and college for the next many years. Now that I'm gone, married, with kids. I'd die to go back. But I'm stuck in the hell that is northern IL (ok, it's not that bad, but Chicago is). If I won the lottery, I'd be back in a heartbeat. Mom still lives there and I'm up there often. There was a lot to do when I was younger, I'm sure there's just as much now. Really, it's like any town. There is the lovely old part of town (Astor Park), there's the fancy suburbs (Oneida) and there's the bad areas (near east and west sides). There's gangs nowadays...hmong gangs! I worry about my mom in her house now, the neighborhood has changed. But the unemployment rate is low from what I understand. There are a lot of insurance companies in the area. I love the townie bars, townie food. I love winter weather. I'm a Wisconsin girl that would love to go home. But it won't happen. I am 5 miles from the border though!

PS - How could everyone forget Fuzzy Thurston? I believe he's still in the area even though he doesn't have the bar anymore and he's ill. Willie Wood used to be in the area because he owned the Shorewood Inn out on Nicolet Drive on the bay. We used to go just to hang out at the bar with him. Very cool, nice guy. But I believe he's also very ill.

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