Outside, an adventure travel and sporting gear magazine, rated the 100 largest metro areas by economic well being, quality of life, nightlife, and cultural vibrancy, looking at factors like unemployment, affordability, weather, traffic, and of course, outdoor recreation opportunities.
Minneapolis makes the list despite our winter for our economic diversity, education, relative affordability, abundance of arts and culture, and guess what? The lakes and all the ways you can have fun on them. Did you know that 22,737 canoes and kayaks are registered in the Twin Cities? And that there are 27 miles of cross country ski trails in Minneapolis alone (and that they aren't even the best in the Twin Cities)?
Other outside recreation opportunities Outside didn't mention which are all very popular in the Twin Cities: biking, downhill skiing/snowboarding, kiteboarding/kitesurfing, water skiing, running and rock climbing.
Minneapolis/St. Paul were just ranked second in the nation for having the fittest residents by the American College of Sports Residents, so I imagine that the only reason that we don't rank higher on Outside's list is our lack of mountains and ocean, denying us the very best locations for outdoor pursuits.
And from another magazine, Vogue editor Anna Wintour recently offended Minnesotans by blithely referring to most of us as "the size of little houses" on 60 Minutes. Compared to the nation, Minnesota is one of the least obese states, in 31st place. I guess we are doing too much windsufing and not enough standing around looking skinny.
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