Why I Love the Lake Minnetonka Area

Featured in the Sun Sailor

One of the things I love about the Lake Minnetonka area is how close knit the community is. I’m amazed at how many people were born, raised here and are raising their own families here today.

When you spend time in places like Los Angeles or even New York, you meet so many people who live there who are not from there. I was born and raised in Hawaii, but here I am today living in Excelsior, Minnesota.  

I’ve been a Lake Minnetonka resident for 23 years now. My family in Hawaii is still perplexed by my decision to remain. Mainly, they have a hard time wrapping their heads around our winters.

My sisters and I back home on Oahu

Truth is, I love the seasons, all of them. There is always something to do around here. I’m incredibly excited about the ice freezing on Lake Minnetonka. I’m dying to go ice-skating on it. Last year I tried ice fishing for the first time, and I’m also looking forward to that.

The way that Minnesotans persevere in the pursuit of fun, no matter the weather, is part of what made me fall in love with this area.

Not long ago we had a crazy cold snap. The air temperature was -22. In most parts of the country, that would have shut down towns, but not here. Excelsior was hustling and bustling with people doing their holiday shopping and running errands.

Of course there are times when extreme weather slows things down, but even after 23 years I’m amazed at how people still make things happen. I believe that part of what makes this a close knit community is the extreme weather.

I’ve seen business owners blowing snow, or sweeping leaves not just in front of their own shops, but that of their neighbors. There is a true willingness to help each other out. In certain ways, our survival depends on it at times because of the extreme weather.

A few inches of snow in Seattle would shut down the city, including schools. Here in the Lake Minnetonka area, a few inches of snow is hardly worth the mention. Kids still play outside, people still go to work.

When it is brutally hot out in the summer, people check on their elderly neighbors. Multiple local groups help people who need it to rake their leaves in the fall. There is no shortage of examples of how our community comes together throughout the year.

So yes, Minnesota has extreme weather that can be challenging. But, Minnesotans and especially those I’ve come to love in the Lake Minnetonka area, are extreme in their kindness and thoughtfulness, a compliment to the push back of the elements.

Yes, it may take longer to get places in the winter. This is why we allow more time for travel. Yes, I’ve learned more about frostbite than I ever cared to, but knowledge is power.

I may no longer live on a sandy, tropical beach in Hawaii, but I often feel like I’m living in paradise, even in the winter.  It is the people in this community that make it so. It is the way I see Excelsior businesses working together to help each other and the community.

I’m incredibly excited to see what is to come in 2017 for our community and I’m very thankful to be a part of this community and to call the Lake Minnetonka area my home.

Happy New Year From Odin and I

Imperfectly Yours,

Natalie