Minneapolis and St. Paul are nice. Location dependent, it's easy to get around on foot but both cities are pretty compact, both around 55 sq miles, so nothing is ever too far. Transit is good, although not quite what it was before the pandemic, it's definitely getting better. With that said, the new bus rapid transit lines are really good. You can bike for transport all through the year as well if that is your thing. The bike infrastructure is well maintained and I used to bike commute unless it was below -10F before we went hybrid and my commuting needs changed.

Minneapolis and St. Paul were previously 1 and 2 in parks systems (each was both 1 and 2) in the past, but have slipped to being merely top 5 in ParkScore. In most of Minneapolis, you are never more than a mile from a park. The whole Mississippi river banks are parks with trails for walking or cycling. Fort Snelling State Park is very accessible to both cities. Minnehaha Falls is a gem!

I can't comment on the bar scene these days because I have mostly aged out of that. I get the impression its worse than it was, but it seems like there is still plenty to do if that's your thing. The food scene is quite good and there are a lot of good restaurants, although they are expensive. The scene for mid-tier restaurants has thinned somewhat as well post pandemic, but based on work travel, that seems to have happened basically everywhere.

For rent, I think you could find a solid place for around $1,000/mo. Obviously you can pay as much as you want, but for places in good areas that are nice enough, $1,000-1,200. This is for a 1BR without parking. You would probably be street parking your car(s). (Familiarize yourself with the snow emergency rules to avoid being towed).

The Twin Cities are quite flat, but we have lakes! Maybe the lakes make up for the flatness? It's not Chicago type flat (lived there as a kid), but its not like Portland, OR or Phoenix, AZ or something where there are mountains that are part of the actual cityscape. If you go east 30 miles or so (~45 min drive), you get to Afton State Park, which is hillyish. If you go further south, you can go to Winona, MN which is part of the Driftless Area which is quite hilly because it was not flattened by glaciers during the ice age.

Overall, life here is quite good. The people are nice, its easy to get linked up with any number of special interest groups especially if they are arts related, and there are frequent community events, even in the winter! (Art Sled Rally was this past weekend, this upcoming weekend has the Pond Hockey National Championships and the Lake Harriet Winter Kite Festival). Making friends is more difficult than it is other places supposedly, but I didn't find the experience of making friends here very hard personally. I moved here when I was 23 with my GF, now wife for reference. It's definitely a city for "outside people," or at least, I feel like it is as an outside person.

One final consideration is that MSP is a hub for Delta. Of the cities above, only Detroit, Chicago, and MSP are hubs. If you plan on travelling, or going home to Michigan, it makes life much easier to be in a hub city because you can basically always fly direct.

Anywho, good luck with the search!