DULUTH, THE AIR CONDITIONED CITY

check out some of the city's awesome hiking/biking trails, they're f'n everywhere

i need to do more "real" road biking in mn

the path up the shore basically follows the path of 61

oh shit for real?

*googles*

I think it's a rails-to-trails thing, it goes a looong way. Also the path of the Grandma's marathon iirc.

is fitzgers the super old restaurant, like 100 yrs old, that has the mural/border around the tops of the walls that has the cool fox hunting painting all around?

I think that might be the Pickwick, but I am not sure. Fitger's is a hotel/brewery/restaurant/store complex.

We went on a family vacation to Duluth and all we did was sit in our hotel watching Reagan getting shot, etc.

School friend had cabin by Two Harbors, totally gorgeous.

if there was better economic opportunity in Duluth I would srsly consider moving there

great place to watch a president get shot IMO

they have their own branch of Pizza Luce too

hmmm

i thought about doing a rotation up there, just to check it out.

i'm thinking about residency already, and while part of me wants to peace out from MN again and move to either NM or the PacNW, another part is like "fuck it, stay here," and is considering duluth as a possible target

Fitgers is in fact totally awesome! Never would have remembered the name, but its in kind of a biggish complex on the main drag, right? kinda reminded me of a factory tall ceilings etc maybe?

there are a surprising number of hospitals for a town of 80k

welcome to minnesota

oh man so many bizarro awesome things in the vicinity too. Devils cauldron! Magnetic Rock! Eagle Mountain!

it (Fitger's) was originally a brewery, now houses a brewpub + other stuff

full disclosure: my gf works there, for another month or so at least

oh duh, devils kettle, not cauldron

get smoked fishes here

I was thinking of the Pickwick, not Fitzgers...the Pickwick is the super old restaurant...pretty midwest "supper club" food but still it's reaaally cool inside...here's a detail of the stuff around the ceiling I was talking about:

http://countrymouse.blogharbor.com/_photos/Duluth%20Horns%20Pickwick%20Pub.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_C._R._Magney_State_Park#The_Devil.27s_Kettle

more info about devils kettle. hooray for bizarre outdoorsy crap!

magnetic rock:

The trail goes through a burn area over exposed bedrock, then to deep woods and a strange looking monolithic rock with magnetic properties. Under normal circumstances, a glacial erratic (a boulder dropped from a glacial ice sheet) wouldn’t get much attention in Minnesota. They are, after all, just big rocks that you can find almost everywhere, including in people’s front yards. But this one is special, not just for its magnetic properties, but also for its appearance. The rock’s dimensions are 10 by 20 by 30 feet and it is shaped like a big monument that seems to have dropped out of the sky. Multi-colored lichens cover the rock’s surface giving it various shades of yellow and orange. Its magnetism comes from the mineral magnetite, common to the underlying bedrock of the Gunflint Iron Formation. Special attractions: The rock (bring a compass to test out its magnetic properties) and wildlife.

I was going to go to a minor-league baseball game last time I was there (Duluth Huskies, iirc?) but it was rained out. 'Sposed to be a really fun, cheap, drunk (if you want) time.

Also the 2-3 universities in the area lead to a lot of good house shows/small-venue music.

^^^see that's what i assumed? like, city of 85k that is a college town has to be sorta fun, right? though tbh what is there other than UMD?

concordia?

St. Scholastica, I think? and UW-Superior (OK, not actually in Duluth, but cmon)

Soup-town is like Duluth's little brother, that also happens to sell liquor later

every show i've played in duluth w/a band has been really strange and interesting

if you like giganitic mechanical things there are regularly 1000-ft lake freighters to gawk at + a museum made out of a retired ship

xp oh man I wonder if you have played with my gf's band or any of her friends... I've seen some really strange and interesting stuff there too

that reminds me: Homegrown Music Festival in May is a rockin' good time

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/2989273455_effcaa7318_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/3132627578_897e35950d.jpg

ok now note dude in front of rock to establish scale

http://www.ntoddblog.org/photos/minnesota/magneticrocke.jpg

sorry i have become distracted by "weird shit in northern MN that has nothing to do w/duluth itself" ill stop now

neato!

Who is the H.P. Lovecraft of Duluth?

that guy

i've always been curious about the band Father Hennepin, which i think was Starfire's band (the Starfire from the Low song)

idk re lovecraft, but the good old Glensheen Mansion is good for some creepy creepy times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glensheen_Historic_Estate

it is also crazy huge, and pretty well preserved. The furniture (attn museum curator dorks) is almost entirely the original stuff from 1908, not repros.

^^^the whole street that place is on is amazing, big big houses overlooking the lake

I love Duluth. I love being able to walk 4 blocks up a steep, steep grade and feel like I've gotten a good workout. I love the eccentric used bookstore. I love feeling like I'm in 1870s San Francisco. I love the Electric Foetus. I love that rocky, rocky beach just north of the Glensheen Mansion. I could spend hours there. Love it when the water turns rusty from taconite, and when the ice piles up on the shore. Ahhhhahahahhhahhahahh.

Used to go there every summer to visit grandparents and uncles ... iirc Grandma on one occasion had to chase a bear out of her garden (inside the city limits)

was wondering why you weren't on this thread yet tbh eazy

Been busy, but now I'm daydreaming.

When I was in fifth grade, I wrote an 11-page heist drama that ended with a car chase, and the "bad guys" driving toward the Lift Bridge while it was raised, and, Smokey-and-the-Bandit-style, splashing into Lake Superior.

http://image66.webshots.com/666/7/5/98/2658705980027605543BIhNqg_ph.jpg

stupid broken image

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9524/lastplaceonearth.jpg

Haha, yes, that's my impression of downtown Duluth, on that stretch near the casino.

oh yeah the crazy multibuilding bookstore is kinda unhinged and insane

i really need to get back up there soon

~road trip~

Was just up there this past weekend, Wisconsin Point on the Superior side is a great beach but the lake is SO. FUCKING. COLD. I could take about 2 min before I had to get out and warm up + my lips looked a little blue.

i saw zak sally at the downtown minneapolis government center today

Haven't been to Duluth in too long. :(

Welp, solved that, currently eating Pizza Luce and drinking Bent Paddle. This town never fails.

Nice

love me some duluth

http://www.citypages.com/news/watch-this-gnarly-1000-ft-freighter-whip-a-sick-360-in-duluth-video/461837323

excellent

Nice digs for only $1.2 mil

http://www.startribune.com/ultra-modern-1-2m-home-by-minnesota-s-most-renowned-architect-overlooks-lake-superior/475287433/#8

Second fire, larger than first, now raging at Superior refinery: https://t.co/FFWfm1sT7G

— John Myers (@newsduluth) April 26, 2018

holy shit

holy shit

"Now that working from home is widely accepted, more and more people are choosing where that home should be. For some people, that means places they feel are safer from the impacts of climate change, including Duluth."

https://www.marketplace.org/2022/01/28/how-much-is-climate-a-factor-in-where-people-are-moving/

don't have much to add about duluth but want to chime in that i did the MS150 once, which starts in cloquet. the night prior to the ride i found an attempt at a tourism brochure for cloquet, and the front featured a picture of the lift bridge, and read 'close to duluth... yet far enough away!'

apologies, it was not cloquet. it was proctor

i guess i do have duluth related insights, my dad grew up there, and his father worked on the railroad in proctor, which sounds like basically an alien existence to me. i never knew my grandpa particularly well and most of the memories i have of him were being scared of him. anyway, when he retired, with no musical background he ended up buying some kind of electric organ. after he passed and they were cleaning out his belongings, someone found a cassette tape he'd made. it opened with his creaky old voice announcing 'this... is my music...'. followed by ten to fifteen minutes of straight up drone music. i know i've heard this tape once, i know someone has it somewhere. i really really need to find and acquire this recording of grandfather folk-drone

xxp
Doesn't matter how hot it gets in Duluth, it's air-conditioned!

It's hard for me to equate 'climate refugees' with current tech workers who probably make their own keffir

lol

Awesome Final Jeopardy answer today. All 3 contestants got it WRONG. 2 guessed Green Bay, and the other Minneapolis. Not bad guesses, but no. pic.twitter.com/GxtC7zk6Nv

— Bruce McGuire (@dunord) February 15, 2022

I disagree btw, Minneapolis is a bad guess

yeah who the hell thinks minneapolis is on the great lakes?

that said i don't think i would have gotten it right.

I got my first vaccine shot last March in Duluth (no MN residency required) and explored the city for the first time in 15-20 years. Had no idea about the cool distillery/BBQ/taproom district that had sprung up since then.

Yeah the west side of town is on the come up for sure.

anyone know what the deal is with the Cargills buying up property on park point

they are billionaires and terrible people who are going to build some ugly shit hole compound is the sense I get

like are they buying the whole thing, it's nuts

Similar to the Monaco real estate guy buying up more than 13 properties in Carmel, CA.

I think I've only driven around Park Point, usually just to the end and then turning around, maybe gone to the beach there once.

My wife is running the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth in June. We've never been. We're staying in the Lincoln Park area. Any current recommendations for dining? Looking for something casual and comfortable for Saturday night after the marathon. Breweries/Brewpubs with good food would work for this or at other times as well.

I'm also going back through the thread. I am way more excited than I was originally seeing all the enthusiasm for the city. Thanks in advance.

Fellow Brit I bumped into here in Rochester MN sent me some recommendations he'd given some friends, if we were ever up Duluth way too. Dunno if it's any use but it's what I have.

https://www.vabenecaffe.com/
https://northernwaterssmokehaus.com
https://www.bettyspies.com/
https://fitgers.com/restaurants-nightlife/

Va Bene is great, and hanging right over the lake. New Scenic Cafe is fantastic, but a little ways north up Highway 61. Duluth Grill is just south of town and nearly a mandatory stop for our family when we're heading that way. Love Fitgers for the old school vibe.

Thanks for the recommendations. Looks like some fun places. For Fitgers, which restaurant do you recommend?