Minnesota in the Summer

[Rb0891]

Wife is looking to finalize summer vacation plans for next year. She pulled out a Minnesota on me after I was gone all weekend. She was looking at visiting the Brainerd area and hitting the Duluth area. I have kids 11 and 13. They like the normal kids stuff, maybe do a day of fishing somewhere, but mostly some swimming, easy biking/hiking, etc... Anyone have thoughts on these two areas or any other suggestions? I have only been to the Minneapolis area a few times on work pre-Floyd.

 

[Klaus]

The farther north the better. Brainerd Nisswa has gotten too busy in my opinion.

Ideas
Ely. Wolf Center is DOPE.

Duluth. Great Lakes aquarium, Lake Trout fishing, drive up north shore to Ludsen or beyond, boat ride to isle royale, glenshein mansion

lake vermillion musky fishing

Iron range mine tour, atv/side by side trail riding

 

[Bdubbs]

I'm in southern Minnesota. Like mentioned, the further north the better. It's night and day difference.

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[Tractorman]

Damn, if you would have said Wisconsin I could set you up at our lake house AirBnB. Nice lake, good fishing, really enjoyable time for kids that age.

 

[VenomousDSG]

Stay out of the Minneapolis area, god what a shithole.

+186000 on the further north the better recommendations.

 

[Bdubbs]

Stay out of the Minneapolis area, god what a shithole.

+186000 on the further north the better recommendations.

I've said this for a while. I might be going to a concert at the end of the month in Minneapolis....

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[astrocreep96]

My grandmother was raised in Wolf Lake, Minnesota. Since her family is from there, we have family reunions every ~7 years or so in northern Minnesota. Look for areas near Park Rapids, in the summer it is a magical place. Park Rapids itself is an awesome small town - midwest Americana all the way. This year we stayed at Long Lake, at our previous reunion we stayed at Potato Lake. If we lived closer, I would buy a Minnesota lake house in a heart-beat.

 

[Rb0891]

Thanks for the input all. Just got back. Spent a day in Duluth, 4 days in Tofte (Two harbors, Lutsen, Grand Marais) and a couple days in Brainerd/Nisswa. Everyone was right, Duluth and further north was awesome. Brainerd was nice but imo similar to any experience I could get in IN or MI. Plus it was hot as hell when we were down there. Boobies were bigger and more exposed in Brainerd.

Minneapolis seemed a lot bigger than I had remembered. Jesus I felt like I was driving through suburbs for 2 hours.

Lake Superior coast is likely a do it again - didnt do fishing up there...

 

[Bdubbs]

Northern Minnesota is beautiful, unfortunately I live in southern Minnesota....

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[Klaus]

Thanks for the input all. Just got back. Spent a day in Duluth, 4 days in Tofte (Two harbors, Lutsen, Grand Marais) and a couple days in Brainerd/Nisswa. Everyone was right, Duluth and further north was awesome. Brainerd was nice but imo similar to any experience I could get in IN or MI. Plus it was hot as hell when we were down there. Boobies were bigger and more exposed in Brainerd.

Minneapolis seemed a lot bigger than I had remembered. Jesus I felt like I was driving through suburbs for 2 hours.

Lake Superior coast is likely a do it again - didnt do fishing up there...

Glad you made it up here and especially to Northern Minnesota. It is a very special place, let me riff for a bit.

Duluth is the port city to Superior, and the rest of the great lakes, the St Lawrence seaway and beyond. Coal comes east from Montana and taconite comes from the "Iron Range" a/k/a "the Range" of Minnesota and is put on a boat in Duluth. The world was built with this taconite and heated with the coal that went with it.

There are two things to do in this region of the country: mine ore and play hockey. The hockey talent is unlike anything in the rest of the world. The "Miracle on Ice" team was essentially a pick up range high school squad. It is more pronounced when you think of how small these towns are. Thief River Falls, Hibbing, Virginia, etc. are all <5K people. There has never been a US Olympic hockey team without someone from Virginia, MN. If you are a hockey fan and want an AMAZING experience, come back for the state high school tournament. It is incredible.

Given the location and economy, it is very insular. The people from the range are mostly Scandinavians that settled at the turn of the century. The accents there can still be very strong and it is not unheard of to find older Scandinavians that speak pigeon English. I liken it to the Bayou of Louisiana but with Scandinavians instead of French.

That said, there is something special about the people on the range. They are known to be extremely smart, hard working, optimistic. They really are unique.

The area also has wild Scandinavian style politics. They HATE the national democrats but love the DFL (these are MN democrats, it is too complicated to get into). The three most important issues are health care (single payer), tarriffs (pro), abortion (anti), and guns (pro). In the last election that area went 70% for Trump and 70% for Kloubachar. Democrats will fight over Republicans over how much they hate Pelosi. It is really entertaining.

 

[Lambeau]

Thanks for the input all. Just got back. Spent a day in Duluth, 4 days in Tofte (Two harbors, Lutsen, Grand Marais) and a couple days in Brainerd/Nisswa. Everyone was right, Duluth and further north was awesome. Brainerd was nice but imo similar to any experience I could get in IN or MI. Plus it was hot as hell when we were down there. Boobies were bigger and more exposed in Brainerd.

Minneapolis seemed a lot bigger than I had remembered. Jesus I felt like I was driving through suburbs for 2 hours.

Lake Superior coast is likely a do it again - didnt do fishing up there...

- Eat any pasties?
- Pick-up any wild rice?
- See any Moose?
- Stop at BIR (Brainerd International Raceway)?
NHRA always races there in early August.
- Did ya stop in D'luth to talk to D'lores and D'bbie on yer way up to D'range? lol

If not, those are a few reasons to stop back.