Fairweather Duluthian
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8/25/2019
I was about to give Duluth three stars but then I saw three stars means just "okay" and it is more than that to me.
That being said, it probably is more to me because my family and heritage and my whole life has been here. And I love water. I love Lake Superior. If it wasn't for my family, though, I likely would just be visiting home in the summer and fall because, as others have noted, the winters are beyond harsh and painfully long here. It gets depressing. Especially if one doesn't drink, which I don't.
This is such a beautiful area, though, and even in winter. The lake provides some of the most powerful and majestic sites I have seen and never looks the same day to day. Gichigami is more of a sea.
Duluth and the surrounding areas are my heaven in summer. I go all over to different lakes, running, paddleboarding, and swimming. In the beginning of summer, Duluth is still cooler because of the lake (the lake is so big it never quite gets warm), so I venture out of town to enjoy the heat. You can tell when summer is ending because it will switch and Duluth will have warmer temperatures than Cloquet (my hometown). That is the beginning of the end. Fall is beautiful if we get nice weather for it but sometimes it storms. There are a lot of thunderstorms throughout summer and fall in the Northland here. They're nice at night. But these storms take a dark turn in winter months.
Winter is miserable. I hate it. If it wasn't for my family, I would leave just because of winter. I would miss the lakes and loons and summer sunsets but summer is so fleeting here. Too fleeting. It's ending as I write this and it makes me so sad.
As far as anything else (lol you can tell I'm a Minnesotan by my weather obsession), employment here can be a challenge. There's a lot in the medical field but not too much else it seems. Maybe some in education as there are several colleges in the area. But it can be hard to find work and housing costs have risen in recent times. So there are challenges besides the weather.
I think if I were advising someone else, I would say only to move here if you truly love all four seasons, especially winter because it is so long. Otherwise please visit and make sure to do things that aren't just touristy while you're here. Those things are fun and this is kinda a tourist destination in the summer so there is no shortage of things to do, but also travel off the beaten path. One thing I love about here is in the summer, sometimes I'll go paddleboarding on a lake and there's no one else out there. I'll have the entire lake to myself. Then I hear a loon call and nothing in the world could bring me so much peace as that moment and there is nowhere else I would rather be in the world.
Maybe that's what I need to remember in winter.
Allie | Duluth, MN