Note: Please do not use trails if they are wet from today’s thunderstorm. See the link at the end of the post for info on trail work days.
There are a lot of trails open and ready for use, but some are still badly damaged. Here’s the latest report from Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Dept.:
Have you ever seen someone hang glide in Duluth?
I think I did once, but it might just be a weird dream I had back when I was kid. What I remember is that I was at the Little League baseball end-of-season carnival/Olympics, or whatever it was, at Wheeler Fields. It would have been about 1984. I think I saw some guy launch off the hillside where “The Wall” is on Skyline Drive, and then land on one of the baseball fields at Wheeler.
Is hang gliding just a dying sport in general, or is there something about Duluth — maybe the lake winds are too unpredictable and strong or the hills aren’t high enough to produce a good “ridge lift” or whatever — that makes hang gliding here rare or impossible?
And whatever happened to the guy with the hot-air balloon?
If you have a button to add, upload it to the comments. It’s one of the nice things about the Internet — we can all have a button collection without having to have a button collection.
Cheer Up Poems
Here Not Up There
Wire Heart
Sara Softich
Pipe Dream
Available on CD Baby
Centerville All Stars
Not Dead Yet
Info from Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division:
– The COGGS mountain-biking trails are not open due to wet conditions. It is possible the trails will be open next week.
– Kingsbury Trail is closed.
– Western Waterfront Trail is passable. Hikers are asked to use caution.
– The Lakewalk is repaired and open to the public.
– Chester Trail is closed
– Lester Ski Trail is currently being surveyed for damage. Use with caution.
– Hartley Trail is open.
– Lincoln Trail is closed.
– Superior Hiking Trail can only be summed up section-by-section …
Perfect Duluth Day is nine years old today – Friday, June 29, 2012. We’ll be celebrating tonight at Tycoons Alehouse and Eatery (in the board room upstairs) starting at 8 p.m. There will be cake and an array of door prizes. Come on out and share in the merriment.
PDD Calendar entry | Facebook invite
What started as a fun little experiment for Barrett Chase and Scott “Starfire” Lunt in 2003 has grown into a hideous beast containing well over 10,000 posts about everything from wood ticks to roller derby. Thanks for all the support, whether you are a PDD user, lurker or just someone searching Google for karaoke photos.
The “Grand Cliffs Salon” lettering was hung last night. I didn’t have time to stop and ask questions, but apparently the Clifford Johnson legacy will continue in some form.
On almost every point, Superior suffers by comparison. Duluth has 90,000 inhabitants; Superior has 30,000. Duluth has some of the most impressive nineteenth-century architecture in the Midwest; Superior is famous for asphalt shingles and insulbrick. Duluth is known for first-rate medical facilities; Superior has an oil refinery. Duluth has Spirit Mountain and a ski jump; Superior is flat as a turkey platter. Superior is clearly inferior to Duluth, but if you like an underdog, you have to love that town across the harbor. I sure do.
–Barton Sutter, from “Sister City,” an essay in his book Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map
I noticed a lot of broken glass last summer at trail-head parking lots, and last Friday I arrived at the parking lot at 123rd Ave. W. (Ely’s Peak, Munger Trail, Superior Hiking Trail) to meet a few folks who just had their car robbed.
So here’s your reminder to hide your valuables before leaving your vehicle and hitting the trails, unless you’re on a stakeout and plan to finally nab this punk (or these punks) in the act.
Below is the text from an interesting Craiglist ad posted today.
You left me… – w4m (Downtown Duluth)
Date: 2012-06-05, 2:49PMMe: Fedora laying in the garden of the Plaza on the corner of 5th Avenue West and Superior Street.
You: Wandering around with an outfit that is probably a mess without me. YOU HEARD ME. You’re a MESS without me.
According to the latest poll by Public Policy Polling, Minnesotans continue to be in strong support of allowing liquor stores to open on Sundays.
Do you support or oppose allowing Sunday liquor sales?
Support …… 59%
Oppose ……. 27%
Not sure ….. 14%
There’s a bipartisan consensus on the issue with Democrats supporting it 61/22, Republicans 46/38, and independents 68/23. The only group that doesn’t support it is elected officials.
“Duluth’s youthful chief executive is bringing fresh energy and, yes, a sense of hipness to the port city.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Duluth’s Mayor Ness: Cooler by the lake“
Gordie’s Place is in Little Canada, a suburb of the Twin Cities. This happened last night; the driver wasn’t drunk, but apparently had a “diabetic reaction” and lost control of his truck. Two patrons were injured.
