Minnesota On My Mind

I can't really say why, but I have been thinking about Grand Marais, North House, and the beautiful people of the northern midwest lately.  I miss having a little cabin all to myself and the far north mentality (and the lake superior tattoos everyone has).  It's odd.  I was only there for a couple weeks, but the place made a big impression on me, and I would really like to go back.

From my journal Friday, Nov 14, 2008

I have only been here three days, but I already have a sense of belonging and friendship.  This is a truly welcoming place, and I don't think it's as simple as an acclimatization to tourists... Dre says it is because I am in 'the real midwest' now.  She may be right.

 Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008

I spent the day with a lovely woman, who took me on a hike.  We did about 6 miles of the Superior Trail, which runs about 300 miles from Duluth to Canada...  I learned that she and her husband used to be competitive sled dog mushers! ... [After the hike] I stayed for dinner, tea and knitting by the fire with an old sled dog at my feet. 

Day by day, I learn more about the importance of art in the culture of this community.  I also learn of the creative abilities of people I've met.  Children's book writers, painters, musicians, wood workers, fiber artists... It's abundant.  I even learned that a guy I met is an arctic explorer!  I didn't even know there were explorers anymore!

It was a time of realizations.  From that same entry:

I am telling people that I am going to UVM for ecological econ.  I think I am.  Feeling more confident all the time.

Yes, it was definitely good times:

Today: college research, soup for lunch!, industrial scale cornbread baking, desk manning, cookie eating!, contra dancing!, live music, movie, popcorn (not simultaneously), amazing view of Orion's Belt, toast right before bed.

Now that I have been reading the ol' journal a bit, I think maybe the reason that I have been thinking about MN is because there are certainly some similarities here.  People have a strong sense of place, there is that northern air feel, I am meeting a lot of welcoming people...  If only I lived in a cabin, one of my most enduring life goals.  Clearly it will happen someday...