A traffic jam in Duluth is 6 cars.  My boys go to the beach almost everyday in the summer.  That beach is 7 miles long.

I hike a trail filled with waterfalls to my work everyday and a co-op, my workplace, groceries, organic bakery all are within walking distance. 

Plus I can see five miles of the largest lake in the world and a beautiful sky with twinkling city lights below. This is all from a  really decent house which I got for 150,000 in a good neighborhood where people know each other. 

Last but not least, you can get good beer delivered to your door!

If you guys are a little crunchy and know how to bundle up and wear some ice cleats + you enjoy some skiing in the winter, then Duluth can be paradise found for you and your girlfriend.

Great place to raise a family. My kid is involved in local theatre and has opportunities there I never dreamed of. Good restaurants. GREAT arts scene with world class talent doing their thing here, and it's intimate enough, I go to art openings or readings, i am sure to run into friends, so it becomes a party. Parks, trails, ski hill in town, nature everywhere you look. 

It is small enough, you can get involved in the community, and feel as if you are having an impact. Like my group thought we would start up a poet laureate program, voila, we did, it was even mentioned in USA Today and we are still at it. 

I know my mayor and city councilors, and even a few school board members. I even know my US Senators from Minny, how cool is that? 

My NYC friends think I am too cool for living in Duluth, and it's always a great ice-breaker at parties with them. Makes me stand out from the crowd.

The only thing that sucks for me is the airport stinks and air fares out of Duluth are ridiculous.

This is a difficult question to answer mid-January.

You start by doing this in the summer or during a warm winter!

:P

lake superior. sandy beaches. rocky shoreline. amazing hiking that's accessible everywhere. beautiful trees of birch, pine, maple, oak, etc. forests. great parks. cross-country ski trails. snowshoeing. rivers. the lake walk. lighthouses. bridges. snowmobiling. fishing. great people. it's cozy and nice. much diversity. good restaurants. great art & music scene. awesome community. brewhouse. canal park and great shops. 4 amazingly beautiful and very distinct seasons. movies in the park. theatre. light traffic. people that smile. duluth is a wonderful place to live and a wonderful place to call home. I can't wait to raise my family here.. this place just keeps getting better & better. I love the progressiveness and the love fellow duluthians have for this rad town! I highly recommend checking it out.

Duluth is a great place to live if you can make a living

In no particular order:
4 seasons
Lake Superior
kayaking, climbing, snowboarding, surfing and mountain biking 
Fitger's Brewhouse beer
the eclectic cast of characters that live in our community
diverse local music scene
dog and kid friendly
reasonably good food for a town of this size

Wow! Thanks for all (most) the great comments. We do know and love Duluth, Superior and the North Shore. I grew up in Souptown and would LOVE to move back to the area (after years in the Cities and in Colorado). I wanted her to get some perspective from you guys-the locals. The thing that strikes me the most is a real love of the place comes out in your comments. It's what I also feel when I'm in town-even though I haven't called the Twin Ports home since '94.
Thanks a bunch, and I know it would be a pleasure to have all of you as my neighbors. Now, just gotta find a couple of jobs...

From what I have noticed, women, unless they were born here, don't like living in Duluth.

Oh my god I loved reading these comments. I'm going to read them again later. I don't even need to post all of my reasons because they're all up there. Niiiice!

Born here, moved to the suburbs in the Twin Cities at 5, returned at 11 and can't leave. Lived a short time north but grew sad and returned to the big Lake Superior. I live a two minute walk from the shores of the magnificent emerald eyed beauty.
The lake keeps me peaceful and honest.  
Duluth is full of lake lovers and the ripple effect of the love is good people!
After all the wonderful things the PDD community has shared, how can your girlfriend NOT want to live here. I'll bet someone would even open their home for you both to visit.

A friend says Duluth is full of men who love it and the women who love them, but I think I like Duluth more than my fella does. We've lived all over the country in big cities and a very small town and like it best here.

What's great about Duluth:

You never wait in a long line anywhere. You're never stuck in traffic. 

You don't see as many people toddling around in thin shoes and pea coats complaining about the cold as you do in, say, the Chicago suburbs. 

Five fantastic city cross-country ski trails, beautifully groomed.

Some terrific road and mountain biking. 

A handful of cool restaurants and a very good co-op.

What's not great about Duluth:

There's not much ethnic diversity. 

Drivers are still hostile to bikes, and the streets are in poor repair. 

Spring is long and cold. We're often forced to have the heat on in June.

Although there are lots of colleges, there's no cool college district with restaurants, bars, and shops. 

There's no bakery where you can get crusty, chewy bread or interesting pastries. Just small town doughnut stuff and soft breads. Maybe you and your girlfriend could open one.

I moved here three years ago but have loved Duluth since I was a kid, so this is a dream come true for me.  

*I want to mention the clean and lovely smell of the big lake, and the photography opportunities in every season.  
*Looking out a window or leaning over the rail in Canal Park to see a ship going by, knowing it may have people from way distant places on board is very romantic. 
*The ice formations are totally beyond description--whether they are dripping off the walls in Ely's Peak Tunnel, or making a 12' blue jumble at Brighton Beach.  
*Three major colleges and other smaller schools offer just about any course you could ever want. 
*The view driving down from Thompson Hill at 2AM with a full moon shining on the lake takes your breath away. 

Good luck finding work, that is the biggest downside---and check out the condition of your street before you buy a house ... assessments are very expensive.

I've only lived in Duluth for a year, and had never even set foot in Minnesota before moving here, so I'm kind of excited to weigh in.  My two favorite things:

1.  Most people who live here love it.  The three other cities in which I've lived seemed to have a large portion of their populations who spent a lot of time trash talking the town, or thinking about how much they wanted to leave. Not so in Duluth.  It feels really good to be around people who are committed to being here.  If folks want to leave, they go.

2.  I'm crazy about the weather.

Hi there.  I am a small business owner in Duluth, and also a woman.  It was a difficult change for me to get accustomed to Duluth, I won't deny that.  My husband loved it from the start.  It has grown on me now, and when I go back to the Twin Cities, it feels too big- not like home.

The cool things I like about Duluth:  
*The co-op with all it's flavor of people there & classes & interesting tags on the bulletin board.
*There are a lot of people interested in alternative energy and conservation.
*Different festivals around the city.
*The people are more real.  This is a statement I didn't understand until I moved here.  They just are.  Not so much bullsh**.
*People DO dress like they are ready to go hiking/mountain biking/cross-country skiing at any given moment. I have to admit this threw me off....but I quickly got into the groove.
*I've found a nice crowd of international students here in Duluth.
*I met a stranger who was helping a lady carry a big box up three blocks to her apartment...a total stranger out of the goodness of his heart.  She was struggling and he wanted to help her.  Very cool.
*Duluth has great local/& family-owned businesses.  Here are a few examples:  
- Alakef is the best coffee I've ever had. www.alakef.com  
-We have our own brewery.
http://mnbeer.com/2009/12/19/lake-superior-oktoberfest-takes-gold-at-world-beer-championships/  Lake Superior Oktoberfest lager beer won the gold prize in a World Beer Championship.  How cool is that?
-There is a Great Harvest Bakery. (Someone mentioned that they couldn't find a bakery.)  3 S 13th Avenue East (Downtown Duluth)
-There is an excellent Italian restaurant called Valentini's. www.valentinisduluth.com
-There is an Indian food restaurant downtown, along with a Greek Cafe.  Nice change of pace from the usual.
-There's another cool/odd place called Burrito Union. www.burritounion.com
-And there are LOTS more small companies that put their heart and souls into making a business for people in Duluth to be proud of...this was just a few.
MORE REASONS
-Dubh Linn Irish Pub has stand-up comedy on Saturday evenings.
-Midget wrestling this Friday. (I saw someone posted it, but I have to post it again.:)
-January 14th the good ol' Gallagher will be at Grandma's Sports Garden.
-Larry the Cable Guy is coming to the DECC in March.
-NOT TO MENTION the huge event of Grandma's Marathon, where people come from all over the world to be here.
-We've got two huge hospitals with excellent staff.
-We've got great colleges & universities here.
-We've got an international airport, so you can fly right out of Duluth.
-Not to mention all the outdoor activities that you could be doing all year long...at so many different State and National parks nearby.

The bad:
-Life is slower here.  It's only bad until you get used to it. Not everyone has a cell phone. (to my horror at first!) Not everyone is texting or scheduling their next event...or on 15 minutes schedules.
-You might even get to know your banker or the lady who serves you coffee in the morning, or your mailman!  When they ask how you are doing, they actually mean it.

Believe me, it was painful at first to let go of the frantic pace I had set myself at in the Twin Cities.  But, then I let out a breath and realized... it's actually nice.

I hope that helps the decision.

My neighborhood in Duluth is the best, b/c Chester Creek Cafe is down the street, and it's like Cheers there for me and my family. We go there and everyone knows our names. And the food is as fabulous as the ambiance. The owners also really give *a lot* back to the community. I just love the place.

No, it's Prius, Yorkie-Pomeranian mix and bulletin board.

A slowly dying old Chevy, a wiener dog, and a wildly successful podcast?

What Vicarious said -- though I do like Bellisio's bar, it's cozy.

I agree with a lot of what people have said above. I also like KUMD (especially the morning Coffee Break), and the birdwatching at Hawk Ridge in the fall.

Living in Duluth is the next best thing to killing yourself.

Kay - Speaking as a girlfriend who HAS been basically convinced to move to Duluth in the next year - How IS the job situation looking?  I am a very successful massage therapist who has managed to develop a solid practice in both Denver and Madison.  The prospect of the job market and smaller population in Duluth is a bit intimidating.  Thoughts?

I think Ann is right.  Very good advice.

Melanie:  This is completely me nosing in and speculating on appearances since I am not in the business.  But I would do some actual market research on massage therapy in this area if I were you.  I do not know if the market IS saturated or not, but it COULD be.  Both Lake Superior College and Duluth Business University are churning out a new pack of massage therapists every year.  Many start up their own businesses alone or with friends upon graduation.  Then again, in my business I have always been able to line up some gigs based on reputation and experience alone(even when I don't necessarily want them).  So if you're good, you're probably gonna be good here, too, regardless of market conditions.

Great Harvest, Third Street, Johnson's Bakery and others have delicious things. They're good bakeries. They don't have artisan bread -- chewy, crusty, European-style bread. Pain au levain, real baguettes, country sourdough. These are not available at any bakery I know of in Duluth, and it's not the same to get them in a bag two days old at the grocery store. The closest place I'm aware of for artisan bread and real croissants is Ashland Baking Company. If anyone knows different, please do tell.

Interesting thread. I convinced my husband to move here about a year ago. We're both happy to call Duluth home. 

I agree with bluenewt - no artisan bread that I can find either. That and the bad roads are the only negatives for me.

My favorite thing? The balance of "city" and "country". I live in town, within walking distance of schools, businesses and bus stops, yet I feel as though I live in the wilderness. Deer hang out in my yard, the air is clear, the view is beautiful.

I love that several people mentioned the northland fashion phenomena. My heels are still sitting in moving boxes, while my fleece is getting worn regularly. But, unlike other places I've lived, I don't feel frumpy. There's an outdoor chic that Duluthians have mastered. Function triumphs over form, but you can still look decent sporting a down coat and big boots (maybe because it imparts an air of confidence that you can comfortably weather the cold...?)

If your lady enjoys outdoor activities, she'll like it here.

"Follow the dream" doesn't mean "Leave the love."

Roam if you must, but come home when you've seen enough.

I moved here a few months ago and have no idea where to go to meet people.  I'm not into skiing, art or coffee.  I have limited funds due to working in the human service field, and can't afford a lot of the restaurants.  Any other ideas on how to meet people?  I'm tired of hanging by myself every weekend!  Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Good point Paul, I said what I wasn't into because of all of the responses above.  I enjoy going for leisurely walks, watching movies and meeting people.  I love Lake Superior.  I enjoy reading and dogs (but don't have one of my own yet).  I'm sure there is more, but can't think of more at this time.

Wendy, I'd suggest volunteering for something. Given your love of dogs, maybe Animal Allies? Also, since you enjoy reading, you might ask if one of the bookstores in town can put you in touch with a book group. And the Duluth library takes volunteers. Taking a class is a great way to meet people, too. Community ed classes are not expensive. 

Good luck!

Wendy: Since you like walking I would suggest you take part in some of the Superior Hiking Trail activities.  Access their website at SHTA.org.  We have an event coming up on June 5th at Hartley Nature Center off of Woodland Ave for National Trails Day.  There will be guided hikes and a family hike and booths.  Chance to meet lots of people there.  Things start at 9AM and the hikes/walks start at 9:45.  I also saw that Animal Allies is having something that day, so if you are into pets that is a good place to meet people.

Northern Lights is an independent book store and has in-store book groups:

http://www.norlights.com/