Paul Lundgren
Happy sixth birthday to us
Perfect Duluth Day is six years old today! The photos above are from the first year.
Stop by the Wine Bar at Chester Creek Cafe tonight and raise a toast to PDD. We’ll be there from 9ish to 10ish. Door prize: Two tickets to Suzanne Vega at Big Top Chautauqua on Aug. 29.
Stewart Creek Railroad Bridge on DWP Trail in Duluth
What’s your favorite rickety old bridge in Duluth? Mine is called “Ass Bridge.” At least, that’s what I call it, for reasons that will become obvious if you read on. It’s an old railroad bridge over Stewart Creek in western Duluth. The northeastern side of the bridge is in the Riverside neighborhood, the southwestern side is in the Smithville neighborhood. (more…)
Snow in June
Dandelion snow or cottonwood seeds or willow dust or something.
From the Ripsaw Archive | June 1999
Ten years ago, cartoonist Israel Malachi poked fun at Duluth City Councilor Marcia Hales for pushing an ordinance that made it a ticketable offense to play a car stereo loud enough to be heard 50 feet away. (more…)
“Kiss Off” from the Free Range Film Festival Players
Directed by local hero Mike Scholtz for the Minneapolis 48 Hour Film Project. Featuring a cameo by Minnesota State Representative Roger Reinert.
Speaking of Anniversaries …
It’s been one year since Starfire’s 100 Pushup Challenge. Did anyone make it? I’m still stuck on week four of the workout. Six weeks? Yeah, right!
PDD Birthday Party | Monday, June 29
Perfect Duluth Day is turning 6 years old next Monday. Topic for discussion in the comments: Is there any less significant anniversary than the sixth?
Significant or not, we’ve decided to meet for cocktails and whatnot. So join us at Chester Creek Cafe’s Wine Bar next Monday, June 29, from 9 to 10 p.m.
Historical Link Action
First two PDD posts
PDD shows “The Big Lebowski” at Sailboat Park to mark its first b-day
“Happy Birthday” is sung on PDD’s second b-day
PDD turns 3; August turns 7
… and then we took a two-year break from tooting our own horn
… and now TOOT! TOOT!
Chris Raabe wins Grandma’s Marathon
Here’s Chris Raabe with a half-mile lead passing Ironic1’s house. He’s the first Minnesotan since Dick Beardsley to win Grandma’s Marathon! Yowza! It was a hot one out there.
Rolling Ruts: Inexpensive Golf Just Outside Duluth
If you aren’t particularly good at, or enthusiastic about, golf it’s hard to justify paying about $17 for nine holes, plus another $9 to rent clubs (especially if you’re paying for the whole family.)
Rolling Ruts offers the answer to casual golfers’ prayers. It’s basically free. (more…)
Duluth Party on Madeline Island 2009
Isolate the hole, people. Isolate the hole. (more…)
Where in Duluth?
… is this?
Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps
Performing at Beaner’s Central on Friday, June 12, at 8 p.m.
Listen to songs from their debut album Backyard Tent Set at https://www.myspace.com/carolinesmithmusic.
(I particularly dig the track “Clinch My Teeth.”)
Last seen alive at 4 p.m.
The dog in the shadow somehow made it’s way onto I-35 in West Duluth today. I saw it when traffic stopped on the Grand Avenue onramp, where drivers waited patiently for it to merrily prance by.
I think some people wanted to get out and try to rescue the dog, but it seemed like a dangerous thing to attempt. The dog got to the bottom of the onramp safely and continued on its way. It could be anywhere by now. I’m sure whereever it is and whatever danger it’s in, it still has its tongue hanging out and its tail obliviously wagging as if so much fun has never been had.
(In case the owner is reading: If you’re still looking for Rover/Scrappy/ Whatever, I recommend the Irving area. Sorry I couldn’t get a better description or photo, my camera is slow and I had to watch traffic.)
Large-flowered trilliums
Have you noticed these suckers are everywhere this spring?
I must see eight dozen wild flowers for every tick I pluck off my socks. Not a bad ratio.
Straight Lake State Park
If you ever wanted to see a state park before it’s a state park, here’s your chance. Straight Lake State Park is about two and a half hours away from Duluth, near Luck, Wisconsin.
It is, legally, already a state park, but don’t look for big brown road signs to help you find it. The tiny yellow marker pictured above is all I found. (And when I asked people at a convenience store a few miles away for directions, the best advice I could get was “try asking at the library.”)
There’s an old ATV trail that runs through it (can’t drive those in there anymore) but otherwise there are not really any established trails, maps, parking spots, campsites, ranger stations, etc. (There are little flags here and there that show where some of those things might go some day.)
It is quite a nice lake, so I do recommend it. I wouldn’t say you should drive the 120+ miles from Duluth for this single purpose, but if you’re in the area, check it out.
Open Letter
Dear manufacturers of pretty much every electronics product,
Thank you so much for including a plastic sleeve for the owner’s manual. It would truly be a shame if such an important document as an owner’s manual were to ever be damaged by dust or spilled liquids during the two minutes between it coming out of the box and getting jammed into a file cabinet.
The ratings experiment is over
For two weeks, Perfect Duluth Day experimented with rating systems for posts (five-star system and thumbs up/down). As you might have already noticed, the ratings have now been removed.
An initial poll showed readers either thought this was a great idea or terrible idea. (The results were pretty evenly split, but slightly leaned in favor of great idea). In practice, however, the ratings didn’t prove useful and interest in them quickly plummeted. In the end, only a handful of people bothered with them.
So now they are gone, perhaps to return another day when a better system can be figured out, or perhaps never to be considered again (except maybe in the comments to this post).
Big Top songwriting contest
Heads up to local musicians:
Big Top Chautauqua is holding another songwriting competition. The long version of the details is on the “Celebration of Song” page of www.BigTop.org (scroll about halfway down the page).
The short version is, you submit two original songs by June 19. Finalists perform on the Big Top stage August 27 and have a shot at airplay on Tent Show Radio, a $100 cash prize and a chance to play a two-song set opening for Suzanne Vega.
Liquor Store Math
The Next Level column in this week’s Transistor answers an important question for Duluthians:
Is it worth driving to Superior to save money on off-sale alcohol?
Go Sit on a Wall photo contest winner
Congratulations to Beverly Godfrey, who submitted this winning photo of her children in PDD’s “Go Sit on a Wall” contest. Thanks to all who participated.
Rubber Chicken Theater‘s production of “Humpty Dumpty” opens tonight.