Photos Posts

PDD Geoguessr #10: Northern Minnesota in Atlas Obscura

Jan 21, 2024 No Comments

Devil’s Kettle, a location featured in Atlas Obscura. Photo by the author.

This challenge provides the opportunity to go on a road trip without leaving the warmth of your house. Billing itself as “the definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders,” the website Atlas Obscura lists user-supplied travel destinations that the standard guidebooks usually omit. The site focuses in particular on unusual museums, folk art, natural wonders and memorials to otherwise forgotten history.

Read More


Photos

PDD Geoguessr Challenge #9: Duluth, Georgia

Jan 07, 2024 No Comments

References to Duluth in the media are a regular feature on Perfect Duluth Day. But for every reference that does not include the state name, many are left with a lingering doubt about whether the reference is really about Duluth, Minnesota, or Duluth, Georgia, a city outside of Atlanta with about one third of the Minnesota city’s population.

Read More


Photos

The Lark of Duluth in Flight

Jan 01, 2024 5 Comments

It was 110 years ago today that the first commercial air-ship line took its inaugural flight. The Lark of Duluth didn’t lift off from Duluth that day, however. Tony and Roger Jannus brought the small hydro-aeroplane to St. Petersburg, Fla. by rail with the mission to develop the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. The Lark arrived there on Dec. 31, 1913, and the inaugural flight was on Jan. 1, 1914.

The photo accompanying this post is presumably not from that historic flight in St. Petersburg, but rather from the previous summer in Duluth.

Read More


History, Photos ,

PDD Geoguessr Challenge #8: Midnight Mass in the Twin Ports

Dec 24, 2023 No Comments

Cropped photo of a Christmas Eve service by Patrick Sweeney CC BY-SA 2.0

As this Sunday Geoguessr challenge is appearing on Christmas Eve, a topical theme seemed appropriate. I thought finding five local churches with midnight services would be a rather simple map to put together. It was not.

Read More


Photos

Superior Street 1963/2023 – Part Two: Change

Dec 06, 2023 2 Comments

The Providence Building, 332 West Superior Street, 11:11 a.m.

The first post in this series looked at locations along Superior Street that have gone largely unchanged over the past 60 years. This set of 10 photos looks at locations where the difference between 1963 and 2023 are a bit more evident. In some cases, that is because of major developments like the Gateway Renewal Program, the Holiday Center, the Skywalk system or the I-35 extension. In other instances, it is simply because at some point the building acquired a new façade.

Read More


History, Photos ,

Superior Street 1963/2023 – Part One: Continuity

Dec 05, 2023 4 Comments

In 1963 an unknown photographer systematically photographed Superior Street, capturing downtown buildings and businesses on both sides. Ninety-five of these images have been preserved on the Minnesota Reflections website.

Read More


History, Photos ,

PDD Geoguessr Challenge #7: Downtown on the Iron Range

Dec 03, 2023 No Comments

W.F. Cannon (USGS)

As enough people played the original Geoguessr challenge series of six games for it to continue as a regular series, new Geoguessr challenges will now appear twice a month on Sundays, at least for the time being, so if you have any ideas for what you might like to see in the future, please share in the comments. As always, an overview of how the game is played appears at the end of this post.

Read More


Photos ,

PDD Geoguessr Challenges #5 and #6: Bookstores and Hidden Landmarks

Nov 22, 2023 2 Comments

PDD Geoguessr Challenge #5: Independent Booksellers of Northern Minnesota

When the days get shorter and the nights get colder, curling up on the couch with a good book becomes one of the best ways to spend an afternoon. But first you have to find yourself a good book. This GeoGuessr Challenge is all about independent bookstores in Northern Minnesota. And for the purposes of this challenge, Northern Minnesota is any city or town at or above Highway 2.

Read More


Photos

Aquaman enjoying brunch ambiance at the Pizza Luce bar

Nov 19, 2023 No Comments

 

Bloody Mary: 10/10


Photos ,

PDD Geoguessr Challenges #3 and #4: North Shore State Parks and Duluth Neighborhoods

Nov 17, 2023 No Comments

If you missed the post introducing PDD Geoguessr Challenges, the concept and rules are summarized at the end of this post. That first post had links for two somewhat standard challenges. In this second post, the challenges get a little bit more complicated just to show the different ways Geoguessr games can work.

Read More


Photos ,

Introducing Perfect Duluth Day Geoguessr Challenges

Nov 16, 2023 No Comments

GeoGuessr is an online game that challenges people to locate specific places in the world based on the environmental cues of Streetview. The mechanics are rather simple — you move around a Streetview environment stripped of all its informational overlays looking for clues that indicate where you are. Once you think you know, you mark the spot of your original starting location on the inset map. The closer you are, the more points you get. A game consists of five locations.

Read More


Photos , ,

Postcard from Spruce Point Motel in Beaver Bay

Oct 17, 2023 5 Comments

Featured here are two undated postcards from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography that promote the Spruce Point Motel in Beaver Bay. The older card shows how it was originally a one-story structure before the second story was added.

Read More


History, Photos , , , ,

Selective Focus: Fall Colors 2023

Sep 28, 2023 No Comments

Chlorophyll, schmlorophyll; turn up the carotenoids and anthocyanin. The annual biochemical process is underway. Progression of fall and peak leaf colors can be tracked with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Fall Color Finder.

Featured here is Perfect Duluth Day’s annual collection of select images from Instagram showcasing nature’s palette.

Read More


Photos , ,

Beating the Heat

Sep 03, 2023 No Comments


Outdoors, Photos ,

Selective Focus: More Summer PDDs

Aug 19, 2023 No Comments

Select photos from Instagram spanning mid-July to mid-August 2023, all hashtagged with the name of a certain website. #perfectduluthday

Read More


Photos ,