Stopped in Duluth for the night before heading up the North Shore. No hiking for me this year: walking is painful, though cycling causes no pain; time, targeted exercises, and PT should sort it out. While Dwight tackles the Superior Hiking Trail, I’ll be cycling the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. Tonight: Tex-Mex at Little Angie’s Cantina. It’s unfussy comfort food, our tradition for decades, followed by malt balls from this old-time candy store.
Category: Place
North Shore 2026
More journeys ≫
Lake Superior prep
Tomorrow we’re heading up the North Shore of Lake Superior, so today we’re laying out stuff for packing on the guest bed. No matter how long the trip (one week, four weeks, or indefinite), we’ve settled into a pattern: one set of clothing on, plus four changes. Having access to laundry facilities and modern fabrics make all the difference.
Healing the wound
As I was cycling down this path today, I remembered it was supposed to be a freeway. In the 1970s, a huge swath was cut through Northeast Minneapolis, leveling hundreds of homes and businesses and splitting the historic neighborhood in two. Outraged residents organized and fought back, successfully getting the project canceled. While the homes built in its place lack the character of the originals, they help heal the wound and reconnect the neighborhood.
A konbini lunch
I can’t go to Japan right now, but Japan can come to me. Lunch today was Japanese fast food: gyoza, Spam musubi, and chicken yakitori. You can find Spam musubi in just about any konbini (convenience store), a popular snack originating in Hawaii.
Joe’s Auto Parts
A friend and I made up a route as we went on a cycle ride through Nordeast Minneapolis. At Casket Arts, a former factory that once mass-produced caskets and other funeralia (a word I made up), we stopped to check out current sculptures by the artists who work there. In one piece, “Joe’s Auto Parts,” salvaged car doors arranged in a grid, capped by three vintage roof ventilators, become a sculpture.
Counterculture cuppa
On my walk to Seward Co-op to pick up veggies for a lamb braise, I stepped back in time to the counterculture 1970s for a cuppa in this worker-owned vegan cafe. The double-shot Americano with a full crema was near-perfect: $3, cash-only. Angry rock filled the air, though a surprisingly sedate rendering of the British national anthem added an unexpected layer of incongruity.
All about the gram
It had been raining, so I went for a walk downtown expecting to see hundreds of red T-shirts worn by Target Corporation employees flown in for their annual jamboree. Instead, I found workers setting up photo backdrops and staging visual elements across several blocks of Nicollet Mall for a photography conference this weekend. Instagram is going to be buzzing!
Walking in the rain
Plenty of empty bike racks today as I walked in the rain past Goldie Gopher on my way to yet another scan at the U. I had decided I didn’t want a wet stripe up my back.
Stronger together
At Boom Island on our Sunday walk, teamsters were holding a picnic. Amy Klobuchar, our US Senator and hopefully soon-to-be governor, had just given a speech.