Favorite City

Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones Deck prompts — Tell me about your favorite city.

Duluth, Minnesota, is probably my favorite larger city. It is not as large as Minneapolis or St. Paul, but just large enough without being too large. It is on Lake Superior. The start of the North Shore will take you to Grand Portage and the Canadian Border.

Park Point is where we went to swim when living and working close to Duluth. When a cause would arise, the “old hippies” would come out of the woodwork! I loved that! They would kind of ruffle at the term “Old Hippie” though.

When I would tease a friend, she would get ruffled. I would say, “Oh, I thought driving a VW bug and wearing Birkenstocks were sure signs.” She was a clergy/therapist, and her husband was a doctor.

The fireworks display and concerts were something to look forward to. The lift bridge was fun to watch as large ships came into the harbor. I enjoyed the dinner cruise, the library, and the train ride up the shore. Many of their downtown shops are great!

They have a great art community, and I think it is due to all the old hippies who support it. There are many great food places all around Duluth too. Duluth has a community college and two Universities. And Superior, Wisconsin, is right across the bridge from Duluth. There is a college there, too.

I worked in Duluth and attended graduate school in Superior. Because I didn’t want to live in a bigger city again I lived just down the road. There are plenty of smaller towns around Duluth, so if living and working in Duluth isn’t for you, there are other options.

I love the hills and the large body of water that you won’t find in other parts of Minnesota. There are plenty of lakes, but the Gitchi Gummi is a Sea. Downhill skiing at Spirit Mountain in the winter overlooks Lake Superior, and it is beautiful.

Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones Deck prompts — This is actually a tricky topic, because you might fall into superlatives: “I just love it there. The trees are beautiful, lining the boulevards. The cafes are great. It’s not too cold.”

Just what trees? Name them. Sycamores. Pick one boulevard and tell me about it. Writing is the act of not generalizing. Better to pick one lamppost and describe it. Give me one street clearly. Give the temperature, the humidity, how it felt on your skin — not what the weather station says. Paris, London, New York, San Francisco — beware. We’ve heard so much about them. We like to hear about unknown, little-thought-of corners of the world: Lincoln, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Hibbing, Minnesota. Small, out-of-the-way towns. But, you say, you asked for cities! Don’t listen to me. Pick what’s right for you.

But stay close, intimate. Then you will really share it.

Duluth is a destination for me to go to when I am missing the sea. The weather in Duluth is very different from the rest of the state due to the sea. It can be cold in Duluth and not so much an hour down the road. It can be nice, and just down the road, it will be cold.

My favorite cities and towns are the towns my children live in, and where the other family and friends live. I am not interested in traveling to places where I don’t know anyone anymore. I have places to visit that have friends and where I haven’t been before.

My sister friend Felicia lives on a reservation in Michigan, for example. I hope to get there on the same trip as visiting my granddaughter in Chicago. They are close to each other. Both are artists. Felicia is a fabric artist, and Veronica paints and works in theatre.

It is a good six to eight hours away. Each year since they moved, I say I am going to plan that trip for this year. Will I get there this year? I hope so. No guarantees.

My brother lives in Texas and gets home most years. He has no plans to come home this year. I hope to surprise him and go there. Then my niece lives in New Mexico, and when my sister lived there, I got there once a year. It is a great place to visit, and my main reason is family.

My children all live in Minnesota. Just down the road, we see my daughter, son-in-law, and their eight children regularly. Then we have children who live in Cottage Grove, White Bear Lake, and other parts of the Twin Cities. No one is living in Minneapolis or St. Paul.

I guess it is more about people for me than destinations. I have visited most of the states in the country in my younger years, and still, I prefer Minnesota. It is home.