Articles

Column: Tales from an early getaway

We inaugurated the family’s camping season with an overnight trip to a state park recently on a Friday evening. With temperatures staying frigid anywhere near Lake Superior, we headed west for warmer weather.

• Eddy Gilmore

Enjoying the South Shore in winter

EDDY GILMORE: My annual journey by ski into the wilderness is for me the equivalent of how others view their trips to Florida and Vegas. Rejuvenation springs forth through intense physical effort tempered by relaxation, silence and camaraderie with good friends.

• Eddy Gilmore

Get out and play!

Those of us with kids know just what a challenge it can be for our kids to get enough outside playtime even under the best winter conditions, but this year it’s really tough. My encouragement to you is to view this as a challenge to be overcome, rather than an obstacle to beat your head into.

• Eddy Gilmore

Lakewalk extension will be a tourism draw, but Duluthians will benefit the most

A couple weeks ago we learned that the City of Duluth will extend the Lakewalk all the way to Brighton Beach next year. This will be the most complex extension to date, with the Lester River gorge being spanned and a tunnel being constructed under Highway 61.

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Don't let debt rule your life

"Debt has the ability to rob us of our future buying power and dreams. After all, you are borrowing from your future."

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Eddy Gilmore: Non-motorized trail growth possible without Oberstar in office?

Rather than being a restriction on the public, “No Motorized Vehicles Allowed” designations create areas of much-needed refuge for biking and pedestrian use, and open a world of possibilities.

Eddy Gilmore: If you can read this, thank a kindergarten teacher

Have you hugged a kindergarten teacher recently? Well, you should.

Eddy Gilmore: An adventure in the old pines only you and I know

For the better part of a month I found myself practically studying McKenzie Map No. 9 under the covers with a flashlight. The anticipation and planning are half the fun of exploring.

To the weary who persevere comes the prize

Almost anything worthy and satisfying requires hard work, tenacity and perseverance. I was reminded of that this week as I completed my first road race in 15 years.

Eddy Gilmore: Rooster alarm clocks are all the rage

After two years of working out of the old coal room in my basement as a telecommuter, and slowly becoming a troll with beady little eyes, I’ve finally partaken in the delights of exercise right at dawn or earlier.

Columns

More enriching activities will benefit everyone

Boom. Just like that, it’s dark by suppertime now. With little warning, darkness descends like a sheet flung over the birdcage. Deficiency of vitamin D, known as the “sunshine vitamin,” has been associated with rickets, increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment in older adults, severe asthma in children, depression and even cancer. Apparently, the sun is a bit important to our well-being.

Eddy Gilmore: Children thrive when they play outdoors

Somehow a switch got flipped. My kids went from whining and complaining in an unbearable fashion while hiking in a forced-march fashion through some of the most beautiful country in the Midwest to floating on the wings of eagles as they ran the mile-and-a-half home to the little cabin where we were staying deep in the middle of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Upper Michigan.

• Eddy Gilmore
• Last Child in the Woods

Eddy Gilmore: When the natural air conditioner fails

This has been one inferno of a week in Duluth. Like most households here, our family hasn’t viewed air conditioning as a necessity. We prefer to not have it at all, and have avoided installing the window units for a couple years. By the time I pulled them out during the recent steam bath that entombed the area, they were covered in dust and other basement detritus that had collected over the years.

• Eddy Gilmore

Eddy Gilmore: Father’s Day with forest and family

The entire week prior to Father’s Day saw my family and me chilling out on the North Shore of Lake Superior, mere feet away from the crashing waves. We were ensconced in an idyllic private setting a little before the township of Colville near the Kadunce River between Grand Marais and Hovland.

• Eddy Gilmore

Eddy Gilmore: Simply winning isn't the goal in the exchange of ideas

Budgeteer columnist Eddy Gilmore ponders our nation's tendency to choose party over thoughtfulness.