I agree with you on that.
I would have never just said, "Let me go there." I have a female friend from Minnesota, and I'm on this quest to see all fifty states before I'm fifty (I'm 45 and I've got 41 in the books). My only prior visit to Minnesota had been the airport (12/26/03 and 1/5/04 on the return flight). So I was fishing around the net and found some cheap Southwest flights from Love Field to Minneapolis. I'd been looking at going to Wisconsin anyway and taking in a Brewers game. So I made a deal with myself - if I got within five days of the plane leaving and it was still $89 one way, I'd go to Minneapolis, rent a car, drive down to Iowa and over to Wisconsin (and hit the UP of Michigan) and take in a Twins game. My friend (Sue) told me I really should just take my time and go up to Duluth and maybe take a trip out into Superior. I'd never seen ANY of the Great Lakes before.
That sight - the first time - coming over that hill and down into Duluth and seeing the sunrise sparkle on the lake was truly awesome. I wound up taking a real cheap little ferry out into Superior about a mile and listening to the stories about the old salt mines and a bunch of stuff - and, of course, the Edmund Fitzgerald. (In a strange coincidence, Lightfoot was actually going to be in Duluth two weeks after i was).
So I enjoyed the town. Oh....and 46 degrees at 10 am on June 4th (while 82 in Dallas)? LOVED it!!!
Yeah, and the opposite temperature shock can happen. Several years ago, we took off for the BWCA and Quetico over the Labor Day weekend. From prior experience, we packed extra clothing and a nylon fly to cook under, in the event of rain, which we'd always had before. It was a strange trip in a lot of ways. We got a ride for ourselves and canoes across Lake Saganawa, crossed over into Canada and turned east all the way out to Boundary Point, which is the end of Quetico Park and where Crown Lands (same as our USFS land). The temps crept up until it was 90 in the shade. We had to use the rain fly to keep the sun off. The fishing was pretty lousy, with the wind and heat. On top of that, we almost drowned getting out. A backdoor cold front from the NE slammed into us as we were trying to maneuver the canoes up into Hook Island, which was our pickup point. My wife was in the bow, drawing us up into the wind. I was in the back, sweeping right, trying to accomplish the same. At one point, I said, well shouted, "If you tire out, we die." Over her shoulder, she shouted back that she was aware of that. Strange trip. We intended, coming out to stay in Duluth. (Nothing worth staying in, in Grand Marais, where the Gunflint trail ends back on Superior.) We stayed short in Lutsen in a ski condo, which was dirt cheap out of ski season. It had a beautiful view of Superior. As I said, strange trip and not one I'll ever forget...
