Ely?

[wamer27]

The steakhouse has bubble hockey in the bar area, that’s reason enough to move there!

[601halfdozen0theother]

I would think Ely would be a really fun place to retire, if you're cold tolerant and still can shovel snow and drive. Make sure when you buy a place that it's in a location where the County will plow your driveway. Seriously, call the County and ask before you fork over any dough.

I wasn't sure there was a hospital there, so I looked it up, and there is, so yay! https://www.ebch.org/ (The hospital in Virginia is well known for being terrible, so the fact that Ely has one is important!)

[Tyryztoll]

Boathouse Brewpub. Katzenjammer IPA. Walleye sandwich.

Just do it.

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

Boathouse Brewpub. Katzenjammer IPA. Walleye sandwich.

Just do it.

The blueberry blonde ale with blueberries in the glass, never seen that before, we drank tons of them!

[Beenaroundabit]

Originally Posted by 601halfdozen0theother

That's true about being realistic about jobs.

There are seasonal poor paying tourism jobs, jobs with the state (DNR and etc.) and regular people jobs in schools, stores, etc. The town is affordable because no one earns a skit ton of money. People do retire very affordably there.

The thing I would hope is that people outside the region pay local prices for real estate instead of cranking up prices by paying rates that are normal elsewhere.

There is a little bit of feeling against tourists from the Twin Cities among the locals. More than a little bit, maybe.

When you come right down to it, there are the locals, then there are the people who have moved there from elsewhere, and they tend to stay among themselves in those two groups. A generalization, but mostly true.

Spot-on. In general, half of the town moved there because they loved the outdoors and the BWCAW, aka the world's largest canoe amusement park (), but the other half is still pretty angry at the federal government for actually creating the BWCAW, which shuttered resorts and limited the activities which people can engage in there (i.e. no motors in most areas, no logging, no mining, etc.). Take your pick.

Another word on those "cabins." If they're cheap, they are often 1) not insulated, 2) without power, 3) without road access, 4) without a bathroom/running water, or a combination of all four.

Babbitt is cheaper, but pretty run-down, in my opinion - being essentially a mining town with few mining jobs (though it IS the birthplace of 1980 Olympic hockey gold medalist Buzzy Schneider!).

It gets more affordable and the "cabin-on-a-lake" prospects get better as you get out of town (any town) and away from the BWCAW. I would look in outskirts of Embarrass, Tower or the very distant reaches of Virginia.

Ely tends to get more snow than some areas in MN, but I think that's a boon to tourism and winter recreation. Otherwise, I don't find it to be much colder than it is here in Duluth. Insects can be bad, but as with the cold, there are measures you can take.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by wamer27

The blueberry blonde ale with blueberries in the glass, never seen that before, we drank tons of them!

My wife had to drag me out of there.