Ely/Northern minnesota (Duluth, Grand Rapids, Welcome: transplants, house, movie theaters)

[jumpshooter]

What can you guys tell me about Ely or the area around Ely for that matter. I will be going to college up there coming from Colorado. Obviously it is crazy cold but is it just cold or does it snow a lot? When does winter start and end, in Denver in typically doesn't start until mid november or later and ends in mid march, maybe early april. How long can I expect the lakes to be ice free and when do they thaw out after winter? Also is there anything for a college aged person to do around there or would I have to go to Duluth. Or is there even anything in Duluth, perhaps all the way to the twin cities?

[jumpshooter]

Also does northern minnesota tend to be more liberal or conservative? What about minnesota in general.

[MidniteBreeze]

Hi,

I'm from Duluth originally and actually lived out in Colorado Springs for 5 years. I currently live in Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota.

The winters are definitely going to be harsher than you're used to. Up in Ely you can SEE snow as early as September, but you usually don't get snow that "sticks" until about mid-November. September and October are usually nice...generally dry with pleasant daytime temps and chilly (but not stupid cold) evenings.

Most people would say winter starts about mid-November and ends about mid-March. Of course that can vary though. With the exception of a few mid-winter thaws, you will have snow on the ground most of that time. Late December-early February are the coldest months...you will most likely experience at least a few days where it doesn't get above zero.

March and April are schizophrenic. It could snow one day and be sunny the next and then rain the day after that. Generally your first really nice spring days come in April and by May things are greening up nice. The walleye fishing opener is usually around mother's day weekend. It's almost guarenteed to rain those two days.

Being that you're a college student, you probably won't be around in the summer, but it can acutally get pretty hot and it's more humid than Colorado. The mosquitoes come out by early June.

The lakes usually freeze up sometime in late November or early December and break-up is mid-late March. The good news is you can go ice fishing! It's actually pretty fun and if you have a good ice house and heater, you can fish in a T-shirt when it's below zero outsite.

As far as things to do, if you're outdoorsy, you'll love Ely. You're surrounded by lakes, forests and the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness. It is a small town though, so there's not a whole lot in the way of nightlife and that sort of thing. Northern Minnesota has excellent cross-country ski and snowmobile trail systmes though. You'll definitely want to find something to do in the winter.

Duluth would be good for a weekend getaway. Not as exciting as Denver, but with two Universities, a private college and two tech/community colleges in the Twin Ports area, there's a decent college scene. If you're into partying, you'll probably end up in Superior, WI (aka "Soup Town")...they're trying to clean up their image, but I believe at one time they had the highest number of bars per capita in the country. Most are pretty dive-ish, but there are a few decent places in the area with good live music and that sort of thing. If you're under 21, you'll find the UMD house parties in the central hillside area. FYI, the drinking age in Ontario, Canada is 19.

If you're more into cultural stuff, Duluth does have its own ballet company, a symphony orchestra and even some small art galleries. There's also the usual stuff like movie theaters, shopping and restuarants that you'd expect to find in a metro area of about 100,000. You can also go to Spirit Mountain if you downhill ski (complete joke compared to Colorado, but better than nothing) or the slightly better Lutsen Mountains up on the north shore of Lake Superior. If you're into hiking, I highly recommend the superior hiking trail, also along the north shore.

The Twin Cities will obviously be more like Denver as far as more "urban" things to do (concerts, professional sports, etc.) but it's a long drive from Ely.

To address your final question, Ely itself is kind of a "granola" town, pretty liberal, enviornmentally conscious and has a lot of eccentric, wealthy transplants with million dollar lake homes. Kind of like a mini Boulder in some ways. Northern Minnesota is solid democrat territory, but mostly in the blue collar, pro-union, working man sense. Outside of Ely you'll have your more socially conservative pro-gun, pro-life types. Minnesota in general tends to lean toward the left and consequently has higher taxes but decent schools and good social programs. We're willing to experiment politcally, though, as evidenced by our former governer, Jesse Ventura.

Hope that helps and I'd be happy to answer any more questions! Welcome to the land of 10,000 lakes

[jumpshooter]

thanks for the info sounds good