074: Living in the Great Northwoods

Episode Transcript

[0:00:35 – 0:00:39] Adam: Welcome to Tumble Home Boundary Waters Podcast.
[0:00:40 – 0:00:46] Adam: My name is Adam and joining me here in Studio O is my good friend Eric.
[0:00:47 – 0:00:48] Adam: Hello.
[0:00:48 – 0:00:48] Erik: Good evening.
[0:00:48 – 0:00:49] Erik: Classic.
[0:00:49 – 0:00:50] Erik: Woo!
[0:00:50 – 0:00:52] Erik: Classic high energy.
[0:00:52 – 0:00:52] Erik: What is it?
[0:00:52 – 0:00:54] Erik: A Saturday night show?
[0:00:55 – 0:00:55] Erik: I’m amped.
[0:00:55 – 0:00:56] Erik: It’s my weekend.
[0:00:56 – 0:00:57] Erik: It is.
[0:00:57 – 0:00:58] Erik: Yeah.
[0:00:58 – 0:01:02] Erik: And it’s still Friday, even though it’s a week later.
[0:01:02 – 0:01:04] Erik: We are still in Studio O.
[0:01:05 – 0:01:07] Erik: The camp is out of the bag.
[0:01:07 – 0:01:08] Erik: Did we ever leave?
[0:01:09 – 0:01:11] Erik: Sometimes we record two at once.
[0:01:11 – 0:01:18] Erik: You know, there might even be a record-a-thon at some point before I take off on my month-long vacation.
[0:01:18 – 0:01:24] Adam: Yeah, a record-a-thon slash a complete overnight EVP session in the lodge.
[0:01:24 – 0:01:25] Erik: Ooh, yeah.
[0:01:25 – 0:01:26] Erik: We should do that.
[0:01:26 – 0:01:30] Adam: We’re going to do a 24-hour straight night of terror.
[0:01:30 – 0:01:31] Erik: Night of terror.
[0:01:31 – 0:01:33] Adam: We had last week the Tower of Terror.
[0:01:33 – 0:01:33] Adam: Yeah, this week.
[0:01:34 – 0:01:36] Adam: Now we’re doing the Month of Terror.
[0:01:36 – 0:01:40] Erik: We definitely should do that after we close the lodge and everything’s off.
[0:01:40 – 0:01:42] Erik: The refrigerators are done running.
[0:01:42 – 0:01:43] Erik: The furnace is off.
[0:01:44 – 0:01:46] Erik: That place gets eerily quiet.
[0:01:47 – 0:01:49] Erik: But that is neither here nor there.
[0:01:50 – 0:01:54] Adam: This is episode 074 of Tumble Home.
[0:01:54 – 0:01:55] Adam: Thank you for being with us.
[0:01:56 – 0:02:01] Adam: We are, as always, sponsored by our good friends on Patreon.
[0:02:01 – 0:02:02] Adam: Thank you so much.
[0:02:02 – 0:02:05] Adam: We got a couple new ones, it looked like.
[0:02:06 – 0:02:16] Adam: It’s amazing that the generosity people are pouring into this show, and we hope it reverberates back at you through these microphones.
[0:02:16 – 0:02:17] Adam: I feel it does.
[0:02:17 – 0:02:18] Erik: I hope it does.
[0:02:21 – 0:02:38] Erik: At the end of the year, I can’t wait to see where we are at in terms of what we have received from Patreon and what we can pay it forward towards our Save the Boundary Waters, Friends of the Boundary Waters,
[0:02:40 – 0:02:40] Erik: For sure.
[0:02:40 – 0:02:48] Erik: Groups that are going to fight for the place that we love in terms of what that exact number is.
[0:02:48 – 0:02:54] Erik: I’m very excited to see what we’re going to be able to put towards those efforts.
[0:02:54 – 0:02:58] Erik: So thank you, whether you are a Patreon or not.
[0:02:59 – 0:03:04] Erik: Also, thank you just for listening, because that’s a huge part of it, too.
[0:03:04 – 0:03:06] Erik: You’re still tapped in to…
[0:03:06 – 0:03:08] Adam: Showing the interest and the passion.
[0:03:08 – 0:03:09] Erik: Yeah.
[0:03:10 – 0:03:26] Erik: And we are closing in on the end of Season 2, and when I think most people like to think about and fantasize about the Boundary Waters most, the winter months, but we’re not there yet.
[0:03:26 – 0:03:28] Adam: We’re still talking open water.
[0:03:28 – 0:03:30] Adam: There’s a frost warning, though, tonight.
[0:03:30 – 0:03:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:03:31 – 0:03:33] Erik: It’s cool out there.
[0:03:33 – 0:03:34] Adam: It’s a bit chilly out.
[0:03:34 – 0:03:37] Adam: We had a fire in the wood stove the other night.
[0:03:38 – 0:03:46] Adam: I know I previously mentioned how terrified I am to get on the roof, but it did stop raining for five seconds, so I was able to get up there and clean the stovepipe.
[0:03:47 – 0:03:51] Adam: I know I normally avoid fires this early in the season, but…
[0:03:54 – 0:03:58] Adam: I had to go and start one, and it was quite cozy.
[0:03:58 – 0:03:59] Adam: I enjoyed it a lot.
[0:04:02 – 0:04:05] Adam: But, yeah, the feeling is in the air.
[0:04:05 – 0:04:07] Erik: I like it a lot.
[0:04:09 – 0:04:16] Erik: I would say we’re right on the back end of the peak of fall, maybe still right on the peak of it.
[0:04:17 – 0:04:28] Erik: But I would say it’s kind of one of those things that you could probably have a nice little conversation about.
[0:04:28 – 0:04:30] Erik: What does peak fall mean?
[0:04:30 – 0:04:35] Erik: And it’s a lot of times I think it’s the colors, obviously.
[0:04:35 – 0:04:38] Erik: But I like to measure it by the leaves on the ground.
[0:04:39 – 0:04:40] Erik: I think there’s more leaves on the ground today.
[0:04:42 – 0:04:44] Erik: Then there are leaves on the trees.
[0:04:44 – 0:04:45] Erik: Yeah, I believe that’s true.
[0:04:45 – 0:04:47] Erik: Which would lead me to believe we are past peak.
[0:04:48 – 0:04:51] Erik: That’s across the whole spectrum of trees, though.
[0:04:51 – 0:04:55] Erik: A lot of those are trees that don’t necessarily throw off vibrant color.
[0:04:55 – 0:04:57] Erik: There’s still a lot of good color out there.
[0:04:58 – 0:05:04] Erik: And then there’s always, talk about Bon Jovi’s fantasy leagues, the dark horse, the tamaracks.
[0:05:05 – 0:05:05] Adam: Oh, boy.
[0:05:05 – 0:05:06] Erik: Those late tamaracks.
[0:05:07 – 0:05:09] Adam: Yeah, that’s a late-round value in league.
[0:05:09 – 0:05:13] Adam: You’re going to want to get yourself a Tamarack in the double-digit rounds.
[0:05:13 – 0:05:16] Adam: They’ll pay off late in the playoff push.
[0:05:16 – 0:05:20] Erik: Yeah, the Tamarack is your Kevin LeBanc of picks.
[0:05:20 – 0:05:24] Adam: Oh, boy, I was going to say it was the Pierre-Luc Dubois.
[0:05:24 – 0:05:26] Erik: Oh, yeah, sure, that too.
[0:05:26 – 0:05:28] Erik: I think he’s a straight center.
[0:05:28 – 0:05:31] Adam: You don’t really get very good value out of that.
[0:05:31 – 0:05:31] Erik: All right.
[0:05:31 – 0:05:34] Erik: Well, let’s get to our beer sponsor of the week.
[0:05:34 – 0:05:35] Erik: Yes.
[0:05:35 – 0:05:41] Erik: And I am aware of what this is, so I will give you the rundown on it.
[0:05:42 – 0:05:49] Erik: And this is a Fair State Co-op IPA.
[0:05:51 – 0:05:51] Erik: Heard of them?
[0:05:51 – 0:05:53] Adam: I’m a big fan of co-ops.
[0:05:53 – 0:05:56] Erik: Yeah, this is a hops and hops.
[0:05:57 – 0:05:59] Erik: We’ve heard you like hops.
[0:05:59 – 0:05:59] Erik: I do.
[0:05:59 – 0:06:01] Erik: So we made this beer with lots.
[0:06:02 – 0:06:04] Erik: Hops and hops, I like them lots.
[0:06:05 – 0:06:11] Erik: This is from friend of the show, a gentleman, and a scholar.
[0:06:12 – 0:06:15] Erik: Can you tell who this is from based on the color on this can?
[0:06:16 – 0:06:44] Adam: rojo writer am i right you are actually yeah that’d be really weird that’d be awkward yes this is from rojo thank you this is fresh off the fall chain trip uh yeah it must have been blessed this is the one we missed yep boom shakalaka cheers baby cheers hops and hops yes
[0:06:46 – 0:06:50] Erik: Yeah, there’s apparently six different kinds of hops in there.
[0:06:50 – 0:06:52] Adam: Oh, yeah.
[0:06:52 – 0:06:52] Adam: Yes.
[0:06:53 – 0:06:59] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:06:59 – 0:07:00] Adam: That’s a lot of hops.
[0:07:01 – 0:07:02] Erik: Too many hops.
[0:07:02 – 0:07:03] Erik: I don’t like it, Rojo.
[0:07:03 – 0:07:04] Adam: I don’t like it.
[0:07:05 – 0:07:06] Adam: I love it.
[0:07:07 – 0:07:07] Erik: It’s excellent.
[0:07:08 – 0:07:09] Erik: All right.
[0:07:09 – 0:07:13] Erik: Everything that Ferris State does is above board, top-notch.
[0:07:15 – 0:07:15] Adam: For sure.
[0:07:16 – 0:07:20] Adam: Man, between the last two episodes, everything you’ve asked me to guess, I’m guessing right.
[0:07:20 – 0:07:21] Erik: You’ve been nailing it.
[0:07:21 – 0:07:25] Adam: I thought the guessing game… My third eye is wide awake.
[0:07:26 – 0:07:26] Erik: Really?
[0:07:27 – 0:07:27] Adam: Yeah.
[0:07:28 – 0:07:30] Erik: Have you been dabbling in anything else besides the beer?
[0:07:31 – 0:07:32] Adam: Chakras.
[0:07:33 – 0:07:35] Erik: Just chakras, general chakras.
[0:07:35 – 0:07:35] Erik: Don’t worry.
[0:07:36 – 0:07:36] Erik: Okay.
[0:07:37 – 0:07:38] Adam: But I am awakened.
[0:07:39 – 0:07:40] Erik: Yeah, so… And levitating.
[0:07:43 – 0:07:52] Adam: Today’s episode, we are talking about life in the north woods.
[0:07:52 – 0:07:54] Adam: I never know how to say it to people.
[0:07:54 – 0:07:55] Adam: I live up north.
[0:07:55 – 0:07:56] Adam: It doesn’t quite capture it.
[0:07:56 – 0:08:01] Erik: It’s easy for me to say life on the trail, or at least it has been.
[0:08:01 – 0:08:01] Adam: Yeah, life on the trail.
[0:08:02 – 0:08:03] Erik: But I’m not really…
[0:08:03 – 0:08:11] Erik: I mean, I’m still mostly on the trail, obviously, with the clear water, but I’m a little bit more dispersed, as it were.
[0:08:12 – 0:08:14] Adam: As am I. I mean, I’m no longer pure trail.
[0:08:15 – 0:08:16] Adam: You know, I used to be team trail.
[0:08:17 – 0:08:19] Erik: Yeah, you’re no longer a trail rat.
[0:08:20 – 0:08:25] Adam: No, I used to almost, I dare say, disparage shore boys.
[0:08:26 – 0:08:27] Adam: Shore boys.
[0:08:27 – 0:08:28] Adam: Now I am one.
[0:08:29 – 0:08:30] Erik: Yeah, I mean, sort of.
[0:08:30 – 0:08:30] Erik: To some extent.
[0:08:31 – 0:08:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:08:31 – 0:08:35] Erik: Yeah, so if we haven’t made it clear, like, we’re talking about…
[0:08:38 – 0:08:43] Erik: This is Boundary Waters adjacent, obviously.
[0:08:43 – 0:08:48] Adam: We don’t live in the Boundary Waters, much as we’d like to Ambrose that thing.
[0:08:49 – 0:08:49] Erik: Right.
[0:08:49 – 0:08:50] Adam: Can’t do it.
[0:08:50 – 0:08:51] Adam: That would be nice.
[0:08:52 – 0:09:14] Erik: someday yeah so we’re this is a bunch what is adjacent episode uh but this has been uh on the kind of if not uh the the forefront of emails that we’ve gotten sort of in the the hints of like kind of wondering more you know like culture what it’s like to be up here yeah um
[0:09:15 – 0:09:22] Erik: And I think it’s not going to be, again, this is probably the second in a row, it’s not like a hard-hitting Lake episode.
[0:09:23 – 0:09:27] Erik: Not that those are hard-hitting, but they’re more like depth, like these are the numbers.
[0:09:27 – 0:09:29] Erik: This is how you get there.
[0:09:29 – 0:09:33] Erik: There’s not much, you know, a little bit of a different kind of story.
[0:09:33 – 0:09:34] Adam: We’re sharing in a different way.
[0:09:34 – 0:09:35] Erik: Exactly.
[0:09:36 – 0:09:38] Erik: And it sounds like there’s maybe some interest in that.
[0:09:38 – 0:09:53] Erik: And so I think if you’re truly interested in our stories as to how we found ourselves up here, I think episode two, origin stories, still stands.
[0:09:54 – 0:09:56] Erik: I don’t think there’s too much that we can add to that.
[0:09:56 – 0:09:58] Adam: Not I’m willing to add to it.
[0:09:58 – 0:10:02] Erik: But we can, I mean, we can give a quick brief overlap of it.
[0:10:02 – 0:10:02] Erik: Sure.
[0:10:02 – 0:10:07] Erik: And then we’ll go into, you know, because I think yours, your story is definitely different than mine.
[0:10:07 – 0:10:12] Erik: And then we’ll do, you know, I’ve been up here now full time, almost 10 years.
[0:10:13 – 0:10:15] Erik: Seasonally, 15.
[0:10:16 – 0:10:19] Erik: We’re going to do, you know, pros and cons of living up here.
[0:10:19 – 0:10:22] Erik: Obviously, I think the pros outweigh the cons.
[0:10:22 – 0:10:22] Erik: They do.
[0:10:22 – 0:10:23] Erik: Otherwise, we wouldn’t be up here.
[0:10:23 – 0:10:24] Erik: Yeah.
[0:10:25 – 0:10:27] Erik: Basically, this is going to be like a…
[0:10:27 – 0:10:35] Adam: I found, too, a lot of the pros have a mild con corollary, and then a lot of the cons also have a positive that goes with them.
[0:10:35 – 0:10:35] Adam: Oh, yeah.
[0:10:36 – 0:10:37] Adam: But, yes, I agree.
[0:10:37 – 0:10:42] Erik: You can see the top of my pros and cons, it says give with two arrow points to take.
[0:10:43 – 0:10:43] Erik: Yeah.
[0:10:43 – 0:10:47] Erik: That means, like, typically a pro is also a con.
[0:10:47 – 0:10:47] Erik: Sure.
[0:10:47 – 0:10:48] Erik: Just depends on how you look at it.
[0:10:49 – 0:10:49] Erik: Exactly.
[0:10:49 – 0:10:52] Erik: It’s like you can, you know, take…
[0:10:53 – 0:10:55] Erik: what you really appreciate about this place.
[0:10:55 – 0:10:57] Erik: That could be an episode title.
[0:10:57 – 0:10:57] Erik: Yeah.
[0:10:57 – 0:10:58] Erik: Give and take.
[0:10:58 – 0:10:59] Erik: With an arrow.
[0:10:59 – 0:11:01] Erik: First episode with an emoji.
[0:11:01 – 0:11:01] Adam: Yes.
[0:11:02 – 0:11:04] Adam: It’s about time we get some emojis in the episode titles.
[0:11:04 – 0:11:05] Adam: I’ve been saying this for years.
[0:11:05 – 0:11:05] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:05 – 0:11:07] Erik: So it’s going to be kind of three parts.
[0:11:07 – 0:11:09] Erik: Not a three-part episode, hopefully.
[0:11:09 – 0:11:10] Erik: Jeez.
[0:11:10 – 0:11:10] Erik: No.
[0:11:12 – 0:11:12] Erik: No way.
[0:11:12 – 0:11:13] Erik: Good night.
[0:11:13 – 0:11:15] Erik: Episode 74, part one.
[0:11:15 – 0:11:17] Erik: We tease episode 75.
[0:11:18 – 0:11:33] Erik: No, part three, I’m just going to give you some thoughts on like if you are serious enough, which I can’t recommend highly enough actually moving up here, what that would actually look like and some things that could improve that process.
[0:11:34 – 0:11:35] Adam: Some tips and tricks.
[0:11:35 – 0:11:40] Adam: I’ve talked in the past how I was actively encouraging students at the job fair to…
[0:11:40 – 0:11:42] Adam: Quit school and move up north.
[0:11:42 – 0:11:43] Adam: And they’re like, ha, ha, yeah.
[0:11:43 – 0:11:44] Adam: I’m like, no, I’m serious.
[0:11:44 – 0:11:47] Erik: Yeah, encouraging is a stretch.
[0:11:49 – 0:11:51] Erik: You were mostly berating them.
[0:11:52 – 0:11:53] Erik: You’re cut off.
[0:11:53 – 0:11:56] Adam: Aggressive, very aggressive nature in that sales pitch.
[0:11:57 – 0:12:00] Adam: Yes, but it’s true.
[0:12:00 – 0:12:08] Adam: I believe that we had previously also mentioned how there’s like literally 4,500 people that live here in this county year round.
[0:12:08 – 0:12:12] Adam: That’s larger than the state of Delaware and Connecticut put together.
[0:12:13 – 0:12:15] Adam: So we need more people.
[0:12:15 – 0:12:16] Adam: There’s plenty of room.
[0:12:16 – 0:12:17] Adam: Come on up.
[0:12:18 – 0:12:19] Erik: I’m not kidding around.
[0:12:19 – 0:12:20] Adam: So what you’re saying.
[0:12:20 – 0:12:21] Adam: Just come on up.
[0:12:21 – 0:12:23] Adam: People are like, man, I wish I could move up there.
[0:12:23 – 0:12:23] Adam: I’m like, you can.
[0:12:23 – 0:12:26] Adam: I don’t know if this is a sales pitch.
[0:12:26 – 0:12:28] Adam: Is this episode a sales pitch?
[0:12:28 – 0:12:31] Adam: Visit Cook County should be paying us for this one.
[0:12:31 – 0:12:33] Erik: No, Visit Cook County only wants tourists.
[0:12:33 – 0:12:35] Erik: They don’t want employees.
[0:12:36 – 0:12:36] Erik: Employees stay.
[0:12:36 – 0:12:37] Erik: They don’t use the beds.
[0:12:38 – 0:12:39] Adam: That’s right.
[0:12:39 – 0:12:40] Adam: There’s real money in the beds.
[0:12:40 – 0:12:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:12:41 – 0:12:44] Erik: So just a brief overview.
[0:12:44 – 0:12:49] Erik: Again, listen to episode two if you want the full story about how we met and how we came up here.
[0:12:50 – 0:13:05] Erik: I’ll just say I think my experience in moving up here and kind of making a life more or less has kind of just been, to be honest with you, almost just like –
[0:13:06 – 0:13:09] Erik: Kind of hanging around and not wanting to go back.
[0:13:10 – 0:13:15] Erik: It wasn’t like a full conscious decision to like, I’m going to the woods.
[0:13:15 – 0:13:27] Erik: So there’s a part of this episode and what I’m going to try to explain, I guess, that I don’t have as much experience with.
[0:13:27 – 0:13:32] Erik: Because for me, it was like basically first job out of college, out of high school pretty much.
[0:13:33 – 0:13:35] Erik: And then I just kept coming back.
[0:13:35 – 0:13:40] Erik: And then it turned into a year-round job.
[0:13:41 – 0:13:48] Erik: And then I got to a point where I was able to afford something that I could buy in the area.
[0:13:48 – 0:13:52] Erik: And now I’m just a year-round resident in Cook County.
[0:13:52 – 0:13:53] Adam: Yeah.
[0:13:53 – 0:14:00] Erik: So it’s not, you know, I don’t have that like full on uproot and then move experience.
[0:14:00 – 0:14:04] Erik: Mine was like, I don’t really like it down in the cities.
[0:14:04 – 0:14:06] Erik: I’m just going to keep trying to make it work up here.
[0:14:07 – 0:14:11] Erik: And you hang around long enough and they just kind of start putting you in charge.
[0:14:11 – 0:14:12] Adam: That’s true.
[0:14:12 – 0:14:13] Erik: That is true.
[0:14:13 – 0:14:14] Erik: That’s my experience with it.
[0:14:15 – 0:14:23] Adam: Yeah, I mean, I think that’s a lot of people’s experience in just that you just kind of like slowly work your way into staying here all the time.
[0:14:24 – 0:14:25] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:25 – 0:14:27] Adam: Very few people are just like, yeah, I’m coming up.
[0:14:27 – 0:14:28] Adam: I’m here.
[0:14:28 – 0:14:29] Adam: And I never leave.
[0:14:29 – 0:14:32] Adam: And then there’s a lot of people who come up and they’re like, I’m coming up.
[0:14:32 – 0:14:32] Adam: I’m staying.
[0:14:33 – 0:14:36] Adam: And then, you know, nine months later, they’re gone.
[0:14:36 – 0:14:37] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:37 – 0:14:37] Adam: Never see them again.
[0:14:37 – 0:14:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:14:38 – 0:14:39] Adam: A lot of those folks…
[0:14:40 – 0:14:42] Erik: There is definitely a little bit of a…
[0:14:42 – 0:14:46] Erik: I think transient isn’t necessarily the best word to use.
[0:14:47 – 0:14:47] Erik: Yeah.
[0:14:47 – 0:14:48] Erik: I think that gets…
[0:14:49 – 0:14:53] Erik: There’s a little bit of a bad connotation with that word, but it is like…
[0:14:53 – 0:14:54] Erik: I suppose.
[0:14:54 – 0:14:55] Erik: It’s a little bit…
[0:14:55 – 0:15:00] Erik: It’s like seasonally transient where it’s like you kind of expect those people that…
[0:15:01 – 0:15:23] Adam: show up out of nowhere to probably be gone in a little while yeah so very rarely especially now that i’ve been up here for a while like do you meet somebody you it’s hard to tell like yeah they really serious when they say they want to stay or they just stay in for the summer or what’s gonna happen you know yeah it’s um it’s almost like this caution you have with like
[0:15:23 – 0:15:27] Adam: you don’t want to get too close with somebody right away because there’s a very good chance.
[0:15:27 – 0:15:34] Adam: I’ve seen it happen a lot where you get to be kind of friends with somebody and then they just know I’m heading out and you never see that person again.
[0:15:34 – 0:15:38] Adam: And so that’s just kind of the nature of the place we live in.
[0:15:39 – 0:15:40] Adam: And you have to accept that.
[0:15:40 – 0:16:04] Adam: but there are once in a blue moon somebody actually comes up and is like i’m here to stay and then they stay yeah and then after a couple years you’re like oh i guess they’re serious yeah so my first question to you is i know we had kind of like bounced a couple ideas on the structure of this episode around i had written down one question okay and i think it’s a good one to start the episode with is uh when did you know you were staying for good
[0:16:05 – 0:16:27] Adam: because that’s the thing it’s like yeah i think i’m staying for good but until you like really have a foot in the the county like a anchor down yeah you’re not really here for good you know well i think i don’t think it’s necessarily like you got to buy a house to prove you’re here for good but like i think it always happens sooner than that when did you when did when was that moment for you was there a moment
[0:16:28 – 0:16:32] Erik: Yeah, I mean, for sure the house, that’s like… Well, now you’re definitely here for good.
[0:16:32 – 0:16:33] Adam: We got you.
[0:16:33 – 0:16:35] Erik: Yeah, but like even before that, it was…
[0:16:36 – 0:16:47] Erik: Honestly, it was like I’m here pretty much no matter what it takes and the house would be nice, but I’ll figure out a way to stick around.
[0:16:47 – 0:16:48] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:48 – 0:17:04] Erik: I think probably actually the moment that it was like, all right, now I can see myself here long term is probably when I not necessarily met Tori.
[0:17:04 – 0:17:13] Erik: But for sure, like once we got married and we started talking and it was like we did a little bit of traveling and we saw what other places were like.
[0:17:13 – 0:17:16] Erik: And it’s like, well, where else would we want to go?
[0:17:16 – 0:17:19] Erik: And it’s like, is that really any place better?
[0:17:19 – 0:17:21] Erik: So it was probably around then.
[0:17:21 – 0:17:26] Erik: Like we were kind of transitioning between the Gunflint Trail and Ely back and forth.
[0:17:27 – 0:17:27] Adam: Yeah.
[0:17:29 – 0:17:31] Erik: I didn’t come up with any questions for you.
[0:17:31 – 0:17:34] Erik: Do you want to answer your own question?
[0:17:34 – 0:17:39] Adam: I was obviously thinking about it when I was writing the question down.
[0:17:39 – 0:17:41] Adam: Like, when did it happen for me?
[0:17:41 – 0:17:46] Adam: I did have kind of a more abrupt break of just like I’d been living in Wisconsin.
[0:17:46 – 0:17:49] Adam: I was working as a newspaper editor.
[0:17:49 – 0:17:52] Adam: Like, this is almost like a completely different life to me.
[0:17:52 – 0:18:02] Adam: I don’t feel like a different person all that much, but there’s definitely a moment where you realize that was me then, and this is me now.
[0:18:03 – 0:18:08] Adam: But I definitely put everything I owned that I cared about in my truck and just moved up here.
[0:18:09 – 0:18:14] Adam: That was a distinct, I remember that drive, and I will never forget that drive.
[0:18:15 – 0:18:18] Adam: And it was a tough moment, like a scary moment.
[0:18:19 – 0:18:20] Adam: I didn’t know anybody.
[0:18:20 – 0:18:21] Adam: I just moved up here.
[0:18:21 – 0:18:22] Adam: I didn’t know anybody.
[0:18:23 – 0:18:24] Erik: Yeah, I mean, I had that too.
[0:18:24 – 0:18:32] Erik: But for me, it was, you know, I was in high school, college, and it was still new.
[0:18:33 – 0:18:34] Erik: And it was like my first job.
[0:18:35 – 0:18:40] Erik: And I knew eventually, Ed, who I started with up here, he was going to be around.
[0:18:40 – 0:18:44] Erik: So it wasn’t nearly to the same extent.
[0:18:44 – 0:18:45] Adam: Right, right.
[0:18:45 – 0:18:47] Adam: Like, I had worked up here in college way back in the day.
[0:18:47 – 0:18:51] Adam: And I also then, like, had no idea what I was getting into at all.
[0:18:51 – 0:18:52] Adam: Didn’t know anybody.
[0:18:52 – 0:18:54] Adam: And I didn’t even have a car then.
[0:18:54 – 0:18:56] Adam: I got dropped off by my parents.
[0:18:56 – 0:18:56] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:18:57 – 0:18:59] Adam: That was also scary and exhilarating.
[0:18:59 – 0:18:59] Erik: Yeah.
[0:18:59 – 0:19:01] Adam: It’s kind of like going up the Tower of Terror.
[0:19:01 – 0:19:02] Erik: Yeah.
[0:19:02 – 0:19:02] Adam: In a different way.
[0:19:04 – 0:19:06] Adam: But then the second time when I really moved up here in 2011…
[0:19:08 – 0:19:13] Adam: I don’t think then I knew I was for sure coming up for good because I certainly wasn’t.
[0:19:13 – 0:19:16] Adam: I didn’t have a place or year-round work.
[0:19:17 – 0:19:20] Adam: But at that point, it was like, all right, I’m going to give this a go.
[0:19:20 – 0:19:21] Adam: So that was the start of it.
[0:19:21 – 0:19:32] Adam: But I think for me, it was like then that next winter, I didn’t spend the next winter here, but then I immediately had a job lined up for the season in 2012.
[0:19:32 – 0:19:32] Adam: Yeah.
[0:19:34 – 0:19:46] Adam: And then that winter, 2012 into 2013, I think it was around New Year’s, going into 2013 when I was up here, had kind of a year-round job, enough at least to survive.
[0:19:48 – 0:19:53] Adam: And that was kind of the goal, like work enough to survive, but have like lots of free time to explore.
[0:19:53 – 0:19:53] Erik: Yeah.
[0:19:54 – 0:19:56] Adam: Which is nobody moves up here to work full time.
[0:19:57 – 0:19:58] Erik: It always ends up happening.
[0:19:58 – 0:20:00] Erik: Nobody does intend that to be the case.
[0:20:00 – 0:20:01] Erik: We’ll get to that later.
[0:20:01 – 0:20:07] Adam: But it was, I think, around that when I was trying to like pinpoint, was there a time where I really realized it?
[0:20:07 – 0:20:09] Adam: Like this is going to stick.
[0:20:09 – 0:20:10] Adam: And I think it was around then.
[0:20:10 – 0:20:13] Adam: Like I ended up getting a cat.
[0:20:13 – 0:20:15] Erik: Yeah, that makes a big difference.
[0:20:15 – 0:20:16] Erik: You get an animal involved.
[0:20:16 – 0:20:22] Adam: Yeah, like I was like, okay, I got a job where I can survive year round without having to go back south.
[0:20:23 – 0:20:25] Adam: And I made it through that first winter.
[0:20:25 – 0:20:28] Adam: And that first winter I spent up here was tough.
[0:20:28 – 0:20:29] Adam: I remember that winter.
[0:20:29 – 0:20:30] Erik: Was it the polar vortex?
[0:20:31 – 0:20:35] Adam: Yeah, that was the winter where it was like 33 days straight where it didn’t get above zero.
[0:20:36 – 0:20:39] Adam: My brother came up around New Year’s and we were like out ice fishing in negative 20.
[0:20:41 – 0:20:43] Adam: Yeah, it was a tough winter and made it through that.
[0:20:43 – 0:20:44] Adam: And it was like, all right.
[0:20:46 – 0:20:46] Adam: I can do that.
[0:20:46 – 0:20:47] Adam: I can do anything.
[0:20:47 – 0:20:50] Adam: It was a very exhilarating feeling.
[0:20:50 – 0:20:50] Adam: So…
[0:20:51 – 0:20:53] Adam: I think that was when I kind of realized it.
[0:20:53 – 0:21:05] Adam: But again, you know, there were so many more like bigger steps that were still to come that I didn’t even know about at that time, which in hindsight now makes it kind of seem silly to say that.
[0:21:05 – 0:21:06] Adam: But I don’t know.
[0:21:06 – 0:21:16] Adam: When I moved up here originally with that truck full of crap, like that was my intention was like my resolution was strong to like this is I’m going to make a life up here.
[0:21:17 – 0:21:21] Adam: It just took a while to get the right job, the way to support yourself.
[0:21:23 – 0:21:25] Adam: Everybody up here is very independent.
[0:21:25 – 0:21:28] Adam: And there’s a lot of ways to be independent and make your living.
[0:21:28 – 0:21:31] Adam: You just got to find the right spot for you.
[0:21:31 – 0:21:35] Adam: And sometimes that takes longer for one person than it does for another.
[0:21:36 – 0:21:37] Erik: Oh, for sure.
[0:21:37 – 0:21:40] Erik: I mean, I think you could say that across the board, no matter where you live.
[0:21:40 – 0:21:43] Adam: It’s always tough to relocate, though.
[0:21:43 – 0:21:47] Adam: I mean, that’s one of the bigger challenges you can face in life.
[0:21:47 – 0:21:49] Erik: I don’t even… Yeah, at this point, it’s…
[0:21:49 – 0:21:55] Erik: I mean, not to say that mine would be any more difficult than anybody else’s, but my job and where I’ve lived and worked now is…
[0:21:56 – 0:22:21] Erik: almost close to half my life has been in one spot so yeah my memories of living commuting and working in like a city in a suburb is so distant i don’t even know if i could relate to it anymore and actually trying to put that plan into action and go about that kind of a life would probably be about as equal as somebody who’s down there now trying to do the same up here yeah that’s true so um
[0:22:22 – 0:22:28] Adam: Every day you spend up here, I guess the life in the South becomes a little more foggy.
[0:22:28 – 0:22:33] Adam: I can’t just pull that out of a pensive and view it vividly again.
[0:22:34 – 0:22:36] Adam: Every day that goes by, it’s like, was that real?
[0:22:36 – 0:22:37] Adam: Was that me?
[0:22:38 – 0:22:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:22:39 – 0:22:42] Erik: No, it’s, yeah, it’s crazy.
[0:22:42 – 0:22:42] Erik: It was.
[0:22:42 – 0:22:46] Erik: So, I mean, so I think, do you have any more questions?
[0:22:47 – 0:22:48] Adam: No, that was the only question I had.
[0:22:48 – 0:22:50] Erik: I kind of liked that there was just the one in there.
[0:22:50 – 0:22:53] Erik: You know, we went back and forth on what we were going to structure this episode around.
[0:22:53 – 0:23:08] Erik: We were going to come at each other with like individual questions, but I didn’t think that would have been, I don’t know, that would have probably, because I imagine we probably would have asked ourselves questions that we were both thinking, so we would have had pretty good answers for them, but.
[0:23:09 – 0:23:21] Erik: Anytime you’re asking somebody in an interview style off the cuff on a podcast that you’re actually recording at the time, that can make for kind of some janky, like, how is this going to go?
[0:23:22 – 0:23:22] Erik: Who knows?
[0:23:22 – 0:23:24] Erik: It could be long-winded.
[0:23:24 – 0:23:28] Erik: Not that we’re not guilty of being long-winded already, but…
[0:23:28 – 0:23:33] Erik: So we kind of boiled it down to just bringing to the table.
[0:23:34 – 0:23:44] Erik: So if you can’t tell, you don’t know, if episode 074 is your first episode, me and Adam live in Cook County, Minnesota.
[0:23:44 – 0:23:49] Erik: It’s the tip of the arrowhead up on the North Shore of Minnesota, Grand Marais, Gunflint Trail region.
[0:23:50 – 0:23:54] Adam: I like to just call it the North Shore now, but it’s so much more than that.
[0:23:54 – 0:23:55] Adam: There’s just not a great way.
[0:23:55 – 0:23:56] Adam: I don’t like the arrowhead.
[0:23:56 – 0:23:57] Erik: I just call it the shore.
[0:23:57 – 0:23:58] Erik: I just call it the shore, baby.
[0:23:59 – 0:23:59] Adam: Yeah.
[0:24:00 – 0:24:00] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:24:00 – 0:24:03] Adam: There’s not a good way to encapsulate what we’re in.
[0:24:03 – 0:24:05] Erik: So we boiled it down to pros and cons.
[0:24:05 – 0:24:05] Erik: Right.
[0:24:06 – 0:24:09] Erik: Like we’re putting together a list like, hey, you want to move up here?
[0:24:10 – 0:24:11] Erik: These are the pros.
[0:24:11 – 0:24:12] Erik: These are the cons.
[0:24:12 – 0:24:12] Erik: Sure.
[0:24:13 – 0:24:18] Erik: As somebody who has lived up here full time year round between the two of us, probably close to 20 years.
[0:24:19 – 0:24:22] Erik: You want to add the years up together, even though they coincide or overlap, whatever.
[0:24:23 – 0:24:23] Erik: Yeah.
[0:24:23 – 0:24:26] Adam: You put it that way, we sound like experts.
[0:24:26 – 0:24:26] Adam: Yeah.
[0:24:27 – 0:24:29] Erik: G-D, enthusiasts.
[0:24:29 – 0:24:31] Adam: We’re enthusiasts, and we’ve gone over this before.
[0:24:32 – 0:24:49] Erik: So I think before we get to the pros and cons that we have, I think the one thing that I took away from putting together my list was that at the top of my pros and cons list, there’s an arrow, or there’s a line with an arrow at both ends, and it says give and take.
[0:24:50 – 0:24:55] Erik: And it really almost, you could have put most of these
[0:24:57 – 0:25:24] Adam: pros in the cons column for different reasons i found that to be the case too like when i’m writing them i’ve got lots of things like cons mozzies but see the good economy part and then i have like a line over to like how the economy is good so it’s like well yeah you got to put up with that to get the good too you gotta take the good with the bad sure you gotta give to get the take
[0:25:25 – 0:25:25] Erik: Yeah.
[0:25:26 – 0:25:44] Erik: Well, on the same hand, what my pros and cons is would be like, we don’t have any bedbugs, but our winters are cold as fuck.
[0:25:44 – 0:25:45] Adam: They are.
[0:25:45 – 0:25:45] Adam: They are really cold.
[0:25:45 – 0:25:49] Erik: So I’ll take those cold winters to kill off the nasties.
[0:25:50 – 0:25:51] Erik: That’s why we don’t have bedbugs?
[0:25:51 – 0:25:53] Erik: It’s one of the bigger reasons, yeah.
[0:25:53 – 0:25:55] Erik: And there’s not any shady hotels around.
[0:25:55 – 0:25:56] Erik: That’s true.
[0:25:56 – 0:26:00] Erik: But just bugs in general or like things that are poisonous, snakes.
[0:26:01 – 0:26:03] Adam: Yeah, there’s no like venomous snakes.
[0:26:03 – 0:26:04] Erik: Yeah.
[0:26:04 – 0:26:05] Adam: There’s no scorpions.
[0:26:06 – 0:26:07] Erik: Definitely no scorpions.
[0:26:07 – 0:26:08] Adam: That’s nice.
[0:26:08 – 0:26:13] Erik: Before we just start going down the list, how do you want to like, I’ve got my pros, I’ve got my cons.
[0:26:13 – 0:26:14] Erik: How do you want to do it?
[0:26:14 – 0:26:15] Erik: Do you want to go back and forth?
[0:26:15 – 0:26:16] Erik: Let’s go through pros.
[0:26:16 – 0:26:18] Erik: Do you want to just go all pros?
[0:26:18 – 0:26:21] Adam: Let’s go all through the pros and then all through the cons at the end.
[0:26:21 – 0:26:21] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:26:21 – 0:26:25] Adam: But like I said, a lot of my pros are connected to the cons.
[0:26:25 – 0:26:27] Adam: So easier said than done.
[0:26:27 – 0:26:28] Adam: Yeah.
[0:26:28 – 0:26:31] Adam: I guess I’m just going to start going through it and crossing out as we go through.
[0:26:32 – 0:26:32] Erik: All right.
[0:26:32 – 0:26:42] Erik: Well, I think I kind of have mine listed in order of what I thought of first, which would lead me to believe that it was more important to me.
[0:26:42 – 0:26:43] Adam: Well, I tried to weight mine.
[0:26:43 – 0:26:45] Adam: So when I wrote one down, I’d be like, okay, that one’s good.
[0:26:45 – 0:26:49] Adam: I’m going to put that towards the top and then kind of these at the bottom.
[0:26:49 – 0:26:53] Adam: Also, I want to mention them, but they’re not as weighted.
[0:26:53 – 0:26:59] Erik: So in terms of pros, I would say that squiggly line equal sign…
[0:27:01 – 0:27:01] Erik: Yes.
[0:27:01 – 0:27:02] Erik: Why I’m here.
[0:27:04 – 0:27:04] Erik: Yes.
[0:27:04 – 0:27:05] Adam: That’s what the pros are.
[0:27:07 – 0:27:13] Erik: And my first one, number one, for sure, is the weather.
[0:27:13 – 0:27:15] Erik: Just everything about it.
[0:27:15 – 0:27:18] Erik: Yeah, I can complain about a little bit here and there.
[0:27:18 – 0:27:22] Erik: But the lack of the heat.
[0:27:22 – 0:27:23] Erik: I’m not a heat guy.
[0:27:24 – 0:27:25] Erik: I can’t handle the heat.
[0:27:25 – 0:27:27] Erik: No humidity whatsoever.
[0:27:27 – 0:27:28] Erik: I can manage.
[0:27:28 – 0:27:31] Adam: Other than like four days in July or August, maybe.
[0:27:31 – 0:27:33] Erik: Yeah, basically.
[0:27:34 – 0:27:39] Erik: And if it gets too much, you just get in the car and you drive down to the big lake.
[0:27:40 – 0:27:40] Adam: That’s right.
[0:27:40 – 0:27:43] Adam: And you sit on the shore and there’s no humidity.
[0:27:43 – 0:27:45] Adam: It’s the air conditioned wilderness.
[0:27:45 – 0:27:45] Erik: Yeah.
[0:27:45 – 0:27:48] Erik: 20 yards within the lake, there’s never any humidity.
[0:27:49 – 0:27:53] Adam: The best thing I have that’s close to this, and I just had an entry called cold.
[0:27:55 – 0:27:55] Adam: Cold.
[0:27:56 – 0:27:56] Adam: Cold.
[0:27:57 – 0:28:04] Adam: And then I go, well, I was kind of talking to a lot of people just around and at work, like, what do you like about living up here?
[0:28:04 – 0:28:07] Adam: And then I got the answer, cold.
[0:28:07 – 0:28:09] Adam: And I go, is that a pro or a con?
[0:28:10 – 0:28:10] Adam: Yes.
[0:28:11 – 0:28:12] Adam: Yes was the response to that.
[0:28:12 – 0:28:13] Adam: So I like that.
[0:28:13 – 0:28:15] Adam: That one is written right in the middle.
[0:28:15 – 0:28:17] Adam: I had to actually move my line over.
[0:28:18 – 0:28:20] Adam: So that’s kind of weather related, I guess.
[0:28:20 – 0:28:21] Adam: And I agree.
[0:28:21 – 0:28:24] Adam: It’s the climate in general up here.
[0:28:24 – 0:28:26] Adam: I really love it.
[0:28:26 – 0:28:30] Adam: I love that there’s eight months or maybe even nine months of winter.
[0:28:30 – 0:28:33] Erik: It’s the thing that affects me the most, you know.
[0:28:34 – 0:28:34] Erik: For sure.
[0:28:35 – 0:28:49] Erik: Whether, you know, because it’s like, well, you must think that living up on the Gunflint Trail or the North Shore or even like the Arrowhead in general, you must just love it because you have access to all of these incredible lakes and the boundary waters.
[0:28:49 – 0:28:50] Erik: And that’s, yeah, that’s true.
[0:28:50 – 0:28:51] Erik: It is a part of it.
[0:28:51 – 0:28:55] Erik: But like that doesn’t affect me nearly as much as just the day to day, the weather.
[0:28:56 – 0:29:19] Adam: yeah and people who visit the boundary water seasonally like mostly come during the summer months which is the um that’s that’s the abnormal time of the year does that make sense yeah well i don’t know that’s not normal but like well you know i would just say like most of the year up here is winter or like sub-winter in some respect and then we have this like
[0:29:19 – 0:29:22] Adam: strange time of two months where it’s nice.
[0:29:22 – 0:29:23] Adam: Yeah, that’s true.
[0:29:23 – 0:29:23] Adam: And warm.
[0:29:24 – 0:29:24] Adam: Too warm, almost.
[0:29:25 – 0:29:29] Adam: And that’s when most of the people are up here seeing it, so they’re like, oh, it’s nice up here.
[0:29:29 – 0:29:33] Adam: But you just like… Everybody knows there is this long winter up here.
[0:29:34 – 0:29:41] Adam: But I don’t think until you’ve spent the whole winter up here that you can truly understand how long and dark and cold the winter can be.
[0:29:42 – 0:29:46] Adam: And maybe people would think that doesn’t sound nice at all.
[0:29:47 – 0:29:50] Adam: But also, that is a beautiful thing.
[0:29:51 – 0:29:52] Adam: Yeah.
[0:29:52 – 0:29:54] Adam: I can’t state that enough.
[0:29:54 – 0:29:56] Adam: Once you’ve spent a winter up here…
[0:29:57 – 0:30:05] Adam: And then you spend another winter up here that you fully begin to appreciate that winter is like a true gift.
[0:30:07 – 0:30:08] Erik: Exactly, yeah.
[0:30:09 – 0:30:22] Erik: So if you can’t embrace winter, you don’t love the cold, it’s probably not the place for you because that is the vast majority.
[0:30:22 – 0:30:25] Erik: It dominates our year up here.
[0:30:26 – 0:30:27] Erik: Yeah.
[0:30:27 – 0:30:29] Erik: Put together a pie chart.
[0:30:30 – 0:30:35] Erik: On a good year, winter is over half of that pie chart.
[0:30:36 – 0:30:45] Erik: On a bad year, it can be close to two-thirds, 75%, depending on what you want to qualify winter as.
[0:30:45 – 0:30:52] Adam: I keep a snow log at the house, and it runs from November all the way to the end of April.
[0:30:53 – 0:30:55] Adam: But we certainly also get snow in October and May.
[0:30:56 – 0:30:57] Erik: Well, especially the last few years we have.
[0:30:58 – 0:30:58] Erik: Yeah.
[0:30:58 – 0:30:59] Adam: I don’t count those snows.
[0:30:59 – 0:31:00] Adam: They don’t count.
[0:31:00 – 0:31:00] Adam: Yeah.
[0:31:01 – 0:31:05] Adam: But we still average at the house well over 100 inches of snow.
[0:31:06 – 0:31:08] Adam: And I measure very conservatively.
[0:31:09 – 0:31:10] Adam: So…
[0:31:11 – 0:31:23] Adam: Yeah, I mean, if you don’t love winter, then, you know, that’s probably, I think this is a good spot to start because everybody pictures the Boundary Waters as like this beautiful July sunset with a loon on the water.
[0:31:24 – 0:31:29] Adam: And it’s nice and warm and, you know, there’s bugs around.
[0:31:30 – 0:31:32] Adam: But that’s like a very small sliver of the year.
[0:31:32 – 0:31:34] Erik: That is a very small slice for sure.
[0:31:35 – 0:31:37] Adam: Like that’s like… 60 days.
[0:31:38 – 0:31:38] Adam: Yeah.
[0:31:38 – 0:31:39] Adam: It’s like Christmas.
[0:31:40 – 0:31:44] Erik: So minus 60 days, you still got 305.
[0:31:44 – 0:31:56] Erik: And then probably another, I would say 50 or 60 are good in terms of like open water and nice paddling and decent weather.
[0:31:57 – 0:32:02] Erik: But then after that, I would say a pretty good chance that they’re going to be cold.
[0:32:02 – 0:32:06] Adam: I really loved ice fishing a lot before I came up here.
[0:32:07 – 0:32:10] Adam: And I still love to ice fish.
[0:32:10 – 0:32:12] Adam: And I like to snowshoe.
[0:32:12 – 0:32:17] Adam: And I’ve kind of started to get into cross-country ski a little bit more, and now we’ve got the Husky.
[0:32:18 – 0:32:21] Adam: I think this winter will hopefully build a little kick sled also.
[0:32:23 – 0:32:31] Adam: There’s a lot of really great things to do in the winter, but I think you have to be honest with yourself if you’re considering the move.
[0:32:32 – 0:32:36] Adam: This is like living in winter, and then the occasional summer comes along.
[0:32:37 – 0:32:40] Adam: Yeah, and I mean… And if you don’t like winter, then it’s not for you.
[0:32:40 – 0:32:44] Adam: But if you like winter, then you’re going to love it up here because it’s always winter.
[0:32:44 – 0:33:00] Erik: That’s not to say that you can’t not love winter in a way that means you’re inside reading books or doing puzzles or crafts.
[0:33:01 – 0:33:02] Erik: It’s just quietness.
[0:33:02 – 0:33:04] Erik: Yeah, the… What is it?
[0:33:06 – 0:33:06] Erik: The…
[0:33:08 – 0:33:25] Erik: the scandinavian term that’s been like tossed around the huger yeah just the quiet times of darkness cold yeah it’s wonderful a lot like we the sauna the the just the yeah the
[0:33:27 – 0:33:30] Erik: I can’t handle that amount of darkness.
[0:33:31 – 0:33:33] Erik: It’s like, yeah, well, you have that balance.
[0:33:33 – 0:33:35] Adam: And you have the wood stove going.
[0:33:35 – 0:33:38] Erik: And I actually prefer a little bit of an earlier…
[0:33:39 – 0:33:41] Erik: I actually love the darkness.
[0:33:41 – 0:33:42] Erik: I do.
[0:33:42 – 0:33:44] Adam: I can’t do… That’s the big part, I guess.
[0:33:44 – 0:33:47] Adam: People are like, it’s cold and frigid and…
[0:33:47 – 0:33:48] Adam: But it’s the darkness, truly.
[0:33:49 – 0:33:53] Adam: In the winter, it’s dark when I go to work, and then by the time I get off work, it’s dark again.
[0:33:53 – 0:33:55] Adam: It’s always dark.
[0:33:55 – 0:33:58] Adam: If you can’t handle that, that’s another deal breaker.
[0:33:58 – 0:33:59] Adam: If you can’t handle that, then that’s…
[0:34:03 – 0:34:06] Adam: and take what’s good about it, then, oh, my God, you’re in heaven.
[0:34:07 – 0:34:11] Erik: I think it’s almost, for me, the opposite.
[0:34:12 – 0:34:19] Erik: I think I’ve talked about this in the solstice episodes where I can’t handle the light.
[0:34:19 – 0:34:21] Erik: The light is too much in June.
[0:34:21 – 0:34:22] Adam: In June when it’s never dark.
[0:34:22 – 0:34:23] Adam: It’s absurd.
[0:34:23 – 0:34:24] Adam: It is.
[0:34:24 – 0:34:24] Adam: There’s nothing.
[0:34:24 – 0:34:24] Adam: It’s absurd.
[0:34:25 – 0:34:25] Adam: It’s absurd.
[0:34:25 – 0:34:29] Erik: Because I, you know, at the end of the day, I like to feel cozy.
[0:34:29 – 0:34:30] Adam: Yeah.
[0:34:30 – 0:34:31] Adam: I like to be cozy.
[0:34:31 – 0:34:32] Erik: I can’t.
[0:34:33 – 0:34:34] Erik: There’s no way.
[0:34:34 – 0:34:36] Erik: I’ve never felt cozy in June.
[0:34:37 – 0:34:38] Adam: Yeah, it’s just disgusting.
[0:34:38 – 0:34:40] Erik: It’s a disgusting month.
[0:34:40 – 0:34:43] Adam: Yeah, I think this is the key to this entire episode.
[0:34:43 – 0:34:46] Adam: I think most people, when they’re thinking like, what’s the best thing ever?
[0:34:46 – 0:34:48] Adam: It’s like a hot summer day.
[0:34:49 – 0:34:55] Adam: And then for people who live up here, I think almost uniformly, you can talk to the 4,500 people who live here year round.
[0:34:55 – 0:34:57] Adam: You guys are like, what’s the perfect day?
[0:34:57 – 0:35:02] Adam: Like a really cold, dark day where you get to like sit inside, maybe take a hike and then sit inside by the fire.
[0:35:03 – 0:35:04] Adam: Yeah, exactly.
[0:35:04 – 0:35:07] Adam: In the dark, read a book like with a sweater on.
[0:35:07 – 0:35:30] Adam: a couple of comfy warm lights on and like a couple of logs burning in the wood stuff and that’s you know the quiet you referenced like i think i had this down and it’s not really like climate related but like just the quiet we we get to experience up here yeah and winter is the best time for that quiet yeah and then as we’re talking about darkness too i also had written down dark skies
[0:35:30 – 0:35:33] Erik: Ah, that was not on my list, but that is, I mean, that’s huge.
[0:35:33 – 0:35:42] Adam: It’s like here in the bottom of the Grand Canyon in the lower 48 where it’s truly considered like a pure dark sky.
[0:35:43 – 0:35:48] Adam: So I think that’s a good time to just mention those just as far as like the atmosphere.
[0:35:49 – 0:35:51] Adam: The quiet that you can experience.
[0:35:51 – 0:36:06] Erik: I don’t know if it makes much sense to continue on in any kind of shape or form that’s weighted because that definitely jumps me down to the remoteness, the solitude, the quiet.
[0:36:07 – 0:36:17] Erik: It’s not something that you need to… Cook County and living up here doesn’t force you to not watch television.
[0:36:18 – 0:36:23] Erik: But it makes it a lot easier to not even think about it.
[0:36:24 – 0:36:38] Erik: So the remoteness, the solitude, and the quiet, just in terms of your actual surroundings, is directly translated to just like you don’t feel like you’re constantly surrounded by that buzz of…
[0:36:40 – 0:36:42] Erik: Whatever the fakeness is that’s happening on TV.
[0:36:42 – 0:36:44] Adam: There’s like three radio stations you can get.
[0:36:44 – 0:36:48] Adam: You can’t get any over-the-air TV.
[0:36:48 – 0:36:48] Adam: No.
[0:36:48 – 0:36:54] Adam: Almost nobody I know subscribes to a satellite or a cable TV package.
[0:36:54 – 0:36:55] Erik: There is no cable up here.
[0:36:55 – 0:36:56] Erik: It’s all satellite.
[0:36:56 – 0:37:03] Erik: Yeah, if you can get a satellite to work, then a lot of people… My parents, they tried to get a satellite, and they’re like, no, the trees are too tall.
[0:37:03 – 0:37:04] Erik: You can’t get a good angle.
[0:37:04 – 0:37:04] Erik: Sorry.
[0:37:04 – 0:37:05] Erik: Sorry.
[0:37:05 – 0:37:08] Adam: So yeah, that’s another great thing about it.
[0:37:09 – 0:37:12] Adam: That also comes back to the quietness of it.
[0:37:12 – 0:37:23] Erik: Yeah, it’s a nuanced quiet that’s like, yes, obviously the outside is quiet, but Grand Marais is quiet.
[0:37:24 – 0:37:26] Erik: It’s a quiet little town.
[0:37:27 – 0:37:29] Erik: Your media options are quiet.
[0:37:31 – 0:37:39] Adam: Yeah, like there’s three radio stations and one of them is NPR and the other one’s The Tip, which other than one we’re on is like…
[0:37:40 – 0:38:05] Adam: yeah when we’re on it’s a little tame yeah all right so you’re not gonna get you’re not gonna get too agitated listening to the media up here which is nice but uh yeah i like the dark skies aspect of it i’m gonna just keep working from my top down and then as we kind of touch on each other’s subjects we can kind of jump around as needed all right i’m just kind of crossing stuff off so i make sure we i get to everything yeah hit me with your next one
[0:38:05 – 0:38:11] Adam: So with dark skies, as I said, it’s one of the few spots in America where you can just walk outside at night and see the Milky Way.
[0:38:12 – 0:38:12] Adam: Amazing.
[0:38:13 – 0:38:16] Adam: Like tonight, you know, it’s pretty dark out there.
[0:38:17 – 0:38:18] Adam: The clouds have kind of moved out tonight.
[0:38:18 – 0:38:23] Adam: I suspect on the ride home today, I’m going to see some pretty good clouds on the way out.
[0:38:23 – 0:38:25] Adam: And then there’s going to be these amazing stars tonight.
[0:38:26 – 0:38:29] Adam: I’m going to maybe be able to see the Milky Way while I’m driving.
[0:38:29 – 0:38:29] Adam: That’s nuts.
[0:38:29 – 0:38:36] Adam: But if you just step out at night and turn off all the lights in the house and stand on the porch, it’s one of the greatest views you can ever see.
[0:38:37 – 0:38:38] Adam: Just on any night where there’s no clouds.
[0:38:39 – 0:38:42] Adam: Then on top of that, the Aurora Borealis.
[0:38:42 – 0:38:43] Adam: I had this one pretty high on my list.
[0:38:44 – 0:38:47] Adam: And it’s also connected by a line to the dark skies and the quiet.
[0:38:47 – 0:38:49] Adam: So Aurora Borealis.
[0:38:50 – 0:38:52] Adam: I’ve seen them when I lived in Wisconsin.
[0:38:52 – 0:38:53] Adam: Very rarely.
[0:38:53 – 0:38:56] Adam: Since I moved up here, I’ve seen them a lot more.
[0:38:56 – 0:38:59] Adam: And it’s one of the greatest things you can see in the world.
[0:39:00 – 0:39:03] Adam: And if you live up here, you have a very good chance of seeing them.
[0:39:04 – 0:39:20] Adam: pretty regularly when I moved up here we’re like on a higher frequency they tend to move in an undulation of 11 year waves we’re at solar minimum we’re kind of at a minimum right now but tonight the KP is actually kind of high so it’s out of five I was out there I did not see any activity but it is early
[0:39:20 – 0:39:29] Adam: Yeah, so, I mean, later tonight, I definitely anticipate I will be, like, spending some time on the porch in the darkness looking to the north.
[0:39:29 – 0:39:32] Adam: And we have a beautiful view to the north here.
[0:39:32 – 0:39:35] Adam: It’s one of my favorite things about living up here.
[0:39:36 – 0:39:39] Adam: That’s year-round winter, summer, spring, fall.
[0:39:39 – 0:39:41] Adam: You have the chance to see that.
[0:39:41 – 0:39:44] Adam: And, like I said, even if you don’t have the northern lights out,
[0:39:45 – 0:39:48] Adam: Just to step outside and see the Milky Way with your naked eye.
[0:39:51 – 0:39:52] Adam: It’s so good.
[0:39:54 – 0:40:00] Adam: Once you see the stars up here, anybody who’s come up here into the Boundary Waters has seen this, what I’m talking about.
[0:40:01 – 0:40:04] Adam: Once you’ve seen it, it just doesn’t look the same when you’re down south.
[0:40:05 – 0:40:11] Adam: Light pollution is a real problem in this country and in this world.
[0:40:12 – 0:40:16] Adam: And up here, it’s one of the few places where it’s still pretty much untouched by that.
[0:40:16 – 0:40:23] Adam: At worst, on a weird cloudy night, you might see the beam of Grammaray International kind of pulsing in the distance.
[0:40:24 – 0:40:27] Erik: Or if you’ve got your long exposure set up, you can maybe do Thunder Bay a little bit.
[0:40:27 – 0:40:29] Adam: For the most part.
[0:40:30 – 0:40:33] Adam: But it was near the top of my list for pros.
[0:40:34 – 0:40:54] Adam: yeah i’m glad that you’re that we’re together doing this i didn’t have that on there anywhere i don’t know this is why we do it together it was not on there uh we are both minds together better than one and with all of our friends yeah all right better all right so where does that take you
[0:40:56 – 0:41:00] Erik: That one doesn’t lead me to any place directly on the list.
[0:41:01 – 0:41:11] Erik: So I’m just going to go down to my next pro, which is probably the one that I would think most people would just assume, which is just the general access to the Boundary Waters.
[0:41:11 – 0:41:23] Erik: But not even that, just everybody would… Not everybody, but I would think, especially for me personally, when I thought about moving up here and living up here, it was…
[0:41:24 – 0:41:25] Erik: Oh, the Boundary Waters.
[0:41:25 – 0:41:26] Erik: It’s just right there, the Boundary Waters.
[0:41:27 – 0:41:30] Erik: But there is so much more than just the Boundary Waters.
[0:41:30 – 0:41:39] Erik: The Superior National Forest and all the little lakes, and not so little, but just the little places that you wouldn’t think of.
[0:41:40 – 0:41:40] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:41:40 – 0:41:51] Erik: And the exploration and the almost unlimited multiple lifetimes worth of exploration that the woods of the Superior National Forest has to offer is
[0:41:52 – 0:41:59] Erik: That doesn’t even come close to even talking about the rivers on the shore, the big lake.
[0:41:59 – 0:41:59] Erik: Oh, man.
[0:41:59 – 0:42:02] Erik: I mean, just the outdoor opportunities.
[0:42:02 – 0:42:04] Adam: I still haven’t even caught a steelhead.
[0:42:05 – 0:42:08] Adam: That’s something that’s like, wow, I would love to catch a steelhead.
[0:42:08 – 0:42:10] Adam: How do I get into that?
[0:42:10 – 0:42:11] Adam: I’ve been up here how long?
[0:42:12 – 0:42:13] Adam: I still haven’t caught a steelhead on the shore.
[0:42:14 – 0:42:14] Adam: It’s coming.
[0:42:14 – 0:42:15] Adam: Oh, it’s coming.
[0:42:15 – 0:42:15] Adam: It’s coming.
[0:42:17 – 0:42:24] Erik: I mean, there’s just in terms of lakes alone, I’ve been to quite a few of them.
[0:42:25 – 0:42:29] Erik: I’ve not been to, it’s a fraction.
[0:42:29 – 0:42:32] Adam: Yeah, I had written here, this fits nice here.
[0:42:33 – 0:42:37] Adam: The Boundary Waters in Quetico itself is surrounded by a massive wilderness.
[0:42:37 – 0:42:38] Erik: Yeah, well, that’s great.
[0:42:38 – 0:42:39] Erik: I like that.
[0:42:39 – 0:42:44] Adam: So not just like, obviously, like we all moved up here for the Boundary Waters.
[0:42:45 – 0:42:49] Adam: But then you think about it, once you actually are up here and you spend some time in the Boundary Waters, amazing.
[0:42:50 – 0:42:54] Adam: But there’s so much around the Boundary Waters, it just dwarfs the park itself.
[0:42:55 – 0:42:56] Erik: Yeah.
[0:42:56 – 0:42:58] Adam: It’s a super park.
[0:42:58 – 0:43:04] Adam: This whole county, the size of Delaware and Connecticut put together is all wilderness, literally.
[0:43:04 – 0:43:05] Adam: It’s like 5% privately owned.
[0:43:07 – 0:43:10] Adam: Everything else is either the Boundary Waters or federal or state.
[0:43:11 – 0:43:14] Adam: Pretty much anywhere you want to walk is going to be some sort of public land.
[0:43:14 – 0:43:14] Erik: Yeah.
[0:43:14 – 0:43:15] Adam: Public land.
[0:43:15 – 0:43:17] Adam: I mean, just think of that.
[0:43:18 – 0:43:33] Erik: Yeah, I love the idea of like, and this is probably true in a lot of places, but like becoming super familiar and like kind of finding not so much like loopholes, but like little places that it just is like,
[0:43:35 – 0:43:47] Erik: You feel so much more connected with the place when you get to find one of those little places that’s not just Clearwater Lake.
[0:43:48 – 0:43:50] Erik: And that’s not a slight on Clearwater at all.
[0:43:50 – 0:43:51] Erik: I love how accessible it is.
[0:43:51 – 0:43:52] Erik: It’s a beautiful lake.
[0:43:52 – 0:43:56] Erik: It should be visited by as many people as possible.
[0:43:57 – 0:43:59] Erik: But it’s also super cool when you get out on…
[0:44:01 – 0:44:07] Erik: Fill-in-the-blank little tiny lake that gets overlooked because it’s not in the Bonjewaters.
[0:44:08 – 0:44:09] Erik: Vegetable chain.
[0:44:10 – 0:44:10] Erik: Cave.
[0:44:11 – 0:44:12] Erik: Yeah, well, cave.
[0:44:12 – 0:44:20] Erik: Yeah, that’s a Bonjewaters lake, but it’s, you know, it’s a little bit more of a difficult traverse in and out.
[0:44:21 – 0:44:24] Erik: But just the overall exploration of the area.
[0:44:24 – 0:44:26] Adam: The opportunities are endless.
[0:44:26 – 0:44:26] Adam: Yes.
[0:44:27 – 0:44:28] Adam: There really is.
[0:44:28 – 0:44:32] Adam: You could just go to a new lake every day and never run out.
[0:44:32 – 0:44:37] Erik: I mean, even after that, it’s like, okay, well, I got a weekend.
[0:44:38 – 0:44:39] Erik: Drive over to Ely.
[0:44:40 – 0:44:46] Erik: That is even, you know, you haven’t even scratched the surface on just one county over.
[0:44:47 – 0:44:47] Erik: Right.
[0:44:47 – 0:44:52] Erik: You know, so it’s like, yes, the Boundary Waters was the impetus.
[0:44:53 – 0:44:54] Erik: The original draw was.
[0:44:54 – 0:45:02] Erik: But since then, I think the surrounding forests, Grand Portage, the roads and the trails up there,
[0:45:03 – 0:45:04] Adam: It’s amazing up there.
[0:45:04 – 0:45:05] Adam: It’s crazy.
[0:45:05 – 0:45:07] Erik: Those are some of my best-held secrets.
[0:45:07 – 0:45:09] Erik: I will never divulge those ones.
[0:45:09 – 0:45:10] Erik: But then the shore.
[0:45:11 – 0:45:15] Erik: And then I did add this one kind of late just because of my recent move.
[0:45:16 – 0:45:18] Erik: But Lake Superior and the Big Lake.
[0:45:18 – 0:45:20] Adam: I had Big Lake written here, too.
[0:45:20 – 0:45:27] Erik: My relationship with the Gitche Gumee has transitioned in a way.
[0:45:29 – 0:45:31] Erik: It was never really one of those things.
[0:45:31 – 0:45:32] Erik: For the longest time, I was like, what?
[0:45:33 – 0:45:39] Erik: Why do people like… Because all the resorts on the way up from Duluth, it was always just like, who’s staying at these resorts?
[0:45:39 – 0:45:41] Adam: What are you doing down in a big lake?
[0:45:41 – 0:45:41] Erik: Whatever.
[0:45:41 – 0:45:42] Adam: Yeah.
[0:45:42 – 0:45:42] Adam: Why are you stopping here?
[0:45:42 – 0:45:44] Adam: You should be going all the way to the Boundary Waters.
[0:45:44 – 0:45:44] Erik: Yeah.
[0:45:45 – 0:45:47] Erik: But now that I live in a place…
[0:45:48 – 0:45:50] Erik: Well, I actually don’t really live there yet.
[0:45:50 – 0:45:53] Erik: I haven’t moved to my house yet.
[0:45:53 – 0:45:54] Adam: You will someday.
[0:45:54 – 0:45:58] Erik: Yeah, we can see the lake, the big lake from our house.
[0:45:58 – 0:46:09] Erik: And the few nights I’ve spent there, it’s just been a complete revelation in terms of like getting to see it in all its different shapes and forms.
[0:46:09 – 0:46:14] Adam: Well, I always feel like I can’t see it from our house, but I drive by it every day now.
[0:46:14 – 0:46:18] Adam: And it’s been years, and every day it looks different.
[0:46:18 – 0:46:18] Adam: Yeah.
[0:46:19 – 0:46:19] Adam: It’s amazing.
[0:46:20 – 0:46:21] Adam: Every day we just drive down the hill.
[0:46:21 – 0:46:23] Adam: We get to carpool a lot together now, and I’m just like,
[0:46:25 – 0:46:26] Adam: I’ve never seen it look like that.
[0:46:26 – 0:46:27] Adam: Like, what are we looking at?
[0:46:28 – 0:46:31] Adam: Some days you’re just not even sure what’s up and down when you look at it.
[0:46:31 – 0:46:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:31 – 0:46:33] Erik: Especially when it’s super calm.
[0:46:33 – 0:46:33] Adam: Yes.
[0:46:34 – 0:46:34] Adam: That’s some of the best.
[0:46:35 – 0:46:37] Adam: But every day it looks a little different.
[0:46:37 – 0:46:47] Adam: Like, every day is a new painting it’s giving you of this world’s greatest freshwater resource that we happen to be in the watershed of.
[0:46:47 – 0:46:47] Adam: Yeah.
[0:46:47 – 0:46:47] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:48 – 0:46:53] Adam: And that would also be a good way to just talk about the water and air.
[0:46:54 – 0:46:55] Adam: Oh, yeah, for sure.
[0:46:57 – 0:47:02] Adam: We often talk on this podcast about we just drink water right out of the lake.
[0:47:02 – 0:47:07] Erik: That guided trip that I described to you last week was scooping the entire time.
[0:47:07 – 0:47:08] Adam: Yeah.
[0:47:09 – 0:47:09] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:47:09 – 0:47:14] Adam: I never really thought that it was even possible before I moved up here.
[0:47:16 – 0:47:16] Adam: It happens all the time.
[0:47:17 – 0:47:18] Adam: The water up here is so good.
[0:47:18 – 0:47:22] Adam: The water coming out of our well at home is amazing.
[0:47:22 – 0:47:25] Adam: I used to drink the spring water from nearby.
[0:47:26 – 0:47:28] Adam: some of the best stuff you’ve ever tasted.
[0:47:28 – 0:47:44] Adam: And like, I remember when I first was working up here and just like the air, you know, and then, you know, like I went back down South and it was like, and it wasn’t until you like went back down South that you like, you’re like, Oh, I missed that air.
[0:47:45 – 0:47:46] Adam: And then you come back and you’re just like,
[0:47:49 – 0:47:50] Adam: Oh, man, the air up here.
[0:47:51 – 0:47:52] Adam: Yeah, I hear that a lot.
[0:47:52 – 0:47:59] Adam: And now that I’m up here all the time, I don’t think I appreciate it as much, but I know it to be true that this air is exceptional.
[0:47:59 – 0:48:04] Erik: Yeah, and that’s, I mean, at this point, is this going to be two parts?
[0:48:05 – 0:48:05] Erik: No.
[0:48:05 – 0:48:08] Erik: This could be, how are we going to get to cons?
[0:48:08 – 0:48:10] Adam: Oh, yeah, maybe it might be two parts.
[0:48:10 – 0:48:11] Adam: Pros and cons.
[0:48:11 – 0:48:13] Adam: Well, we don’t want to have a whole episode of just cons.
[0:48:13 – 0:48:14] Adam: Yeah, that’s true, but.
[0:48:15 – 0:48:17] Adam: Maybe we won’t spend as much time on the cons.
[0:48:19 – 0:48:37] Erik: boy oh boy so and then that was kind of starting to speak to one of my deep cons which is like taking it for granted yeah once you’re in a place and that that was like the thing is like you get people like oh the fresh air and I never sleep so well like after like coming up here after the second night and it’s like
[0:48:38 – 0:48:41] Erik: You just don’t even start thinking about those things after you’ve been up here.
[0:48:41 – 0:48:42] Adam: I think that’s a good point.
[0:48:42 – 0:48:48] Adam: I did not note that, but taking it for granted can be a con, but that can be applied to anything in life.
[0:48:48 – 0:48:48] Adam: Yeah.
[0:48:48 – 0:48:56] Adam: I remember my first summer here, I spent the whole summer here, and then I went back to college, and I was in the dorms, and I could not sleep.
[0:48:56 – 0:48:57] Erik: Too loud.
[0:48:57 – 0:48:58] Adam: No, it’s too loud.
[0:48:58 – 0:48:59] Adam: There’s too much light.
[0:48:59 – 0:49:01] Adam: There’s way too much noise.
[0:49:01 – 0:49:02] Adam: And the air sucked.
[0:49:03 – 0:49:07] Adam: Just sterile dorm air.
[0:49:07 – 0:49:08] Adam: I felt suffocated.
[0:49:10 – 0:49:12] Adam: I just almost couldn’t function.
[0:49:13 – 0:49:35] Adam: i i eventually like okay acclimated with enough cheap beer and yeah distractions where i made it through but like it always was in the back of my mind like this isn’t right to be breathing this this recycled air yeah this dirty air yeah so all right uh all right we got through the clean air and water and i would just say like
[0:49:38 – 0:49:42] Adam: I should know when we’re talking about the big wilderness and the vastness of the wilderness.
[0:49:43 – 0:49:44] Adam: I asked Natalie, what’s your favorite part?
[0:49:44 – 0:49:45] Adam: What’s the best pro?
[0:49:46 – 0:49:47] Adam: She just said woods.
[0:49:48 – 0:49:49] Erik: The woods.
[0:49:49 – 0:49:49] Erik: Yeah.
[0:49:49 – 0:49:50] Adam: The woods.
[0:49:50 – 0:49:50] Adam: They’re everywhere.
[0:49:51 – 0:49:55] Adam: Unlimited woods, which it’s not really unlimited, but it’s true.
[0:49:56 – 0:49:58] Adam: And I add to that big trees.
[0:49:59 – 0:50:00] Adam: I love big trees.
[0:50:00 – 0:50:00] Adam: Yeah.
[0:50:01 – 0:50:01] Adam: I’ve been out west.
[0:50:01 – 0:50:04] Adam: You see some really big stuff out there, but up here…
[0:50:05 – 0:50:06] Adam: You get some double huggers.
[0:50:06 – 0:50:07] Adam: Double huggers.
[0:50:09 – 0:50:10] Adam: Big woods, big trees.
[0:50:10 – 0:50:11] Adam: I love it.
[0:50:11 – 0:50:13] Adam: I will never get sick of those big trees.
[0:50:14 – 0:50:15] Adam: We got some land.
[0:50:15 – 0:50:16] Adam: We got a house.
[0:50:17 – 0:50:24] Adam: There’s not any really big trees by the house, but on the land, I got some pine trees that are over a hug.
[0:50:24 – 0:50:28] Adam: I don’t have any double huggers, but over a hug pine trees.
[0:50:28 – 0:50:29] Adam: How old are those trees?
[0:50:30 – 0:50:32] Adam: How big are they going to be when I’m old?
[0:50:32 – 0:50:34] Adam: when I’m old, I’m old.
[0:50:35 – 0:50:35] Erik: Yeah.
[0:50:35 – 0:50:37] Adam: I dreamt I was hugging a tree.
[0:50:38 – 0:50:42] Erik: Me and Tori got one double hugger on the land, which is always sick.
[0:50:42 – 0:50:43] Erik: That one’s big.
[0:50:43 – 0:50:43] Adam: Yeah.
[0:50:43 – 0:50:46] Adam: Like those, those big trees just, yeah.
[0:50:46 – 0:50:47] Adam: Oh man.
[0:50:47 – 0:50:48] Adam: It just makes me giddy.
[0:50:48 – 0:50:49] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:50:49 – 0:50:50] Adam: I’m sure people can tell.
[0:50:50 – 0:50:53] Adam: I’m giddy by these big trees up here.
[0:50:53 – 0:50:55] Adam: I love it.
[0:50:55 – 0:50:56] Erik: Big trees.
[0:50:57 – 0:51:01] Erik: I think I see your next, uh, pro, which is definitely my next pro.
[0:51:03 – 0:51:21] Adam: oh no yeah yeah that’s all right we’ll go back to that one no traffic yes i used to really uh i didn’t even live in a place where there was like lots of traffic or rush hour or anything but like you know traffic stoplights and whatnot bunch of yeah
[0:51:23 – 0:51:24] Adam: There’s no traffic up here.
[0:51:24 – 0:51:27] Adam: There’s one stoplight in the whole county, and they honestly don’t need that.
[0:51:28 – 0:51:29] Adam: I wish they didn’t have it.
[0:51:29 – 0:51:30] Adam: I wish we got rid of that stoplight.
[0:51:31 – 0:51:32] Adam: Traffic light.
[0:51:32 – 0:51:33] Adam: It’s not necessary.
[0:51:33 – 0:51:35] Adam: You could just put a… Don’t even have one there.
[0:51:36 – 0:51:38] Adam: Or put a roundabout in or whatever.
[0:51:38 – 0:51:39] Adam: You don’t need it, but…
[0:51:41 – 0:51:51] Adam: Yeah, there’s no traffic up here, and it used to really give me a lot of stress in life, and I like to just drive around up here, and you literally rarely see another vehicle, especially in winter.
[0:51:52 – 0:51:55] Adam: Yeah, the commute is super easy.
[0:51:55 – 0:51:56] Adam: You just put on a podcast.
[0:51:56 – 0:51:57] Adam: It’s beautiful wherever you’re driving.
[0:51:57 – 0:51:59] Adam: Whatever your favorite podcast, whatever that might be.
[0:51:59 – 0:52:00] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:52:00 – 0:52:04] Adam: Or put on the Sam Cohen album and just rock out.
[0:52:05 – 0:52:10] Erik: Yeah, it’s sort of one of those things that like you get – it’s again that like taking it for granted.
[0:52:10 – 0:52:19] Erik: You get so used to getting to drive wherever you want, whenever you want, essentially as fast as you want.
[0:52:19 – 0:52:19] Erik: Pretty much.
[0:52:19 – 0:52:21] Erik: But not obviously speeding.
[0:52:21 – 0:52:24] Adam: And I didn’t have this on the list, but no law.
[0:52:24 – 0:52:29] Adam: I mean there is law up here, but it’s a little looser than that.
[0:52:29 – 0:52:30] Adam: I mean –
[0:52:32 – 0:52:34] Adam: I don’t know, not that you can just drive 100 wherever you want.
[0:52:34 – 0:52:35] Adam: No.
[0:52:35 – 0:52:36] Adam: I mean, you want to be safe.
[0:52:37 – 0:52:40] Adam: But there is a little bit less of that, like, you got to watch out.
[0:52:40 – 0:52:42] Erik: They’re watching you.
[0:52:42 – 0:52:43] Adam: Nobody’s watching you.
[0:52:43 – 0:52:46] Adam: It’s up to you to succeed or fail.
[0:52:46 – 0:52:49] Adam: Nobody’s going to pay you.
[0:52:49 – 0:52:50] Adam: If you get in trouble, nobody’s coming to help you.
[0:52:50 – 0:52:53] Adam: And if you’re being bad, nobody’s coming to punish you.
[0:52:54 – 0:52:55] Adam: It’s a real freedom up here.
[0:52:55 – 0:52:57] Erik: The real give and take.
[0:52:57 – 0:52:57] Erik: It is a give and take.
[0:52:58 – 0:53:12] Erik: If you want to come up here and make that happen, you’re not going to be constantly surveilled, but you’re also not going to have an easy option if something does come up and you need help.
[0:53:12 – 0:53:14] Adam: Yeah, I got a couple corollaries on this.
[0:53:14 – 0:53:27] Adam: The traffic is great, but then you’re used to there not being traffic, and then if you get stuck behind one slow tourist, it kind of is like, oh my god, it’s one car in front of you.
[0:53:27 – 0:53:30] Adam: It’s hard to pass people because the roads are so curvy, and you’re like…
[0:53:31 – 0:53:31] Adam: This is ridiculous.
[0:53:31 – 0:53:33] Adam: I got behind an RV doing 30.
[0:53:33 – 0:53:34] Adam: I couldn’t get by him.
[0:53:35 – 0:53:36] Erik: Yeah, that’s the give and take.
[0:53:36 – 0:53:47] Erik: It’s like you get so used to it being free for all, and then all of a sudden it’s like a road yacht towing a Jeep, towing a boat with a kayak in it.
[0:53:47 – 0:53:50] Adam: I used to flip people off driving.
[0:53:52 – 0:53:55] Adam: My temper used to be pretty terrible living down south.
[0:53:56 – 0:54:05] Adam: I feel like just as a result of living up here, not having to generally deal with stress or traffic or any of that stuff, it’s a bunch of nonsense.
[0:54:05 – 0:54:11] Adam: I’ve just also, as I’ve grown a little older, realized it’s not worth getting worked up over these little things.
[0:54:11 – 0:54:33] Adam: yeah but it’s funny when you’re like used to living up here and not having to deal with traffic and then you get behind somebody like how dare this person be out on my gravel road yeah well that’s the other thing too like yeah all right fine you’re on the gunflint trail true you’re on it you’re on a back road yeah well that’s the thing everybody’s like well yeah i used to live on the trail and then everybody’s like well what do you how do you like living down in town and
[0:54:33 – 0:54:34] Adam: It’s like, I don’t live in town.
[0:54:34 – 0:54:35] Adam: I live out in the middle of nowhere.
[0:54:35 – 0:54:39] Adam: And actually, there’s way less traffic out there than there is on the Gunflint Trail.
[0:54:39 – 0:54:42] Adam: I can’t believe I’m saying the Gunflint Trail has traffic.
[0:54:42 – 0:54:46] Adam: But compared to where we are and where your place is, really, there’s nothing out there.
[0:54:47 – 0:54:47] Erik: No.
[0:54:47 – 0:54:51] Adam: And then this kind of is a good way to bring back to my top pro…
[0:54:52 – 0:55:07] Adam: besides the quiet and dark skies was just general solitude and I guess we’ve already kind of touched on this so we don’t have to spend too much time but just the general low population density most of the year especially in winter like you can go days without seeing somebody if you want to
[0:55:09 – 0:55:14] Erik: I don’t know if you pulled it from somewhere or if I just remembered you saying it.
[0:55:14 – 0:55:18] Erik: We were talking about this in the maps episode.
[0:55:18 – 0:55:26] Erik: The turn of phrase that you use, I think early on, maybe the first summer that we met, where we’re like living at the capillaries of society.
[0:55:26 – 0:55:27] Erik: Yes.
[0:55:27 – 0:55:28] Erik: I like that.
[0:55:28 – 0:55:33] Erik: The first time I heard it and if I could live even more.
[0:55:33 – 0:55:34] Adam: It’s where the most oxygen is.
[0:55:35 – 0:55:35] Erik: Yeah.
[0:55:35 – 0:55:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:55:37 – 0:55:37] Erik: Yes.
[0:55:37 – 0:55:41] Erik: I mean, I like visiting the arteries and the aortas.
[0:55:41 – 0:55:42] Adam: Oh, for sure.
[0:55:42 – 0:55:43] Erik: And the thick parts occasionally.
[0:55:43 – 0:55:46] Adam: Yeah, pump me through a ventricle once in a while.
[0:55:46 – 0:55:49] Erik: But I prefer to be out in the quiet capillaries.
[0:55:49 – 0:55:50] Adam: I do, too.
[0:55:50 – 0:55:54] Adam: And that’s a good, yeah, I had forgotten that phrase, but that’s true.
[0:55:55 – 0:55:55] Adam: Yeah.
[0:55:55 – 0:55:58] Adam: So, yeah, there’s very little people up here, as we’ve noted a few times.
[0:55:58 – 0:56:05] Adam: It’s a very large area of land and water, and almost nobody living here year-round comes
[0:56:05 – 0:56:06] Adam: That could be the title of the episode.
[0:56:08 – 0:56:08] Adam: Almost Nobody?
[0:56:09 – 0:56:10] Erik: The Capillaries of Society.
[0:56:10 – 0:56:12] Adam: The Capillaries of Society.
[0:56:12 – 0:56:12] Adam: We’ll write that down.
[0:56:12 – 0:56:13] Adam: That’s good.
[0:56:14 – 0:56:15] Erik: Write that down.
[0:56:16 – 0:56:17] Erik: Do you want me to go with another pro?
[0:56:18 – 0:56:18] Adam: Yes.
[0:56:19 – 0:56:31] Erik: I just think in general, you know, you live in a small-ish community, wilderness-based, and you’ve got kind of a small town to work with.
[0:56:32 – 0:56:34] Erik: Usually, they’re pretty run-of-the-mill.
[0:56:35 – 0:56:37] Erik: I’ve lived in some of them, I know.
[0:56:38 – 0:56:39] Erik: They have the basic…
[0:56:42 – 0:56:49] Erik: infrastructure that you would expect for the locals to get by.
[0:56:50 – 0:56:51] Erik: Not much to speak of.
[0:56:53 – 0:56:57] Erik: Grand Marais is an incredible little town.
[0:56:57 – 0:56:58] Erik: It sure is.
[0:56:58 – 0:57:11] Erik: To be able to say that that is kind of the town, the community, the infrastructure, just…
[0:57:11 – 0:57:16] Erik: In general, kind of my base point where I get my supplies.
[0:57:16 – 0:57:18] Adam: Yeah, when you say, like, I’m going to town, that’s the town.
[0:57:18 – 0:57:19] Adam: Going to town.
[0:57:19 – 0:57:20] Adam: Yeah, it’s the town.
[0:57:20 – 0:57:21] Erik: It’s Grand Marais.
[0:57:22 – 0:57:23] Erik: It’s amazing.
[0:57:23 – 0:57:26] Erik: I mean, yes, it is a give and take.
[0:57:26 – 0:57:30] Erik: There are cons to the fact that it is as popular as it is.
[0:57:31 – 0:57:36] Erik: but I’ve lived in Ely, I’ve lived in Isabella.
[0:57:36 – 0:57:47] Erik: I’ve seen what some of those smaller towns, well, yes, they are surrounded by an incredible wilderness and opportunities and weather that we’ve talked about that allow you to do just about anything that you want.
[0:57:48 – 0:57:56] Erik: A part of me, and this is me, subjective, does like that artery occasionally.
[0:57:56 – 0:57:57] Erik: Yeah.
[0:57:57 – 0:58:14] Erik: Does like to visit and get a little bit of that, like, culture, music, not even cosmopolitan, but, like, to a certain extent, something more than just a bar, a church, and a grocery store.
[0:58:14 – 0:58:16] Erik: And Grammaray offers…
[0:58:17 – 0:58:23] Erik: For a small town of its size, for locals, that and more.
[0:58:24 – 0:58:24] Erik: It’s pretty amazing.
[0:58:25 – 0:58:29] Adam: It’s very artistic and creative.
[0:58:29 – 0:58:32] Adam: You can just tell it’s a special place.
[0:58:34 – 0:58:50] Erik: Which I think beyond the fact that whatever the hokey votes that have come up in the past for like cool a small town, it’s the same thing as like why any place becomes successful is because it speaks for itself and it’s word of mouth.
[0:58:50 – 0:58:52] Erik: And the place does speak for itself.
[0:58:52 – 0:58:56] Erik: And it’s as popular as it is because people want to be up here.
[0:58:56 – 0:58:57] Erik: They love it.
[0:58:57 – 0:58:58] Erik: It’s welcoming.
[0:58:59 – 0:58:59] Erik: It’s beautiful.
[0:59:01 – 0:59:06] Erik: There are numerous incredible restaurants.
[0:59:07 – 0:59:12] Erik: Honestly, I would put a couple of them up against any place that I’ve ever eaten in the cities.
[0:59:14 – 0:59:15] Erik: That’s a different episode.
[0:59:16 – 0:59:21] Adam: And just think about it briefly, like the amount of talent that it takes to run a place like that.
[0:59:22 – 0:59:22] Erik: Yeah.
[0:59:22 – 0:59:24] Adam: There’s a lot of talent up here.
[0:59:24 – 0:59:25] Erik: Yeah, there is.
[0:59:25 – 0:59:41] Erik: And just generally for like living day to day, the infrastructure of it, you know, how incredibly forward thinking the municipal internet is.
[0:59:42 – 0:59:45] Erik: We don’t have to deal with private internet.
[0:59:45 – 0:59:48] Erik: AT&T, Comcast, those aren’t even words that come out of anybody’s mouth.
[0:59:48 – 0:59:48] Erik: Oh, I love it.
[0:59:48 – 0:59:49] Adam: I had internet.
[0:59:49 – 0:59:51] Adam: Good internet was on my list for sure.
[0:59:51 – 0:59:51] Erik: Yeah.
[0:59:52 – 0:59:55] Adam: The cooperative, Arrowhead Cooperative Broadband Internet.
[0:59:55 – 0:59:57] Erik: Yeah, the electric company is a cooperative.
[0:59:58 – 1:00:05] Erik: There are obviously some downsides to that, obviously, but they’re not bending over a barrel.
[1:00:06 – 1:00:07] Erik: It’s not a monopoly at all.
[1:00:08 – 1:00:08] Erik: No, it’s incredible.
[1:00:08 – 1:00:10] Erik: We’ve got a pretty amazing recycling center.
[1:00:11 – 1:00:13] Erik: You can bring just about anything.
[1:00:14 – 1:00:19] Erik: You’ve got three grocery stores, one of which is maybe one of the best co-ops I’ve ever been to.
[1:00:22 – 1:00:32] Erik: It’s just overall living, it’s better than any city living that I’ve ever experienced.
[1:00:32 – 1:00:34] Adam: I don’t have any children.
[1:00:35 – 1:00:38] Adam: You do not have any children, but from what I’ve heard, the schools are…
[1:00:38 – 1:00:40] Erik: There are multiple good schools, yeah.
[1:00:41 – 1:00:45] Adam: Pretty good for kind of living up in the middle of nowhere.
[1:00:46 – 1:00:49] Adam: You maybe wouldn’t expect that living up here.
[1:00:49 – 1:00:57] Adam: But the quality of life in Grand Marais, which is where most people in Cook County live, is, I would say, better than most.
[1:00:58 – 1:00:58] Adam: Yeah.
[1:00:58 – 1:01:03] Adam: I work in town, I live out in the country, and I enjoy both aspects of living up here.
[1:01:04 – 1:01:11] Erik: Yeah, no, I think that that’s been the one that I’ve come around to more than anything else.
[1:01:11 – 1:01:15] Erik: For me, right away, it was like, yeah, the weather, the access to the woods.
[1:01:15 – 1:01:16] Adam: I used to avoid town.
[1:01:16 – 1:01:19] Adam: I go to town once a month if I can avoid it.
[1:01:19 – 1:01:21] Adam: But now it’s like, well, there’s a lot to appreciate about town.
[1:01:22 – 1:01:23] Erik: Yeah, there’s enough there.
[1:01:26 – 1:01:30] Erik: You want to be social, and you want to get out, and you want to appreciate some culture.
[1:01:31 – 1:01:31] Erik: It’s there.
[1:01:32 – 1:01:32] Erik: It’s not 24-7.
[1:01:32 – 1:01:34] Erik: A lot of live music.
[1:01:34 – 1:01:38] Adam: The live music scene, the art scene is pretty incredible.
[1:01:38 – 1:01:43] Adam: There’s a community radio station, which you can just go volunteer and do your own radio show if you want.
[1:01:44 – 1:01:46] Adam: A lot of ways to get involved in the community.
[1:01:46 – 1:01:51] Adam: A lot of ways to volunteer and give back if you have the time.
[1:01:52 – 1:01:58] Adam: it’s a overall, I would say like for a small town, it’s earned its reputation.
[1:01:58 – 1:02:02] Adam: And as you said, um, it speaks for itself.
[1:02:02 – 1:02:03] Erik: Yeah.
[1:02:03 – 1:02:07] Adam: I would also say on there, like a good way to transition to the economy itself.
[1:02:08 – 1:02:09] Adam: Grammar is a real engine.
[1:02:11 – 1:02:13] Adam: And the boundary waters are a real engine.
[1:02:14 – 1:02:24] Adam: And for a very small community of year-round residents, the economic output of Cook County, Minnesota is incredible.
[1:02:24 – 1:02:25] Erik: It has to be.
[1:02:25 – 1:02:27] Adam: And that is just another way of saying that…
[1:02:28 – 1:02:34] Adam: If you are considering moving up here, almost no matter what you do, you will be able to find work.
[1:02:34 – 1:02:35] Adam: And a lot of it.
[1:02:36 – 1:02:38] Adam: Unlimited amounts of work to be had.
[1:02:39 – 1:02:52] Adam: And if you are a hardworking individual, and this is definitely in the pro column for me, even though I feel like sometimes I end up working too much, especially in the big, busy season, I just think like…
[1:02:53 – 1:02:58] Adam: If you’re a hardworking person and you want to make it work up here, you will find work.
[1:02:58 – 1:02:59] Adam: Yes.
[1:02:59 – 1:03:07] Adam: You may end up like, hey, I thought I was working in journalism and now I end up working in food service for the most part.
[1:03:08 – 1:03:08] Erik: Yeah.
[1:03:08 – 1:03:10] Adam: Well, life’s funny like that.
[1:03:11 – 1:03:13] Erik: Well, it’s also super tourism-based.
[1:03:13 – 1:03:14] Erik: Yeah, what do you expect?
[1:03:14 – 1:03:17] Adam: Most jobs are going to be based on service.
[1:03:18 – 1:03:22] Adam: Yeah, so if you don’t mind that, you can make some good money that way.
[1:03:22 – 1:03:25] Adam: I mean, there’s no job up here where you’re going to get super rich.
[1:03:26 – 1:03:34] Adam: And it’s not like a boom economy in that way, but it’s just like there’s so much tourism dollar moving up here
[1:03:36 – 1:03:48] Adam: driven a lot by the boundary waters and just the lot of public lands, all the things we’ve already touched on, why people would want to be up here, that brings a lot of money up the shore.
[1:03:48 – 1:03:49] Erik: Yeah.
[1:03:49 – 1:03:53] Adam: And that just results in a lot of decent paying jobs.
[1:03:53 – 1:04:01] Adam: A lot of jobs up here pay a lot better for like what you, if you had the same job in Duluth or the Twin Cities, you get a lot better money living up here.
[1:04:02 – 1:04:05] Adam: This would also get down to the cons too of like cost of living though.
[1:04:05 – 1:04:06] Adam: Yeah.
[1:04:06 – 1:04:17] Adam: The reason that you can get a job like starting wage a lot better up here than anywhere else is also because your cost of living is going to be quite a bit higher than anywhere else in Minnesota at least.
[1:04:18 – 1:04:19] Erik: Exactly, yeah.
[1:04:19 – 1:04:26] Erik: So before we get on to the cons, which I think that’s probably the top of my cons list, which you were starting to touch on there.
[1:04:26 – 1:04:27] Erik: Sorry about that.
[1:04:27 – 1:04:28] Erik: No problem.
[1:04:29 – 1:04:33] Erik: This is just straight pragmatics, which…
[1:04:34 – 1:04:37] Erik: I don’t think about it on a day-to-day basis, but I love the thought.
[1:04:38 – 1:04:42] Erik: It’s got to be probably one of the safest places in the world just to live.
[1:04:43 – 1:04:45] Adam: I had not written that down, but yeah.
[1:04:46 – 1:04:47] Adam: Natural disasters.
[1:04:47 – 1:04:48] Adam: What do you got?
[1:04:49 – 1:04:51] Adam: Wildfire would be like the top of the list.
[1:04:51 – 1:04:52] Erik: Maybe wildfires.
[1:04:52 – 1:04:53] Erik: When’s the last wildfire?
[1:04:54 – 1:04:55] Adam: In over 10 years.
[1:04:55 – 1:04:58] Adam: Yeah, I mean, there’s not a ton of those.
[1:04:59 – 1:05:00] Erik: Knock on plexiglass.
[1:05:01 – 1:05:02] Adam: But yeah, there’s no earthquakes.
[1:05:02 – 1:05:03] Adam: There’s no tornadoes.
[1:05:03 – 1:05:06] Adam: There’s really no heat waves or hurricanes.
[1:05:06 – 1:05:07] Erik: Nothing.
[1:05:08 – 1:05:11] Erik: I don’t think it’s possible for anything to flood up here.
[1:05:11 – 1:05:16] Adam: The people who live here are generally pretty honest and friendly, and there’s not a lot of them.
[1:05:17 – 1:05:21] Adam: And the tourists, I guess, I’m not too worried about them either.
[1:05:21 – 1:05:22] Erik: Yeah, there’s no thieves.
[1:05:22 – 1:05:26] Adam: I rarely lock my car doors ever.
[1:05:26 – 1:05:28] Erik: Oh, there’s no.
[1:05:28 – 1:05:32] Erik: It’s just safe from natural disaster to humans.
[1:05:33 – 1:05:38] Erik: I can’t think of like if anything happens, it’s like a big story.
[1:05:38 – 1:05:39] Erik: Yeah, for sure.
[1:05:39 – 1:05:40] Erik: And then bugs.
[1:05:40 – 1:05:42] Erik: We kind of hit on that earlier.
[1:05:42 – 1:05:43] Erik: There’s no bed bugs.
[1:05:43 – 1:05:44] Erik: There’s no fleas.
[1:05:44 – 1:05:45] Erik: There’s no bad ticks.
[1:05:46 – 1:05:49] Erik: Yeah, you got a couple of months of mosquitoes and black flies, but that’s it.
[1:05:51 – 1:05:51] Adam: Yeah.
[1:05:51 – 1:06:01] Adam: And I would say this kind of is a good way of like just saying everybody, almost everybody you meet up here is super friendly and generally has an interesting story to tell.
[1:06:02 – 1:06:06] Erik: Yeah, that’s—we were talking about that with Grand Marais.
[1:06:06 – 1:06:07] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:07 – 1:06:10] Erik: It’s a— It’s safe, and the people are f***ing cool.
[1:06:10 – 1:06:24] Erik: It’s a community, and it’s a culture that seems like it’s generally cohesive and moving in the same direction, which I am sure happens in cities, but in pockets.
[1:06:24 – 1:06:24] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:25 – 1:06:28] Erik: It gets much more fragmented, I would imagine.
[1:06:29 – 1:06:31] Erik: It’s harder to track in cities.
[1:06:31 – 1:06:36] Erik: It’s harder to align yourself unless you really go out of your way to.
[1:06:38 – 1:06:46] Erik: But it just feels like you’re surrounded by people who are living the same kind of life.
[1:06:47 – 1:06:51] Erik: So a lot of times those are conversations you just don’t have to have.
[1:06:51 – 1:06:54] Erik: Or if you do start having them, they’re very easy to have.
[1:06:55 – 1:07:00] Erik: But on the same hand, which kind of maybe translates into a little bit of the con…
[1:07:02 – 1:07:22] Erik: which I think I’m pretty much out of my real serious pros, would be like just that kind of Minnesota nice wall that can occur, especially in like a seasonal location where, you know, I’ve been up here 15 years now, full time for almost 10.
[1:07:23 – 1:07:26] Erik: You do get to a point where you were saying before where you’re like,
[1:07:27 – 1:07:29] Erik: how long are you going to be around?
[1:07:30 – 1:07:32] Erik: Do I want to invite you to this thing?
[1:07:32 – 1:07:34] Erik: How much do I want to tell you?
[1:07:34 – 1:07:40] Erik: I don’t feel like I ever really get to this point where I’m like, do I even want to try to be your friend?
[1:07:41 – 1:07:51] Erik: But there’s those thoughts sometimes where it’s like, you know, because a lot of times I would say more often than not, most of the people you meet up here
[1:07:52 – 1:07:53] Erik: Leave.
[1:07:53 – 1:07:56] Adam: Well, that’s just the nature of the place.
[1:07:56 – 1:07:56] Adam: Yeah.
[1:07:57 – 1:07:59] Adam: But I do feel like people are…
[1:07:59 – 1:08:01] Adam: They’re still nice, but it’s like…
[1:08:01 – 1:08:04] Adam: Always friendly and inviting and kind.
[1:08:05 – 1:08:05] Erik: Yes.
[1:08:05 – 1:08:07] Adam: No, I’m not saying that… And that takes care of itself then.
[1:08:08 – 1:08:10] Adam: It’s like if you’re kind to somebody and they stay, then that’s great.
[1:08:10 – 1:08:12] Adam: And if you’re kind to them and they leave, also great.
[1:08:13 – 1:08:13] Adam: Yeah.
[1:08:13 – 1:08:15] Adam: There’s no losing in being kind.
[1:08:15 – 1:08:18] Adam: And that’s generally like the default setting for everybody out there.
[1:08:18 – 1:08:29] Erik: Well, there is a little bit of losing in being kind, I think, sometimes, depending on how kind you get and what those emotions… Well, yeah, it can hurt when somebody you care about ends up moving on.
[1:08:29 – 1:08:33] Erik: And that happens up here way more than any other place I’ve been, I think.
[1:08:34 – 1:08:37] Adam: Yeah, and then I always call people that live up here as expats.
[1:08:37 – 1:08:40] Adam: It doesn’t matter if you’re from Spain or Wisconsin.
[1:08:42 – 1:08:46] Adam: You meet people from all over the world up here, a lot of interesting backgrounds and stories.
[1:08:47 – 1:08:51] Adam: And I met a lot of people that grew up here who are great.
[1:08:52 – 1:08:56] Adam: And I don’t know, I’m pretty lucky that they got to grow up here.
[1:08:57 – 1:09:02] Adam: A lot of people that grow up here don’t feel that way and then wanting to get away, which I also understand.
[1:09:03 – 1:09:07] Adam: But the majority of the people you end up meeting here didn’t grow up here and moved here from somewhere else.
[1:09:07 – 1:09:10] Adam: They were drawn to this place as I was.
[1:09:11 – 1:09:14] Adam: I feel like I mentioned past lives in other episodes.
[1:09:14 – 1:09:23] Adam: I do feel like maybe I had lived here in a past life or something because when I first came here, I was immediately like a magnet onto the fridge.
[1:09:23 – 1:09:23] Adam: Just…
[1:09:25 – 1:09:49] Adam: i belong it made sense why do i know so much about this place why does it feel so much like home already when i just arrived yeah i feel like that’s a common theme for anybody coming up to this place and why you end up with so many people from around the world that all end up settling in this little community so few people in this big wilderness all here and like kindly living together
[1:09:50 – 1:09:51] Adam: I enjoy it quite a bit.
[1:09:51 – 1:09:59] Adam: And that was one of my major points was just like the friendly nature of everybody you meet here, the amount of interesting, like cool people you meet here.
[1:10:01 – 1:10:04] Adam: It’s a big-minded community in a small place.
[1:10:05 – 1:10:07] Adam: Nobody here is small-minded or closed off.
[1:10:07 – 1:10:08] Adam: Like everybody’s open.
[1:10:09 – 1:10:10] Adam: I love that about this place.
[1:10:13 – 1:10:15] Erik: Could you tell there was a break?
[1:10:17 – 1:10:17] Adam: Weird.
[1:10:18 – 1:10:19] Adam: Finish up those pros.
[1:10:20 – 1:10:20] Adam: All right.
[1:10:20 – 1:10:27] Adam: Next pro up is if there’s a zombie apocalypse, obviously one of the greatest places to hole up.
[1:10:27 – 1:10:31] Adam: At one point we had a real running joke that we were going to meet up on this island up on Sag.
[1:10:32 – 1:10:35] Adam: And we had it circled and only us knew which island we were going for.
[1:10:36 – 1:10:37] Erik: That’s a bonus episode there.
[1:10:37 – 1:10:41] Adam: We’ll tell you in a bonus episode in the future where Zombie Island is on SAG.
[1:10:41 – 1:10:47] Adam: But clearly, if a zombie apocalypse ever breaks out, you’re going to want to be in Cook County.
[1:10:47 – 1:10:49] Adam: So another win for living up on the shore.
[1:10:50 – 1:11:01] Adam: And just generally going back to the kind of people you meet here, I would just say living here has taught me a self-sufficiency that I would never have known had I stayed south.
[1:11:01 – 1:11:03] Erik: That’s a con plus a pro.
[1:11:03 – 1:11:03] Adam: I think so.
[1:11:04 – 1:11:06] Adam: Because it’s like, hey, I need this thing fixed.
[1:11:06 – 1:11:09] Erik: Yeah, good luck finding somebody to fix that for you.
[1:11:09 – 1:11:10] Adam: Yeah, like how are you going to get that?
[1:11:10 – 1:11:11] Adam: You got to do it yourself.
[1:11:11 – 1:11:11] Erik: Yeah.
[1:11:11 – 1:11:12] Adam: You just have to.
[1:11:12 – 1:11:17] Adam: And going back to good internet, like you can find a YouTube video to help you fix anything.
[1:11:17 – 1:11:19] Adam: And now we do have good internet.
[1:11:19 – 1:11:23] Adam: When I first moved up here, we had no internet, which was a real challenge.
[1:11:23 – 1:11:23] Adam: Or satellite.
[1:11:23 – 1:11:26] Adam: Yeah, or the satellite, which is even worse than having internet to begin with.
[1:11:27 – 1:11:27] Erik: Yeah.
[1:11:28 – 1:11:32] Adam: I always felt like that was one of the worst things when I moved up here, but it was like, oh, it’s worth it to be up here.
[1:11:32 – 1:11:34] Adam: You just got to put up with not having internet.
[1:11:35 – 1:11:37] Adam: Now we have all the good things about living up here.
[1:11:37 – 1:11:38] Adam: Plus we have good internet.
[1:11:38 – 1:11:42] Adam: So if you have to fix something on your car, you can just watch a video and basically do it.
[1:11:44 – 1:11:55] Adam: But I’ve just learned a lot of like skills living up here that I would probably have never accomplished living down south, such as like becoming proficient and operating, cleaning and maintaining a chainsaw.
[1:11:55 – 1:11:57] Adam: I still can’t believe I can do that.
[1:11:57 – 1:12:21] Adam: dad skills yeah i guess you know so that’s kind of neat too um but you know also as to continue this line of thought um since i moved up here i’ve gotten myself in a lot better shape physically i was thinking about it this way too like yeah i lost some weight i’m more active i’m not sitting in an office job all the time like those effects i noticed immediately like the first year
[1:12:21 – 1:12:29] Adam: But now that I’ve been up here a longer time, I’ve noticed the same kind of effects mentally, though, if that makes sense.
[1:12:29 – 1:12:33] Erik: Yeah, well, I think that there’s a huge correlation between physical and mental health.
[1:12:33 – 1:12:36] Erik: I can tell for sure myself.
[1:12:37 – 1:12:46] Erik: Even just today, I kind of felt like I had a little bit of just kind of cloudy thoughts, not…
[1:12:46 – 1:13:07] Erik: just wasn’t feeling it or whatever and i was like i haven’t worked out in like four or five days and yeah just the actual moving around day to day yeah i mean like that’s a lot that that’s you’re always on your feet you’re always on the move like pretty much any job you’re at up here you’re going to be actually physically moving around and there’s not a lot of desk jobs
[1:13:08 – 1:13:09] Erik: No, there are some.
[1:13:09 – 1:13:10] Erik: There are some, but there’s not a lot.
[1:13:11 – 1:13:12] Erik: Most of them are going to be on the move.
[1:13:12 – 1:13:14] Erik: Or you’re going to be behind the wheel.
[1:13:14 – 1:13:17] Adam: So that, I think, kind of wraps up my pros.
[1:13:18 – 1:13:19] Adam: I mean, we could go on and on.
[1:13:20 – 1:13:23] Adam: But, you know, this is the whole point of making a pros and cons list.
[1:13:23 – 1:13:26] Adam: You kind of, like, prioritize what you want to talk about.
[1:13:26 – 1:13:28] Erik: Yeah, more or less, I would say.
[1:13:28 – 1:13:31] Adam: I feel like I’ve gotten to all my main pros.
[1:13:31 – 1:13:32] Erik: Oh, God.
[1:13:32 – 1:13:33] Erik: There are way more cons.
[1:13:35 – 1:13:36] Erik: Part two, cons.
[1:13:36 – 1:13:37] Adam: Too many cons.
[1:13:37 – 1:13:37] Adam: We’re out.
[1:13:38 – 1:13:41] Adam: So I think the cons we won’t spend as much time on.
[1:13:41 – 1:13:46] Adam: My number one con of living up here is there are no sushi restaurants.
[1:13:46 – 1:13:48] Erik: That’s your number one con?
[1:13:48 – 1:13:49] Adam: Number one con.
[1:13:49 – 1:13:56] Adam: I used to eat a lot of sushi before I moved up here, and there’s no sushi restaurants ever, anywhere.
[1:13:56 – 1:14:01] Adam: You got to go to Duluth, and even then it’s like, yeah, there’s some good ones in Duluth.
[1:14:01 – 1:14:05] Adam: It’s still weird to be eating sushi, I guess, now that I live up here.
[1:14:05 – 1:14:07] Adam: You used to eat it in Madison.
[1:14:07 – 1:14:08] Erik: What’s the difference?
[1:14:08 – 1:14:09] Erik: There isn’t.
[1:14:09 – 1:14:13] Erik: Madison is just as close to a big freshwater lake as Duluth is.
[1:14:13 – 1:14:14] Erik: Also landlocked.
[1:14:15 – 1:14:17] Adam: Yeah.
[1:14:17 – 1:14:29] Adam: You know, when you really start to think about it, take a step back, it’s like it’s kind of wrong, but always one of my guilty pleasures when I make my way down to Duluth or the Twin Cities is I do find myself getting some sushi.
[1:14:30 – 1:14:32] Erik: We’ve gotten pretty good at making our own Northwood-style sushi.
[1:14:32 – 1:14:34] Adam: Well, that’s another… And I had that written.
[1:14:35 – 1:14:35] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:35 – 1:14:36] Adam: Sushi.
[1:14:36 – 1:14:37] Adam: No sushi restaurants.
[1:14:37 – 1:14:42] Adam: But as a pro, I’ve learned how to roll my own sushi rolls, and I make them with lake trout.
[1:14:42 – 1:14:42] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:42 – 1:14:43] Erik: Exactly.
[1:14:43 – 1:14:44] Erik: Which we’ve done a few times.
[1:14:44 – 1:14:47] Adam: We’ve had some great parties making our sushi, so that’s nice.
[1:14:48 – 1:14:48] Erik: Yes, we have.
[1:14:48 – 1:14:50] Erik: And even if you don’t have lake trout…
[1:14:50 – 1:14:52] Erik: You can make veggie sushi.
[1:14:52 – 1:14:52] Erik: Sure.
[1:14:52 – 1:14:53] Adam: Yeah.
[1:14:54 – 1:14:59] Adam: Another one is bowling alleys, and there’s no way you can really make your own bowling alley up here.
[1:14:59 – 1:15:01] Adam: But you can play bocce ball in a campsite.
[1:15:01 – 1:15:02] Erik: Yes, apparently.
[1:15:03 – 1:15:03] Adam: So that’s fine.
[1:15:04 – 1:15:05] Adam: No movie theaters.
[1:15:05 – 1:15:06] Erik: Yeah.
[1:15:06 – 1:15:08] Adam: But again, now we have good internet.
[1:15:08 – 1:15:10] Adam: You can basically just wait a couple months and rent it.
[1:15:10 – 1:15:12] Erik: Yeah, there’s something about being in a movie theater, though.
[1:15:12 – 1:15:14] Adam: I really want to go see the new Joker movie.
[1:15:14 – 1:15:16] Adam: I saw the trailer for that thing.
[1:15:16 – 1:15:18] Adam: It looks terrifying and amazing.
[1:15:18 – 1:15:23] Adam: So there’s the once in a blue moon where you’re like, man, I really want to just go see that movie right when it comes out.
[1:15:23 – 1:15:24] Adam: Yeah, it’s one of those things.
[1:15:24 – 1:15:27] Adam: And you have to drive two and a half hours to go make that happen.
[1:15:27 – 1:15:28] Erik: They didn’t really come out with…
[1:15:28 – 1:15:32] Erik: There’s not that many movies in the theaters anymore that I really need to see on the big screen.
[1:15:32 – 1:15:34] Adam: Right, but it happens.
[1:15:35 – 1:15:36] Adam: That’s on there.
[1:15:36 – 1:15:36] Adam: Nitpicky.
[1:15:37 – 1:15:37] Adam: No Taco Bell.
[1:15:38 – 1:15:39] Adam: But that’s also a pro.
[1:15:39 – 1:15:42] Erik: All right, well, that’s a complete bullshit for me.
[1:15:42 – 1:15:44] Erik: That’s a pro for me.
[1:15:45 – 1:15:45] Adam: Well, that’s what I said.
[1:15:45 – 1:15:51] Erik: Could you imagine one of those big gaudy bell signs hanging in downtown Grand Marais?
[1:15:51 – 1:15:52] Adam: No, I don’t want that.
[1:15:52 – 1:15:55] Adam: And I love it about this place that there’s no Taco Bell.
[1:15:55 – 1:15:58] Erik: But if you could, would you swap the DQ for a T-Bell?
[1:16:02 – 1:16:03] Adam: No, because I’d go.
[1:16:03 – 1:16:06] Adam: See, I don’t care.
[1:16:06 – 1:16:08] Adam: There’s a Dairy Queen and there’s a Subway in Grand Marais.
[1:16:08 – 1:16:11] Adam: I don’t go to either of them almost ever.
[1:16:11 – 1:16:12] Adam: And…
[1:16:13 – 1:16:19] Adam: Yeah, I would just say like when I’m in Duluth, if I don’t get sushi and I’m just going quick, I’m like, all right, I’m going to get some Taco Bell.
[1:16:19 – 1:16:21] Adam: It’s got like a guilty pleasure.
[1:16:21 – 1:16:22] Adam: I know it’s bad.
[1:16:23 – 1:16:25] Adam: I still like to get it, but it’s a con that we don’t have one.
[1:16:25 – 1:16:28] Adam: But also that’s a kind of a con that’s a pro in a big way.
[1:16:29 – 1:16:29] Erik: Yeah.
[1:16:29 – 1:16:35] Adam: Because the fact that we don’t have fast food readily available up here is also a big reason why I got in better shape.
[1:16:35 – 1:16:35] Adam: Yeah.
[1:16:35 – 1:16:37] Adam: So let’s be honest.
[1:16:37 – 1:16:41] Adam: That’s more of a pro than a con, but I guess it’s just something that I miss.
[1:16:42 – 1:17:03] Adam: like i just miss a stupid old quesadilla from taco yeah right that i think you wrote down that other there was an f1 18 116 one hour and 116 yeah that’s 106 and 116 so anyways those are a couple things i just miss about that i’m up here and we don’t have
[1:17:04 – 1:17:06] Adam: I don’t know why I have this as a con.
[1:17:08 – 1:17:12] Adam: There’s the portal, the energy portal to the Pleiades.
[1:17:12 – 1:17:12] Adam: What?
[1:17:12 – 1:17:13] Adam: The Pleiadians.
[1:17:13 – 1:17:14] Erik: What?
[1:17:14 – 1:17:15] Adam: The energy portal.
[1:17:15 – 1:17:16] Erik: What’s that?
[1:17:16 – 1:17:21] Adam: There’s the cult in town that uses crystals to access the portal to Pleiades.
[1:17:21 – 1:17:22] Erik: Oh, not the rainbow portal.
[1:17:22 – 1:17:25] Adam: No, the rainbow people are a whole different set of people.
[1:17:26 – 1:17:29] Adam: The crystal cult people, anyways, there’s a portal.
[1:17:29 – 1:17:29] Adam: I’m not aware of them.
[1:17:30 – 1:17:31] Adam: You didn’t hear about that?
[1:17:31 – 1:17:31] Erik: No.
[1:17:31 – 1:17:34] Adam: I don’t know why I have that in Khan, actually.
[1:17:34 – 1:17:35] Adam: I think it’s kind of cool.
[1:17:35 – 1:17:39] Adam: I just don’t really truly believe in it that much, but maybe it’s happening.
[1:17:39 – 1:17:44] Adam: I feel like this goes back to this Granbury being a special place, like Sedona or Mount Shasta.
[1:17:44 – 1:17:45] Erik: But maybe it’s happening.
[1:17:45 – 1:17:46] Erik: What’s that?
[1:17:46 – 1:17:47] Erik: But maybe it’s happening.
[1:17:47 – 1:17:48] Erik: It might be.
[1:17:48 – 1:17:48] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:17:48 – 1:17:49] Erik: Who am I to say?
[1:17:49 – 1:17:50] Erik: Yeah, who’s to say?
[1:17:50 – 1:17:51] Adam: Just because I don’t have the vision yet.
[1:17:52 – 1:17:54] Adam: But there might be an energy portal here.
[1:17:54 – 1:17:55] Adam: So there’s crystal hippies in town?
[1:17:56 – 1:18:01] Adam: It attracts these kind of crystal hippie types, which is funny and weird, but also interesting.
[1:18:01 – 1:18:02] Adam: So I don’t mind it.
[1:18:02 – 1:18:03] Adam: That’s more of a neutral.
[1:18:04 – 1:18:04] Adam: Yeah, neutral.
[1:18:04 – 1:18:10] Adam: Just something that it’s special about Grand Marais, that there is an energy portal to a faraway star system.
[1:18:10 – 1:18:11] Adam: Yeah.
[1:18:11 – 1:18:13] Adam: It only opens on certain days of the year.
[1:18:14 – 1:18:14] Adam: Sure.
[1:18:14 – 1:18:15] Adam: Which I’m not privy to.
[1:18:15 – 1:18:37] Adam: no you could you did i even wrote portal to the pleiades maybe a pro maybe a pro um the big one which i think we really got to touch on is um the lack of affordable housing the lack of rental housing and just the cost of property and housing in general that’s the huge dream that’s uh we did kind of already speak on this
[1:18:37 – 1:18:40] Erik: Housing is my number one con.
[1:18:40 – 1:18:41] Erik: I’m going to hit on it briefly.
[1:18:41 – 1:18:43] Erik: This could be a whole episode.
[1:18:43 – 1:18:53] Erik: It’s a major problem up here, and it’s probably a major problem in places that are considerably similar to Grand Marais, which is basically tourist-based, seasonal employees, and
[1:19:07 – 1:19:14] Erik: The housing that does exist gets bought up by people who don’t use it year round.
[1:19:15 – 1:19:26] Erik: And with the prevalence and the creation and proliferation of Airbnbs and VRBOs and all that, that just adds to what are you going to do?
[1:19:28 – 1:19:38] Erik: Are you going to rent out your house for a month or two months or three months to some seasonal housing employee who may or may not stick around?
[1:19:39 – 1:19:40] Erik: Or do you want to rent it?
[1:19:42 – 1:20:00] Erik: nightly for 150 and make 10 times as much right it’s hard to argue you know with somebody who’s in that position yeah there’s a lot of money in beds yeah but it drives up the prices i still can’t believe i found a way to purchase a home in the county
[1:20:01 – 1:20:26] Erik: yeah it was i feel the same way a a stroke of incredibly good timing and fortune that’s you know so it’s usually what it boils down to for housing in cook county it’s overpriced uh under developed shacks on lake on lakes without like plumbing which so yeah it’s not going to be classified as a
[1:20:26 – 1:20:42] Erik: house yeah that’s always the thing it’s like you find a place and it’s like well is there plumbing or indoor bathroom yeah no it’s not it’s not it’s not yeah it’s not a it’s not a homestead yeah so you can’t you can’t finance that you can’t finance that at all you got to put 20 down it’s essentially a second house
[1:20:42 – 1:20:44] Adam: Yeah, they treat it as a vacation property.
[1:20:44 – 1:20:45] Adam: Yeah, which is what I would say.
[1:20:45 – 1:20:48] Adam: It’s going to be a primary residence.
[1:20:48 – 1:20:53] Erik: And then the other problem with that is they still get priced at $150,000 to $300,000 because they’ve got 200 feet of shoreline on a lake.
[1:20:53 – 1:20:55] Erik: Or you do find a proper home, but it’s right in Grand Marais.
[1:21:08 – 1:21:17] Erik: or upward down the shore a little bit, but still generally way more expensive than you can actually handle.
[1:21:18 – 1:21:23] Adam: I remember when we were first looking, we found a place in Grand Marais that went on the market, and we went and looked at it.
[1:21:23 – 1:21:27] Adam: It’s pretty cute, but it was like, well, the foundation is crumbling.
[1:21:28 – 1:21:29] Adam: The chimney needs to be pulled out of there.
[1:21:30 – 1:21:32] Adam: The roof needs to be redone.
[1:21:32 – 1:21:33] Adam: Yeah.
[1:21:34 – 1:21:40] Adam: And all the electrical is installed in reverse, so you’re going to have to pull all the walls out and redo the electrical.
[1:21:40 – 1:21:44] Adam: And it’s, you know, $50,000 more than your price range.
[1:21:44 – 1:21:44] Adam: Yeah.
[1:21:44 – 1:21:46] Adam: It’s like, holy moly, never mind.
[1:21:46 – 1:21:47] Erik: Yeah.
[1:21:47 – 1:21:50] Erik: Or the third option, which it’s just raw land.
[1:21:51 – 1:21:54] Erik: The only affordable option typically is just raw land.
[1:21:54 – 1:22:00] Adam: Which is why we bought land initially on a land contract and thinking, well, maybe we’ll live there off the grid someday.
[1:22:00 – 1:22:00] Erik: Yeah.
[1:22:00 – 1:22:02] Adam: Build from scratch.
[1:22:02 – 1:22:02] UNKNOWN: Yeah.
[1:22:02 – 1:22:04] Adam: which is also not easy to do.
[1:22:04 – 1:22:14] Erik: No, it’s one of those things that sounds really cool and awesome, but then once you start doing it, it’s like, yeah, it’s a lot.
[1:22:14 – 1:22:15] Erik: I mean, it’s a lot of work.
[1:22:15 – 1:22:17] Adam: It’s a long-term thing, too.
[1:22:17 – 1:22:19] Adam: It’s a lot of work, and you’re not going to be there.
[1:22:20 – 1:22:24] Erik: Yeah, you’re not there year-round building it out of the woods.
[1:22:24 – 1:22:26] Erik: It’s like, all right, so I also have this other job.
[1:22:27 – 1:22:29] Erik: You’re not Dick Prenicky out there.
[1:22:29 – 1:22:30] Adam: No, a few of us are.
[1:22:31 – 1:22:31] Erik: No.
[1:22:31 – 1:22:36] Erik: And then, so the other thing with the raw land is it’s rarely accessible year round.
[1:22:37 – 1:22:37] Erik: Right.
[1:22:38 – 1:22:42] Erik: So, hey, there’s $30,000 plot of 40 acres.
[1:22:43 – 1:22:43] Erik: Where’s that?
[1:22:44 – 1:22:45] Erik: Camp 20 road.
[1:22:45 – 1:22:47] Erik: Oh, hell there.
[1:22:47 – 1:22:47] Erik: Okay, yeah.
[1:22:47 – 1:22:48] Erik: By Tom Lake.
[1:22:49 – 1:22:49] Erik: Yeah, an hour.
[1:22:49 – 1:22:51] Adam: Actually, it’s an hour from Tom Lake.
[1:22:51 – 1:22:55] Erik: An hour up some roads that are barely even accessible in the summer.
[1:22:55 – 1:22:56] Adam: Snowmobile access only.
[1:22:56 – 1:22:56] Adam: Yeah.
[1:22:57 – 1:22:59] Erik: So yeah, housing sucks in Cook County.
[1:22:59 – 1:23:05] Erik: And I think if there was anything that could be improved, I don’t know how to improve it.
[1:23:06 – 1:23:06] Erik: It’s a big question.
[1:23:06 – 1:23:07] Erik: I think they’re talking about it all the time.
[1:23:07 – 1:23:10] Adam: It’s one of the biggest challenges that we face up here.
[1:23:10 – 1:23:16] Adam: And a lot of jobs, especially when you first move up here, if you’re in a resort or whatever, there’s staff housing.
[1:23:16 – 1:23:17] Adam: Which is great.
[1:23:17 – 1:23:19] Adam: Yeah, you get a place to stay.
[1:23:19 – 1:23:21] Adam: It may be simple or basic, but that’s fine.
[1:23:21 – 1:23:24] Adam: You don’t need much to be comfortable.
[1:23:24 – 1:23:35] Adam: But then you end up tied to that job in a way that even if it is sort of year-round, it makes it very hard to jump out of that job and be mobile in this economy that we…
[1:23:36 – 1:23:40] Adam: As we previously stated, there’s a lot of opportunity here for somebody who can work hard.
[1:23:40 – 1:23:50] Adam: But if you don’t have a place to stay that’s independent from the job you’re doing, then you really don’t have that mobility you need to take advantage of this economy.
[1:23:50 – 1:23:56] Adam: So it’s kind of this inverse loop where you just can’t ever really move up.
[1:23:56 – 1:24:00] Adam: It takes a lot of luck and knowing the right person and the right timing.
[1:24:00 – 1:24:06] Adam: And then eventually you do find it, and then kind of all things open up in front of you.
[1:24:06 – 1:24:09] Erik: I think let’s finish with cons because I’ve got a few tips and tricks.
[1:24:09 – 1:24:10] Erik: Right on.
[1:24:10 – 1:24:12] Erik: I don’t know if either of that sentence makes any sense.
[1:24:12 – 1:24:13] Adam: I have a few more mild cons.
[1:24:14 – 1:24:15] Adam: I have a couple mild cons.
[1:24:15 – 1:24:17] Adam: Mild cons.
[1:24:17 – 1:24:19] Adam: Yeah, my car takes a beating.
[1:24:19 – 1:24:22] Adam: The roads up here are generally pretty good, but, man, I go through a lot of tires.
[1:24:23 – 1:24:24] Adam: Yeah, everything.
[1:24:24 – 1:24:24] Adam: Holy cripes.
[1:24:24 – 1:24:25] Adam: All the little…
[1:24:25 – 1:24:30] Adam: In winter, you know, if you don’t have a plow truck, you’re really at the mercy of waiting for plows.
[1:24:30 – 1:24:32] Adam: We get a ton of snow, so that’s tough.
[1:24:32 – 1:24:33] Adam: A lot of car maintenance.
[1:24:33 – 1:24:33] Adam: Yeah.
[1:24:33 – 1:24:35] Erik: Not the engine, but all the moving parts.
[1:24:36 – 1:24:36] Erik: Everything else.
[1:24:36 – 1:24:38] Adam: The engine’s great.
[1:24:38 – 1:24:43] Erik: Tires, struts, swing arms, parts I’ve never even heard of before.
[1:24:43 – 1:24:47] Adam: Between Natalie and I, we go through like 40 tires a year.
[1:24:47 – 1:24:49] Adam: I swear to God, it’s insane.
[1:24:49 – 1:24:52] Adam: All our money goes into tires, but that’s an exaggeration.
[1:24:52 – 1:24:54] Erik: I’ve got like five patches in one of my tires right now, I think.
[1:24:54 – 1:24:56] Adam: Sometimes you can patch it and sometimes you can’t.
[1:24:56 – 1:25:00] Erik: Yeah, the guy in town that does my tires, I’m like, can you patch my tire?
[1:25:00 – 1:25:01] Erik: The last time he was kind of like,
[1:25:02 – 1:25:04] Adam: It’s already been patched seven times, sir.
[1:25:05 – 1:25:11] Erik: Just in terms of that, that lends me to a con, which is, again, an expense thing.
[1:25:11 – 1:25:12] Erik: Food’s more expensive.
[1:25:12 – 1:25:13] Adam: Yeah.
[1:25:13 – 1:25:18] Adam: And you can go to, like, Duluth and hit the Aldi up and, like, buy some basic staple stuff.
[1:25:18 – 1:25:19] Adam: Yeah, but generally…
[1:25:19 – 1:25:20] Erik: Fill the pantry, but…
[1:25:20 – 1:25:26] Adam: I would say close to 20, almost 20% more expensive than… You know, working in town at the co-op, we hear it all the time, like, what?
[1:25:27 – 1:25:29] Adam: This stuff’s this much for a year of corn?
[1:25:29 – 1:25:29] Adam: Yeah.
[1:25:29 – 1:25:56] Adam: yeah well yeah i don’t know either buy that or go back to walmart back in the twin cities and buy one right what do you want you’re this far up north you know how much it takes to in gas to get the food up here yeah we’re out in the middle of nowhere and that’s this kind of lens of the isolation that we have up here also then causes things to be more expensive yes yeah so one of the the the one of the big big cons um
[1:25:58 – 1:26:16] Erik: for for me and then that i heard from just asking some of the people that also work at clearwater um and it was actually one of their own they’re like one of the only things that it’s not even a con it’s just one thing you have to plan you have to plan for where you’re going to go when you’re going to go there and what you’re going to get
[1:26:16 – 1:26:16] Adam: Yeah.
[1:26:17 – 1:26:19] Erik: It’s not just like… And it’s, again, it’s a give or take thing.
[1:26:19 – 1:26:24] Erik: So do you want to have a 24-hour supermarket just a block away?
[1:26:24 – 1:26:28] Erik: Do you want to be able to go and get a part for your car any day of the week whenever you want?
[1:26:28 – 1:26:31] Erik: Well, then you’re going to have to live down in the…
[1:26:32 – 1:26:32] Erik: Yeah.
[1:26:32 – 1:26:33] Erik: Do you want to live up here?
[1:26:33 – 1:26:33] Erik: Okay.
[1:26:34 – 1:26:34] Erik: That’s fine.
[1:26:35 – 1:26:42] Erik: Then you’re going to have to plan out an hour trip to Grand Marais and know if you’re going when stores are going to be open.
[1:26:42 – 1:26:43] Adam: That’s a big one.
[1:26:43 – 1:26:44] Adam: You get there and it’s like, what?
[1:26:45 – 1:26:45] Adam: They’re closed?
[1:26:45 – 1:26:46] Adam: Yeah.
[1:26:46 – 1:26:47] UNKNOWN: Oh.
[1:26:47 – 1:27:15] Erik: and you’re again you’re like an hour away like remember to fill up the gas tank always remember to get everything on your list don’t just go for one thing yeah all right we’re going yeah all right i guess we have to go to town today so let’s also bring in recycling and make sure you get yeah so you have to and it’s not i don’t think it’s a con you just have to think about it more yeah know that you’re be more efficient it’s a pro it makes you more efficient
[1:27:15 – 1:27:21] Erik: Yeah, if you live in Grand Marais or even for kind of some of the places that we live now, they’re much closer.
[1:27:21 – 1:27:24] Erik: But like up on the trail at Clearwater, that’s an hour.
[1:27:24 – 1:27:25] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[1:27:25 – 1:27:26] Erik: That’s not a…
[1:27:27 – 1:27:29] Erik: I mean, obviously, there has been times.
[1:27:29 – 1:27:36] Erik: There have been times where it’s like we literally need like a rubber gasket to make something work.
[1:27:36 – 1:27:38] Erik: And we have to drive to Grand Marais for it.
[1:27:38 – 1:27:39] Erik: Like, yeah, that sucks.
[1:27:39 – 1:27:40] Erik: Yeah.
[1:27:40 – 1:27:41] Erik: That’s a huge con.
[1:27:41 – 1:27:43] Adam: Oh, I hate it when you go to town and they’re like, sorry, we don’t have that.
[1:27:44 – 1:27:45] Erik: We can get it for you on the internet.
[1:27:45 – 1:27:46] Erik: Yeah, we can order it for you.
[1:27:46 – 1:27:47] Adam: They’re being friendly.
[1:27:47 – 1:27:49] Adam: I shouldn’t make fun of them, but it’s like, yeah, I have the internet too.
[1:27:50 – 1:27:50] Erik: Like, I need it today.
[1:27:51 – 1:27:51] Adam: Yeah.
[1:27:51 – 1:27:54] Adam: Well, that’s just the frustration sometimes you run into of being up here.
[1:27:54 – 1:27:55] Erik: Yeah.
[1:27:56 – 1:28:15] Adam: so um yeah that’s true i had another one um tonight it’s supposed to frost it’s the it’s still september yeah when we’re recording this it’s october when you’re listening to this but the growing season’s ridiculous and it’s fun to try and garden but like that’s always super frustrating you can do all the little tricks and build little hoop hoses and
[1:28:15 – 1:28:19] Adam: Raised beds and straw bale gardens and you’re still not going to get a ripe tomato ever.
[1:28:19 – 1:28:20] Adam: So just forget about it.
[1:28:20 – 1:28:22] Adam: You’re never getting a ripe tomato.
[1:28:22 – 1:28:23] Adam: We live in zone zero.
[1:28:24 – 1:28:26] Adam: Everybody’s like, we’re in zone 2.5.
[1:28:26 – 1:28:27] Adam: Whatever.
[1:28:27 – 1:28:28] Adam: It’s zone zero.
[1:28:28 – 1:28:29] Adam: We might as well be up on the tundra.
[1:28:29 – 1:28:32] Erik: Yeah, weather is like my number one pro.
[1:28:32 – 1:28:34] Erik: It’s also like close to my number one con.
[1:28:34 – 1:28:36] Adam: Yeah, because it makes other things very difficult.
[1:28:36 – 1:28:37] Adam: But that’s fine.
[1:28:37 – 1:28:38] Erik: But I would gladly take…
[1:28:39 – 1:29:00] Adam: yeah frost in september over well i was thinking we did our trip on little sag in june and it was a freeze warning early june and now it’s the end of september and we have a frost warning so there’s your growing season folks yeah and uh we got some beans we got some zucchinis but we definitely didn’t get any tomatoes to ripen uh hopefully they’ll ripen in the bag
[1:29:01 – 1:29:10] Adam: And my last con is I love living up here, and I really didn’t move that far away from where I grew up and where I had been living.
[1:29:11 – 1:29:12] Adam: It’s Wisconsin.
[1:29:12 – 1:29:13] Adam: It’s about an eight-hour drive.
[1:29:14 – 1:29:20] Adam: But it’s just that I don’t hang out with or see my old friends and family that I used to get to see a lot more.
[1:29:21 – 1:29:35] Adam: And that’s a big trade-off you have to consider if you were to consider moving up here is that, yeah, there’s these people in your life and you move up here the first year and you’re really emailing and keeping in touch as much as you can and get back home and visit more.
[1:29:36 – 1:29:37] Adam: And then slowly over the years…
[1:29:38 – 1:29:58] Adam: you just, like, stop going back to Wisconsin to visit, and then all of a sudden it’s been a year, and then, oh, I haven’t seen this guy in two years, you know, and sometimes they come up and we’ll do a Boundary Waters trip, but it’s just the sad reality of moving up, or just any move like that is, you know…
[1:29:59 – 1:30:22] Adam: that’s i think what makes me the saddest about living up here is like i’ve made a lot of new friends which is they’re a positive but it’s the friends you’ve known all your life you know and then you still keep in touch but you know how it is like when you don’t live near somebody you just don’t see them as much yeah that’s just the reality of it and it sucks yeah it’s also just life too though
[1:30:23 – 1:30:28] Adam: Yeah, but it’s not like, well, I was able to go home on Mother’s Day.
[1:30:29 – 1:30:30] Adam: It’s not that far away.
[1:30:30 – 1:30:37] Adam: It’s not like I moved to Alaska or the other side of the world or something, but that’s still the thing.
[1:30:37 – 1:30:42] Adam: It’s like I don’t live the next town over or whatever, two hours away.
[1:30:42 – 1:30:43] Adam: It’s an eight, nine-hour drive now.
[1:30:44 – 1:30:47] Erik: Yeah, and I would say it’s on my list of cons, especially right away.
[1:30:48 – 1:30:50] Adam: It hurts more early.
[1:30:50 – 1:30:51] Erik: There’s a loneliness.
[1:30:51 – 1:30:57] Adam: But then like when you’re first up, you’re kind of like making more, you know, like you do keep in contact and write more or like talk more.
[1:30:58 – 1:30:59] Adam: But then like over the years now, it’s like.
[1:31:01 – 1:31:06] Adam: There’s my old group of friends I used to fish and hang out with in camp, and it’s like now if I’m lucky, I see them once a year.
[1:31:08 – 1:31:10] Adam: Family, you get to see them a couple times a year.
[1:31:10 – 1:31:12] Adam: That’s just the way it is.
[1:31:12 – 1:31:15] Erik: Yeah, and that’s probably a weighted thing.
[1:31:15 – 1:31:18] Erik: That might be more of a con for other people.
[1:31:18 – 1:31:20] Erik: It may be more even of a pro.
[1:31:20 – 1:31:25] Erik: I know there’s some people that are up here because they wanted to get away from their old friends and family.
[1:31:25 – 1:31:27] Erik: But for the most part, I would say, yeah.
[1:31:27 – 1:31:35] Adam: Most people coming up here have that independent spirit, like that pioneering spirit of like striking off into the unknown, trying something new.
[1:31:35 – 1:31:37] Adam: But that’s kind of the price you pay.
[1:31:37 – 1:31:38] Erik: Yeah, it has to be.
[1:31:39 – 1:31:40] Adam: You’re not going to be able to see those people as much.
[1:31:41 – 1:31:44] Adam: But, you know, with technology, it’s a lot easier to keep in touch too.
[1:31:45 – 1:31:45] Adam: Yeah.
[1:31:45 – 1:31:48] Adam: When I moved up here, there was no cell phones and we had no internet.
[1:31:48 – 1:31:54] Adam: So there’d be like months at a time where I would not hear from or speak to people that I used to be really close with.
[1:31:54 – 1:31:57] Adam: Nowadays, it’s real easy to like, hey, shoot a message or…
[1:31:58 – 1:32:21] Adam: send a picture or you know video hell you can video chat yeah so it’s not as remote as it does seem sometimes it depends on who you are but some people do enjoy that about it too for myself personally like it’s i literally i need like one other person and sometimes like i need even less than that
[1:32:21 – 1:32:30] Adam: Yeah, I think that’s another way of saying you have to really enjoy and be able to spend time by yourself to be able to thrive up here.
[1:32:30 – 1:32:38] Adam: If you don’t enjoy just hanging out by yourself and being quiet, then you have to be.
[1:32:38 – 1:32:49] Adam: I’m more extroverted than introvert on the spectrum, but I am introverted to the point where I’m comfortable hanging out by myself.
[1:32:50 – 1:32:51] Adam: You need that, too.
[1:32:51 – 1:33:00] Erik: Well, I would say just in general, that’s probably one of the reasons that this show works is I am a huge introvert.
[1:33:01 – 1:33:06] Erik: If I can have my way, yeah, I don’t want to talk to anybody.
[1:33:07 – 1:33:12] Erik: To tell you the truth, to be 100% honest with you, I am happiest alone.
[1:33:14 – 1:33:16] Erik: In my own thoughts, doing my own thing.
[1:33:17 – 1:33:17] Erik: I don’t want to talk to people.
[1:33:18 – 1:33:18] Erik: There you go.
[1:33:19 – 1:33:24] Erik: Took 73 episodes talking into a microphone for me to come out as an introvert.
[1:33:24 – 1:33:25] Erik: I really honestly don’t.
[1:33:25 – 1:33:28] Erik: I mean, and I think that that is…
[1:33:29 – 1:33:38] Erik: An aspect of it, if you are somebody who wants to be super social and get involved in the community, I think it’s a little bit tougher, but it’s out there.
[1:33:38 – 1:33:43] Adam: You’ll meet lots of cool people up here, but it’s always like really hard to get people together up here.
[1:33:44 – 1:33:49] Adam: Just because everybody lives so… Like even in this small community, we all live 50 minutes apart.
[1:33:50 – 1:33:53] Adam: So it’s like, hey, you want to come over and do this thing?
[1:33:53 – 1:33:57] Adam: Even if you get a two-week notice, it’s hard to like… People are so busy and…
[1:33:58 – 1:34:03] Adam: It’s tough to, like, just have a social interaction and get together and play some board games.
[1:34:03 – 1:34:05] Erik: Yeah, because of, like, that space.
[1:34:06 – 1:34:06] Erik: Because of just…
[1:34:06 – 1:34:10] Erik: I think there’s a leery?
[1:34:10 – 1:34:11] Erik: Weary?
[1:34:12 – 1:34:12] Adam: Weariness.
[1:34:12 – 1:34:17] Erik: A weariness of, like, we were talking about before.
[1:34:17 – 1:34:19] Erik: Like, how much do I really want to invest in this person?
[1:34:20 – 1:34:26] Erik: And paired with how far away people are and how often you get together, it takes a while to, like…
[1:34:27 – 1:34:47] Adam: actually make friends to build those relationships yeah a lot of it’s like well you and i work together every day for a summer yeah that helps so that helps if you end up like getting that luck of the draw thing where you just end up getting a job with somebody you’re just like gonna hit it off with yeah you just have the same kind of mindset and mentality in life
[1:34:47 – 1:34:49] Erik: And there’s people up here that have lived up here their whole lives.
[1:34:50 – 1:34:56] Erik: They look at me like I’m still probably just some kind of a seasonal employee.
[1:34:57 – 1:35:02] Erik: I’d like to think a few of them have maybe noticed me like, hey, yeah, I kind of bought a house.
[1:35:03 – 1:35:07] Erik: I don’t really care if you think I’m a local or not, but I pay taxes in this county now.
[1:35:08 – 1:35:09] Erik: I’m kind of a local.
[1:35:09 – 1:35:10] Erik: So whatever.
[1:35:11 – 1:35:12] Adam: You’ll never be a local.
[1:35:12 – 1:35:13] Adam: No, I’ll never be a local.
[1:35:13 – 1:35:17] Adam: Maybe if you end up having grandchildren someday, they’ll be a local.
[1:35:17 – 1:35:22] Erik: I was going to say, the folks that I guided the episode from last week…
[1:35:23 – 1:35:26] Erik: they said that the community that they lived in, they moved there.
[1:35:26 – 1:35:27] Erik: It was a small community.
[1:35:27 – 1:35:37] Erik: They said they only felt like that they were finally accepted as locals is when their kids married in to the community.
[1:35:37 – 1:35:41] Adam: Yeah, I think there’s truth to that for sure.
[1:35:41 – 1:35:43] Adam: So you and I will never be locals.
[1:35:43 – 1:35:44] Adam: Probably not.
[1:35:44 – 1:35:47] Adam: We’re first generation Cook County residents, and that’s fine.
[1:35:47 – 1:35:53] Adam: Somebody’s got to come up here and establish a foothold, buy some land, buy a house.
[1:35:53 – 1:35:55] Erik: But I mean, I think at the end of the day.
[1:35:55 – 1:35:56] Adam: Work your buns off.
[1:35:57 – 1:36:02] Erik: It really just, it depends on how much you want to put out.
[1:36:02 – 1:36:04] Erik: How much of yourself you want to put out there.
[1:36:05 – 1:36:09] Erik: And I think, I mean, obviously this applies to every place.
[1:36:09 – 1:36:10] Erik: It’s just a trick.
[1:36:10 – 1:36:12] Erik: But especially in Grand Marais.
[1:36:12 – 1:36:12] Erik: Yeah.
[1:36:14 – 1:36:22] Erik: you can put yourself out as much or as little as you want and get as much or as little back in terms of work, friendship, anything.
[1:36:22 – 1:36:23] Adam: Absolutely.
[1:36:23 – 1:36:31] Erik: Sometimes more on the work side, like you could end up get overstretching yourself in little odd jobs here and there.
[1:36:32 – 1:36:33] Erik: Yeah.
[1:36:33 – 1:36:40] Erik: But two, just two last things on cons for me for moving up here.
[1:36:40 – 1:36:40] Adam: And it’s,
[1:36:41 – 1:37:06] Erik: probably been said more or less over the course of this entire podcast, and that’s just the kind of work which is super tourism-based, and it’s super seasonal, and the kind of hours preclude us from actually enjoying open water, boundary waters, paddling, or just generally enjoying kind of the amiable nature
[1:37:09 – 1:37:30] Erik: months of the year as much as we really want true that’s a big i mean if you’re gonna move up here and you think you’re just gonna be like out on the water and sure yeah if you’re coming up here to retire sure but if you’re coming up here to work yeah you’re constantly surrounded by an incredible wilderness
[1:37:32 – 1:37:33] Erik: But you’re surrounded by it.
[1:37:33 – 1:37:35] Erik: You’re not always, yeah, all right.
[1:37:36 – 1:37:41] Erik: I will gladly take the night out on the water or maybe the two days here or there.
[1:37:41 – 1:37:41] Erik: Yeah, yeah.
[1:37:41 – 1:37:43] Erik: Versus the one five-day trip.
[1:37:44 – 1:37:47] Erik: That’s something that you’re going to have to balance with yourself.
[1:37:48 – 1:37:55] Erik: Do you want to take those longer trips, the extended trip where you come up from the city and you just get to focus on that trip?
[1:37:56 – 1:37:57] Erik: You can do that.
[1:37:58 – 1:38:13] Erik: If you want to just always kind of be around it and have those moments when you’re driving or you’re walking into Clearwater in the morning where it’s right there, you get a lot of little moments, and I think they add up to more than a five- or six-day trip.
[1:38:14 – 1:38:17] Adam: Yeah, I like just having the flexibility of, like, I’m off these couple days.
[1:38:17 – 1:38:18] Adam: The weather looks good.
[1:38:18 – 1:38:19] Adam: All right, I’m going to go.
[1:38:19 – 1:38:20] Adam: I’m going to do one.
[1:38:20 – 1:38:20] Adam: Yeah.
[1:38:21 – 1:38:23] Adam: And just kind of spur-of-the-moment trips that add up.
[1:38:24 – 1:38:26] Adam: That is nice, but it’s true.
[1:38:27 – 1:38:29] Adam: You know, often people are like, oh, you’re getting on a trip?
[1:38:29 – 1:38:30] Adam: Like, I don’t know.
[1:38:30 – 1:38:35] Adam: I just can’t get away from work right now and so-and-so and yeah, yeah.
[1:38:35 – 1:38:36] Adam: No, I’m not.
[1:38:36 – 1:38:36] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:38:37 – 1:38:43] Adam: I have no trips planned right now, and it’s frustrating because everybody around you you see is, like, up here coming up to do a trip or
[1:38:44 – 1:39:13] Adam: do something and you live here and you like you don’t have the time to do it that again now saying is like well well i got a mortgage now and i’m trying to invest in my future and it’s not going to be like this forever it’s just the first couple years owning a house if anybody’s been in this position you understand it’s um you gotta work and yeah i’m i’m willing to do it to establish it here and you know i can get on the shoulder seasons and i can enjoy my winters and
[1:39:15 – 1:39:19] Adam: But yeah, it’s harder to do those longer trips, but you get more short trips with it.
[1:39:19 – 1:39:20] Erik: Yeah, exactly.
[1:39:22 – 1:39:29] Erik: The only other thing that I had on my list, which is pretty minimal, but it’s just one thing that I’ve noticed the longer I’ve been up here.
[1:39:30 – 1:39:32] Erik: And it’s, again, a give and take.
[1:39:33 – 1:39:36] Erik: The small community and the culture and the…
[1:39:37 – 1:39:41] Erik: For the most part, people are kind of working towards the same goal for themselves.
[1:39:41 – 1:39:43] Erik: Independent together.
[1:39:45 – 1:39:51] Erik: Any small town, you’ve got to deal with that little bit of gossip, which can be weird.
[1:39:51 – 1:39:55] Erik: I’ve never dealt with any real consequences.
[1:39:55 – 1:39:56] Erik: Hot tea, baby.
[1:39:56 – 1:40:03] Erik: But I’ve also felt a little bit like, how do you know I bought a house?
[1:40:03 – 1:40:03] Erik: Who are you?
[1:40:04 – 1:40:04] Erik: Sure.
[1:40:05 – 1:40:07] Adam: What the hell?
[1:40:07 – 1:40:07] Erik: What?
[1:40:07 – 1:40:10] Erik: I don’t even I’ve never seen you before.
[1:40:10 – 1:40:13] Erik: It’s like so like little things like that.
[1:40:13 – 1:40:20] Erik: But it’s like, again, it’s like I will take a little bit of that for what you can gain in terms of like.
[1:40:22 – 1:40:35] Erik: I feel like that gossip, what you make up for with that gossip is a little bit of like a, all right, well, they also probably at the same time would have your back in a certain situation.
[1:40:35 – 1:40:35] Adam: Yeah.
[1:40:35 – 1:40:38] Erik: Like, all right, fine, you’re going to gossip about me?
[1:40:38 – 1:40:41] Adam: I feel like I’m a part of the community.
[1:40:41 – 1:40:42] Adam: Yeah, that means they care.
[1:40:43 – 1:40:43] Erik: Yeah.
[1:40:43 – 1:40:47] Erik: That means they know who I am and they know I’m worth talking about.
[1:40:48 – 1:40:48] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:40:48 – 1:40:49] Erik: It’s just like…
[1:40:49 – 1:40:53] Adam: But at the same time, it’s like… Let’s give them something to talk about.
[1:40:53 – 1:40:53] Adam: Yeah.
[1:40:54 – 1:40:55] Erik: It’s sort of weird.
[1:40:55 – 1:40:58] Erik: It’s just mostly with Clearwater.
[1:40:58 – 1:40:59] Adam: Yeah, yeah.
[1:40:59 – 1:41:01] Adam: You’re more of in the public eye up here than I am.
[1:41:02 – 1:41:03] Adam: I’m kind of in the shadows.
[1:41:03 – 1:41:03] Erik: Yeah.
[1:41:03 – 1:41:10] Erik: I’ll never forget the summer that Tori decided to go down and work at the Crooked Spoon.
[1:41:10 – 1:41:11] Erik: I’m not afraid to tell this story at all.
[1:41:11 – 1:41:12] Erik: It’s just like…
[1:41:14 – 1:41:16] Erik: Everybody was like, oh, there was a big blowout.
[1:41:17 – 1:41:19] Erik: Larrick and Tori are getting a divorce.
[1:41:19 – 1:41:24] Erik: Like, no, she’s just working at a different place.
[1:41:25 – 1:41:26] Erik: Yeah.
[1:41:26 – 1:41:27] Erik: No, we’re still married.
[1:41:27 – 1:41:28] Erik: It’s all good.
[1:41:29 – 1:41:29] Erik: Yeah.
[1:41:29 – 1:41:30] Erik: You want me to knock the ring?
[1:41:33 – 1:41:33] Adam: There it is.
[1:41:34 – 1:41:35] Adam: Still married.
[1:41:35 – 1:41:36] Erik: Still married.
[1:41:36 – 1:41:37] Erik: So.
[1:41:39 – 1:41:40] Adam: That’s the book, baby.
[1:41:41 – 1:41:42] Adam: You want to make tips and tricks?
[1:41:43 – 1:41:46] Adam: Most of my tips and tricks came out in the pros and cons.
[1:41:46 – 1:41:48] Adam: See, they just naturally, the tips and tricks.
[1:41:48 – 1:41:49] Erik: They kind of just came out.
[1:41:49 – 1:41:50] Erik: Here’s some quick ones, though.
[1:41:50 – 1:41:58] Erik: I think you were sort of naysaying it, but I think if you are honestly thinking of trying to move up here, which I can’t recommend enough.
[1:41:58 – 1:42:03] Erik: Every time I go down to the city, I’m just like, what the fuck are people doing down here?
[1:42:03 – 1:42:03] Erik: I know.
[1:42:04 – 1:42:04] Erik: 142.
[1:42:05 – 1:42:07] Erik: I remember we went down to Midwest Mountaineering.
[1:42:07 – 1:42:10] Erik: We parked at that mall and we were there for like 10 minutes.
[1:42:10 – 1:42:11] Erik: I’m like, this is madness.
[1:42:11 – 1:42:11] Erik: Oh my God, that mall.
[1:42:12 – 1:42:13] Erik: I could barely even park the truck.
[1:42:14 – 1:42:16] Erik: In the middle of the day on a weekday.
[1:42:16 – 1:42:18] Erik: It was like a middle of the day on a weekday.
[1:42:18 – 1:42:18] Erik: What are you doing out here?
[1:42:18 – 1:42:19] Adam: Do people work here?
[1:42:21 – 1:42:22] Erik: Why are you not working?
[1:42:22 – 1:42:23] Erik: What are you doing?
[1:42:23 – 1:42:26] Erik: People were walking out of a movie theater.
[1:42:26 – 1:42:26] Adam: Yeah.
[1:42:27 – 1:42:28] Adam: It was like a Thursday.
[1:42:28 – 1:42:29] Adam: Like noon on a Thursday.
[1:42:29 – 1:42:30] Erik: What?
[1:42:31 – 1:42:33] Adam: I’m just trying to get a sandwich.
[1:42:33 – 1:42:36] Erik: Yeah, it’s just construction.
[1:42:39 – 1:42:46] Erik: The overpowering sadness of, God, I might…
[1:42:47 – 1:42:47] Erik: I might…
[1:42:50 – 1:42:59] Erik: Offend some listeners, but the overpowering sadness of aisle upon aisle of track housing of suburbs.
[1:43:00 – 1:43:00] Erik: Tiki-tac, maybe.
[1:43:00 – 1:43:09] Erik: And or the worst are those like two or four in one house things.
[1:43:10 – 1:43:10] Erik: Fourplex.
[1:43:11 – 1:43:13] Erik: Yeah, the plexes.
[1:43:14 – 1:43:15] Adam: Yeah, it’s plex plex.
[1:43:15 – 1:43:17] Erik: Just the plexes.
[1:43:17 – 1:43:21] Erik: Just all of that.
[1:43:24 – 1:43:29] Erik: I’ll take any of those cons times 10 up here versus any of that struggle down there.
[1:43:30 – 1:43:31] Erik: And it seems like a struggle.
[1:43:32 – 1:43:33] Erik: I’m rambling now.
[1:43:33 – 1:43:33] Erik: I’m sorry.
[1:43:33 – 1:43:34] Erik: No.
[1:43:34 – 1:43:35] Erik: I’m feeling it.
[1:43:35 – 1:43:42] Erik: If you want to get out, which please do, there’s nothing for you down there.
[1:43:44 – 1:43:44] Erik: It’s all up here.
[1:43:44 – 1:43:52] Erik: If you want to taste, which this can be hard depending on where you’re coming from, but the biggest thing we said was a challenge was housing.
[1:43:53 – 1:43:56] Erik: If you want to, though, you can start with a seasonal job.
[1:43:56 – 1:43:57] Adam: That’s the way I did it.
[1:43:57 – 1:43:59] Adam: That’s how a lot of people do it.
[1:43:59 – 1:44:07] Erik: Yeah, especially on the Gunflint Trail because almost every Gunflint Trail outfitter, lodge, resort, or restaurant will provide housing.
[1:44:08 – 1:44:10] Erik: So it’s one of those things, yeah, right?
[1:44:10 – 1:44:13] Erik: Fine, you’re tied to the job and to your housing, but if it’s for the season,
[1:44:14 – 1:44:16] Adam: You can make it through a season.
[1:44:16 – 1:44:17] Erik: You can make it through a season.
[1:44:17 – 1:44:27] Erik: But the best thing about that is the networking that you can turn that season into just about anything that you want.
[1:44:29 – 1:44:34] Erik: If you’re the right kind of person and you can network, there is a ton of work up here that’s not like,
[1:44:37 – 1:44:40] Erik: Down at the Holiday Inn or at the gas station.
[1:44:41 – 1:44:44] Erik: It’s hard to quantify exactly what that is.
[1:44:44 – 1:44:46] Adam: You said it at the beginning of the show, too.
[1:44:46 – 1:44:51] Adam: If you are willing to work hard and show up, then you will move up pretty quick here.
[1:44:51 – 1:44:52] Erik: Yeah.
[1:44:52 – 1:44:53] Adam: Then they just put you in charge of stuff.
[1:44:54 – 1:44:56] Erik: Yeah, you hang around long enough, they’ll put you in charge.
[1:44:56 – 1:44:57] Adam: And you keep showing up on time.
[1:44:59 – 1:44:59] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:44:59 – 1:45:13] Adam: I think in both of our jobs, it maybe isn’t the most exciting in a day-to-day way, but it does offer us a way to be creative and think big picture along with the day-to-day.
[1:45:14 – 1:45:16] Adam: It’s not the position I’m in.
[1:45:17 – 1:45:18] Adam: I’m stimulated.
[1:45:18 – 1:45:19] Adam: It keeps me on my toes.
[1:45:20 – 1:45:24] Adam: It’s not the job I ever thought I was going to do when I was in journalism school.
[1:45:25 – 1:45:26] Adam: but I don’t really care.
[1:45:27 – 1:45:32] Adam: It’s more important to live where you want to live than to do the job you think you were meant to do.
[1:45:33 – 1:45:38] Adam: You can find meaning in any job, and if you’re willing to work hard, any job can be fulfilling.
[1:45:40 – 1:45:45] Adam: There’s plenty of those jobs up here, and I can’t stress that enough.
[1:45:45 – 1:45:51] Adam: Yeah, you maybe have to start on a job that’s not thrilling, but you show up and you do the work.
[1:45:51 – 1:45:58] Adam: You’ll find your spot, and you’re going to find yourself in a position you can enjoy, and if you don’t, there’s plenty of other jobs up here.
[1:45:58 – 1:46:10] Erik: Well, I mean, a lot of the folks that have found their way up here, kind of like you were saying, they might have that full-time job or even if it’s not full-time, it’s enough to get by.
[1:46:10 – 1:46:17] Erik: But then they can focus on a podcast or maybe their artwork or maybe growing things.
[1:46:17 – 1:46:18] Erik: Especially now that we have good internet.
[1:46:19 – 1:46:31] Erik: Or, yeah, I mean, crafts, just that seems like the general vibe, jive, vibe.
[1:46:31 – 1:46:32] Erik: That’s the word.
[1:46:33 – 1:46:38] Erik: The general vibe of the community is like, yeah, let’s get through what we need to get through.
[1:46:38 – 1:46:41] Erik: And then I’m going to focus on kind of what I want to do.
[1:46:41 – 1:47:06] Erik: yeah and that’s really i think what it should be and sometimes that crosses over a little bit i feel like i’m in a little bit more of that crossover where it’s like yeah i love the banjo i’m pretty much obsessed with camping and paddling and being in the park and yeah sometimes i gotta serve up a slice of pie to get to talk about and be as close to it as i want to be um
[1:47:06 – 1:47:16] Erik: So, yeah, the housing and the networking that a seasonal job on the Gunflint Trail offers is, just in my experience, because it’s mine, is a great place to jump off of.
[1:47:17 – 1:47:30] Erik: If you’re just looking to start from scratch, boreal.org has classified ads that you’re not going to find anywhere else, like looking for jobs that’s not really posted very many places.
[1:47:31 – 1:47:36] Erik: That can be a great place if you’re just looking to go cold turkey from the cities to up here.
[1:47:36 – 1:47:45] Adam: Honestly, if you’re really going to just get up here and go walk around town or wherever and throw some applications around, you’re going to get some interviews pretty quick.
[1:47:46 – 1:47:48] Adam: Everybody is always looking for quality people.
[1:47:48 – 1:47:52] Erik: If you can show up on a regular basis, you’re going to be fine.
[1:47:53 – 1:47:57] Adam: Seriously, you can have a couple interviews and a job offer in a weekend.
[1:47:57 – 1:47:57] Erik: Yeah.
[1:47:57 – 1:47:59] Erik: And again, the hardest thing is the housing.
[1:47:59 – 1:48:03] Erik: So start early on looking for rentals because rentals are really hard.
[1:48:03 – 1:48:04] Erik: Yeah, for sure.
[1:48:05 – 1:48:12] Erik: And if you can afford it and you can make it work, find a place to buy because they’re few and far between.
[1:48:12 – 1:48:18] Adam: Well, I feel like we both have bought houses recently, and, yeah, it’s expensive and nuts.
[1:48:18 – 1:48:25] Adam: But, like, I also firmly believe that it’s a solid market up here and that the values are never going down.
[1:48:25 – 1:48:29] Adam: Like, if you can afford to get in, it’s a good investment, too.
[1:48:29 – 1:48:32] Erik: Well, and you look at what rent is for a place.
[1:48:32 – 1:48:35] Erik: People are renting bedrooms for $500 in Grand Prairie.
[1:48:35 – 1:48:35] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[1:48:36 – 1:48:37] Adam: No, it’s not.
[1:48:37 – 1:48:41] Adam: So, you know, if you can afford to get into a place, it’s never going down in value.
[1:48:41 – 1:48:51] Adam: You know, there’s only, you know, it’s 5% of Cook County is privately owned, and that ain’t probably changing going forward.
[1:48:51 – 1:48:54] Adam: And the popularity of this place also isn’t decreasing.
[1:48:54 – 1:49:00] Adam: Like, these are things that are solid investments.
[1:49:01 – 1:49:01] Erik: Exactly.
[1:49:03 – 1:49:04] Erik: Yeah, so…
[1:49:04 – 1:49:05] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:49:05 – 1:49:15] Erik: I think there’s a lot there for the potential, even if it’s just a daydreamer.
[1:49:15 – 1:49:18] Erik: But honestly, here’s where it started for me.
[1:49:18 – 1:49:20] Adam: My first summer, I’m leaving.
[1:49:20 – 1:49:24] Adam: I’m literally crying as I’m being – I didn’t have a car, as I’ve said already.
[1:49:25 – 1:49:27] Adam: I’m being given a ride down to meet my parents in Duluth.
[1:49:28 – 1:49:31] Adam: I was crying going down the trail, going down 61.
[1:49:31 – 1:49:31] Adam: I’m weeping.
[1:49:34 – 1:49:43] Adam: I didn’t understand it even, but there was something in me that I was ultimately incredibly sad about having to leave the place.
[1:49:43 – 1:49:44] Adam: And we’re driving down 61.
[1:49:44 – 1:49:46] Adam: This is in 2001.
[1:49:47 – 1:49:48] Adam: And I saw this billboard.
[1:49:48 – 1:49:51] Adam: It said, you don’t have to return to the rat race.
[1:49:52 – 1:49:53] Adam: And then that made me even cry harder.
[1:49:53 – 1:49:54] Adam: Yeah.
[1:49:54 – 1:49:57] Adam: Then I went back and I did that rat race for 10 more years.
[1:49:58 – 1:50:01] Adam: Sat in an office with fluorescent flickering lights.
[1:50:02 – 1:50:05] Erik: Yeah, I wept on my first summer leaving.
[1:50:06 – 1:50:08] Adam: City council meetings.
[1:50:08 – 1:50:08] Adam: Yeah.
[1:50:08 – 1:50:14] Adam: Other garbage and just generally not living a healthy existence.
[1:50:15 – 1:50:17] Adam: And then I eventually did find my way back.
[1:50:18 – 1:50:18] Adam: But…
[1:50:19 – 1:50:22] Adam: I always remember that drive and that billboard.
[1:50:22 – 1:50:24] Adam: You do not have to return to the rat race.
[1:50:24 – 1:50:25] Erik: I don’t.
[1:50:25 – 1:50:25] Erik: Yeah.
[1:50:25 – 1:50:28] Erik: I didn’t have anything so clear cut for me.
[1:50:28 – 1:50:29] Erik: That’s a great.
[1:50:29 – 1:50:31] Adam: I always remember that.
[1:50:31 – 1:50:36] Adam: And then when I finally had a chance in life to like, I could make a change and move right now.
[1:50:36 – 1:50:39] Adam: And it’s like, well, I’ve always wanted to move back up.
[1:50:40 – 1:50:45] Adam: And I made a few calls and literally had a job within like two days and moved back up.
[1:50:46 – 1:50:47] Adam: And here I am.
[1:50:48 – 1:50:48] Adam: I met Eric.
[1:50:49 – 1:50:50] Adam: I met my wife.
[1:50:51 – 1:50:52] Adam: I got a podcast.
[1:50:52 – 1:50:52] Adam: I got a house.
[1:50:54 – 1:51:01] Adam: Everything has really gone well since I’ve made that choice to put everything I owned in my truck and move back up here.
[1:51:01 – 1:51:08] Adam: So if you feel it and you have that in you, I would recommend you at least consider it and give it a try.
[1:51:09 – 1:51:20] Erik: Yeah, and if you have any specific questions, I can give you the names of people that I worked with to buy my house.
[1:51:20 – 1:51:24] Erik: Email us, tumblehomecasts at gmail.com.
[1:51:25 – 1:51:27] Erik: I want you to move up here.
[1:51:27 – 1:51:29] Adam: We should start our own realty company.
[1:51:31 – 1:51:31] Erik: Yeah.
[1:51:32 – 1:51:33] Erik: Seriously, though.
[1:51:35 – 1:51:41] Erik: If you’re happy where you’re at, honestly, I’m not trying to like say I’m better than anybody else.
[1:51:41 – 1:51:46] Adam: No, I mean saying like, you know, this isn’t for everybody.
[1:51:48 – 1:51:52] Adam: And I would say a lot of people get more enjoyment out of living in a big city than living up here.
[1:51:53 – 1:51:55] Adam: but I love the thing to each their own.
[1:51:55 – 1:51:55] Erik: Yeah.
[1:51:55 – 1:51:56] Erik: And the, all right, fine.
[1:51:57 – 1:51:59] Erik: The final con, and it’s not a con really.
[1:51:59 – 1:52:01] Erik: It’s just a general feeling.
[1:52:01 – 1:52:02] Erik: I love big cities.
[1:52:02 – 1:52:11] Erik: Me and Tori go try to get to like, you know, either at the very least Minneapolis, St. Paul, we love going to New York city.
[1:52:11 – 1:52:14] Erik: I love the energy and the feeling and the app.
[1:52:14 – 1:52:15] Erik: There’s nothing like it.
[1:52:15 – 1:52:19] Erik: And it’s almost like the reverse of like a, a wilderness for me.
[1:52:19 – 1:52:20] Erik: Yes.
[1:52:20 – 1:52:21] Erik: To go to like a big city, but,
[1:52:22 – 1:52:26] Erik: But I’ve got about a week limit on that where it’s like, eh.
[1:52:26 – 1:52:27] Erik: I like to visit.
[1:52:27 – 1:52:28] Erik: Yeah.
[1:52:28 – 1:52:29] Erik: It’s the wilderness.
[1:52:30 – 1:52:31] Erik: Maybe that’s the opposite.
[1:52:31 – 1:52:32] Erik: Right.
[1:52:32 – 1:52:37] Adam: Some people like to be in that artery all the time and then occasionally want to visit the capillary.
[1:52:37 – 1:52:38] Erik: Exactly.
[1:52:38 – 1:52:39] Erik: And that’s fine, too.
[1:52:40 – 1:52:44] Adam: You ever picture yourself paddling a canoe in a blood vessel?
[1:52:45 – 1:52:45] Erik: No.
[1:52:46 – 1:52:50] Erik: I’ve never pictured myself doing that literally ever.
[1:52:50 – 1:52:51] Erik: What’s that?
[1:52:51 – 1:52:54] Adam: The Incredible Voyage or whatever where they shrink themselves down?
[1:52:54 – 1:52:54] Adam: Exactly.
[1:52:54 – 1:52:56] Adam: Paddle up into the capillary.
[1:52:56 – 1:52:56] Erik: Yeah.
[1:52:57 – 1:52:59] Erik: Just one blood cell?
[1:52:59 – 1:53:01] Adam: Tiny little… At a time.
[1:53:01 – 1:53:03] Adam: Tiny little canoe made out of platelets.
[1:53:03 – 1:53:04] Adam: Yeah.
[1:53:04 – 1:53:04] Adam: Wow.
[1:53:05 – 1:53:09] Adam: Well, we’ve, again, somehow managed to get almost close to two hours here.
[1:53:10 – 1:53:12] Adam: I could talk about this forever.
[1:53:12 – 1:53:13] Adam: Forever.
[1:53:13 – 1:53:18] Adam: But for now, I’ll take the two hours, so… Go see if the northern lights are out there?
[1:53:18 – 1:53:19] Adam: I think so.
[1:53:20 – 1:53:23] Adam: I’m ready to, yeah, go get some fresh air, so…
[1:53:24 – 1:53:31] Adam: For Tumble Home, a Boundary Waters podcast, and Realty Company, this is an episode 074.
[1:53:32 – 1:53:37] Adam: My name is Adam, and with me in studio has been Eric.
[1:53:38 – 1:53:41] Adam: Hello, Eric, and it’s time for us to go.
[1:53:41 – 1:53:42] Adam: Thank you.
[1:53:42 – 1:53:43] Adam: I think that was…
[1:53:44 – 1:53:47] Adam: And I would say like our notes on this episode have been incredible.
[1:53:47 – 1:53:50] Adam: We’ve really, I think, to help us keep us on track.
[1:53:50 – 1:53:56] Adam: If we had not had these notes, this would easily have spiraled into a three-hour Jackson Pollock painting.
[1:53:57 – 1:53:57] Adam: Yes.
[1:53:57 – 1:53:58] Erik: I’m going to close the book.
[1:53:59 – 1:53:59] Erik: Close the book.
[1:53:59 – 1:54:01] Erik: I’ve already closed my book.
[1:54:01 – 1:54:02] Erik: Twice now.
[1:54:02 – 1:54:02] Erik: Twice.
[1:54:02 – 1:54:04] Erik: I think three times I’ve closed it.
[1:54:04 – 1:54:06] Erik: I’ve reopened it, added more notes.
[1:54:07 – 1:54:09] Adam: All right, folks, thanks for joining us again.
[1:54:09 – 1:54:15] Adam: Remember, coming up next week, we’ll be talking about what do you like to, in a paddling partner.
[1:54:15 – 1:54:17] Adam: That was not the right way to phrase it.
[1:54:17 – 1:54:18] Erik: Very eloquent.
[1:54:18 – 1:54:20] Adam: Yeah, very eloquent.
[1:54:20 – 1:54:22] Erik: What do you like to in a paddling partner?
[1:54:23 – 1:54:31] Adam: We’re talking about paddling partners and just general trip vibes and how you get along with people on your trips next week.
[1:54:31 – 1:54:36] Adam: So check out Facebook or RBWCA to chime in on that conversation.
[1:54:36 – 1:54:38] Erik: Or you can always email us directly.
[1:54:38 – 1:54:40] Adam: Or just email us or stop by and talk.
[1:54:40 – 1:54:42] Adam: We’ll just record you right on the porch.
[1:54:42 – 1:54:43] Erik: 774 Clearwater Road.
[1:54:44 – 1:54:45] Adam: All right.
[1:54:45 – 1:54:46] Adam: Cue the chiptunes.
[1:54:47 – 1:54:52] Adam: And remember, folks, every day is precious and life is a miracle.
[1:54:53 – 1:54:56] Adam: Come join us on the North Shore in the big woods.
[1:54:57 – 1:54:57] Adam: Good night.
[1:54:57 – 1:54:58] Adam: Happy paddling.
[1:55:10 – 1:55:11] UNKNOWN: Thanks for watching!
[1:55:37 – 1:55:41] UNKNOWN: Thanks for watching!