Two trips and lots of emails and calls resulted in nothing. It appeared the real estate free-fall had yet to hit the northland; most houses seemed way overpriced, and that was coming from Chicago, where studio condos fetch $400K. Duluth rentals go fast and are not so welcoming to cat owners. Two weeks before we were set to move, we didn't know where we'd be landing.
"Let's just stay at a hotel," Mark suggested.
Late one night, in desperation, I looked again at Craig's List - this time at the sublet section. There it was: a house on Park Point, lakeside, the first floor of a turn of the century house built for the owner of a lumber yard. The renter was going to California, and he wanted to leave his furniture. This was particularly good for us, since we were moving from a boat and had no furniture.
Park Point, also known as Minnesota Point, is possibly the world's longest sandbar at 5 miles long. You have to cross the aerial lift bridge to reach it. Houses line both sides, overlooking the lake and the bay; a beach runs along the lakeside; a few miles down you will run into an airport; on foot, you can keep going into the forest.Bearing a close resemblance to Superman's Arctic Fortress of Solitude, Park Point also has the friendliest neighbors of any place I have lived.
It's not unusual to see bald eagles on Park Point, or foxes - but the largest wildlife population appears to be rabbits. Fat, happy, hippity-hopping rabbits, who hop along the trails in our backyard even on subzero days. Rumor is that some time ago a few Park Point residents had some Easter bunnies they let loose. And they did what Easter bunnies do. And now we are overrun by bunnies. They raid the gardens in springtime, they leave their droppings everywhere. They're cute, for sure. But I would by lying if I said I didn't want to see a fox get one. Just one. I moved here for the wildlife, after all.
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Bunnies do what they gotta do.... alot. Dad
ReplyDeleteBoy have I ever missed reading your interesting life adventures. So glad you are back.
ReplyDeleteDuluth life sounds positively lovely. I can't wait to visit! It's cool how things work out. I had no furniture either, and days before my move I got an email that a friend of a friend was getting rid of all kinds of great stuff. Glad to hear the house is as awesome as it sounded.
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