I was in Duluth this past week on a business trip. I love going back to Duluth. I remember during my childhood my family going to Duluth several times for our annual family vacation. So much has changed in Duluth since then. At that time, Canal Park was mostly industrial except for the area right by the Aerial Lift Bridge. Now that area has all been rebuilt and turned into hotels, restaurants, and shopping. I really think the city has done a marvelous job of making it a nice place to be.

The other reason that Duluth is so appealing to me is that I actually went to college there. I attended the University of Minnesota – Duluth (UMD) for five years and managed to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree and a double major. A lot has changed in Duluth even since then.

While I was there I drove by the last place I lived in Duluth. My first wife and I rented an apartment on East 1st Street and 14th Ave. It was an old building. As I recall it was built in the 1890s. It was three stories tall and we lived on the third floor. When we found this place one of the things that drew us to it was the fact that it was a third floor apartment with a tremendous view. The other part we liked is that the place had been recently remodeled, so it looked pretty nice — especially in comparison to some of the trash heaps we saw. I can’t tell you the number of places we looked at that just flat out were not fit to live in — but that’s a different story.

At any rate — when I drove by it, the memories of that time of my life flooded back. It was a good time. I was newly married. I was finishing college and doing my student teaching. It was busy. It was exciting. It was the first time in my life I really felt like I was “grown up”.

So much has changed in my life since then. My life has taken so many turns that I hadn’t planned on or even expected. Where I am now I would have never guessed I’d be. It is still busy though. Still exciting. And yes, I still feel grown-up. Sometimes too much so!

–Pete