A Kennedy affair to remember – even in Duluth

“You ever get the feeling that there’s something going on that we don’t know about?” one of the Baltimore boys in the 1982 movie, Diner, asks his teen companion. Heffernan also ponders this question as he bridges JFK's September 1963 visit to Duluth with a Kennedy affair now exposed by an intern in her newly published memoir.

by Jim Heffernan

A Short Jaunt On The North Shore by Way of the Digestive System

As I lay on the operating table last week for the anesthetic to take effect before the start of an extremely invasive procedure, the woman nurse asked me a few innocent questions about my past life. From then on, all things went up north.

by Jim Heffernan

Jim Heffernan: A Very Shiny Nose

In fact I came to realize that “had a very shiny nose” can be adapted to almost any carol. Few people know, for example, that “Good King Wenceslas” had a very shiny nose. Well, if he didn’t he does now around our place. “We Three Kings” -- the ones of orient are – now have very shiny noses, it turns out. And why not? They’ve traveled a long way in a very cold season lugging spices and gold.

Jim Heffernan

Jim Heffernan: Devil missing from hell; said lurking in details

DATELINE HELL -- Officials here announced today that the devil has gone missing. “Our ruler disappeared from his golden throne the day after Thanksgiving and hasn’t been heard from since,” a Hades spokesman stated in a terse message. He denied the disappearance had anything to do with Black Friday, a perennial favorite of the prince of darkness.

Jim Heffernan

When wolves almost got the deerslayer

With deer season coming to an end and the 40th anniversary of my dad's death plying my mind, I recall the the story he told about standing off a pack of wolves while deer hunting in the wilds of extreme northern Minnesota.

by Jim Heffernan

Mount Royal Fine Foods

It sounds ridiculous, but it's true—I went on several dates in this grocery store.

Robert Lillegard

Amity Creek Trail

Of course, the best trails are the ones closest to where you happen to live. I grew up near Hawk's Ridge, and the Amity Trail has a special place in my heart.

Robert Lillegard

No-Name Bike Trail

My newest heat-induced trail discovery is a wonderful path that runs alongside the North Shore Scenic Railroad--no, it is not the Lakewalk--and is the smoothest ride I've ever experienced in Duluth . . . with a few heart-pounding hiccups.

by Bailey Leveille

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

I like apples. Correction: I love, crave, and seek out apples or anything made of apples. But, despite my love for apples, I have a sweet tooth whose cravings cannot be satisfied by a mere fruit. Chocolate-dipped, caramel-rolled, candy-coated, sugar-glazed—now that’s more like it! The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Canal Park gives me a variety of rich options in which to satisfy my sweet tooth.

by Bailey Leveille

Maritime Museum

by Bailey Leveille