‘Conde Nast Traveler’ Unveils Minnesota’s Lake Country to the World

As anyone trying to get around on Highway 10 on a Friday afternoon can attest, "up north" is a popular weekend destination for many of us.

And for good reason -- it's a beautiful area filled with fun places to eat and drink and shop and relax. And beautiful scenery.

I've been known to head up north to hang with friends at the camper or to go biking.

The allure of "Lakes Country" is strong, and we all know it here in Minnesota.

But now the rest of the world is getting let in on our open secret.

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Ashlea Halpern is a Contributing Editor for Conde Nast Traveler. She's written extensively about Minnesota and seems to be the perfect messenger to a global audience about the awesomeness that IS the Brainerd Lakes region.

In the July/August 2024 edition Conde Nast Traveler, Halpern explains #lakelife in the middle of Minnesota in a story called "Discovering the Joy of Lake Life in Minnesota." 

Halpern and her husband live in Minnesota. And in her story, she explores everything from wakeboarding on Gull Lake to chilling at Maddens to the historical signifigance of escaping to the lakes for the weekend.

Cornhole, pickleball, axethrowing, trapshooting, biking, firepits.

In Brainerd, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes.

At Zorbaz,The Barn, Ernie's on Gull, Sherwood North and A Pine Restaurant.

What I love about Halpern's "lake life" analysis is how she sums up how all of us feel about going "up north." She clearly GETS it.

"Zipping past these bodies of water, hazy like an Andrew Wyeth daydream, I finally get it. It's not about the lakes; it's about how you feel when you're in, on, or near them. They are a happy place in a parallel universe, summer after summer, year after year."

Amen, Ashlea. Amen.