TRAVELING NORTH OF THE TWIN CITIES from Faribault toward cabin and lake country, I’ve noticed a distinct difference in roadside billboards and businesses along the way. And that’s a reflection of how the southern part of Minnesota, where I live, differs from areas around Mille Lacs Lake, Brainerd and farther north.
While I come from a region rich in farmland and mostly wide open spaces with some lakes, that changes to the dense woods and pristine water of “Up North,” a decidedly Minnesotan term for a region of cabins, vacation rentals, lakeside homes and all things woodsy outdoors.
For nearly 10 years now, Randy and I have headed north along U.S. Highway 169 once or twice annually to a family member’s cabin south of Crosslake in Crow Wing County. And it is along that route, outside Zimmerman, that the land begins to shift from urban to a more rugged, rural, outdoorsy feel.
Here I begin to see signs for boats, beer and guns. Some of that reflects the hunting culture, others the recreational opportunities offered by the area’s many lakes. Fishing. Boating. Tubing. Even float planes flying in for a beer and brats poker run.
Mille Lacs Lake, which hugs a section of highway 169, is especially impressive for someone like me who grew up on the prairie, mostly absent of lakes. I feel somewhat unsettled looking across the vast expanse of water with no distant shoreline visible. Mille Lacs, at 132,516 acres, is Minnesota’s second largest inland lake.
There’s a lot of water, a lot of woods Up North, where Paul Bunyan is comfortably at home among the pines. Businesses play off the fictional legendary lumberjack and his side kick, Babe the Blue Ox.
Log cabin and A-frame style buildings, which would seem mostly out of place in southern Minnesota, blend seamlessly into the landscape here. The look is signature northwoods. Cozy. Comfortable. Often set against a backdrop of trees.
Stacks of logged trees and campfire wood for sale frequent roadsides.
Life feels more laid back Up North. Or maybe that’s because I arrive with the perspective of a visitor, someone who comes here to relax, to get away from everyday life. Whatever, this part of the North Star state feels different than southern Minnesota.
Here, rather than acres of corn and soybeans, acres of thick woods prevail with narrow roads cutting pathways to lakeside cabins, resorts, homes.
Here, Up North at the cabin, if I get up early enough, I can drink my morning coffee lakeside as the sun rises over Horseshoe Lake. Or listen to the haunting echo of loons. Or relax lakeside in the evening around a campfire.
Last trip north in mid-September, I didn’t want to leave. I dreaded heading south into heavy metro traffic, the speed, the chaos erasing the peace I carried within me. I knew work, in the form of an unfinished house project, awaited us.
As we drove home, past the leaping deer statue in Deerwood, the deer processing billboards along the highway, the signs and art of The Hairy Mosquito Trading Company, the landscape began to change. Farms and fields. Abundant roadside businesses. More housing.
Traffic volume increased as we neared the Twin Cities. Busy, busy, busy. Oh, so busy. All the way to Faribault, even south of the metro along Interstate 35, vehicles zoomed.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
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