to Bemidji! We'd be glad to have you! I've lived here since I was 5 and grew up on a family resort. It's truly a magical place during the summer. Right now I've got the fan in the window and there's a nice smell of lilacs and mowed grass in the air. I'd personally recommend staying at a cozy resort and making your way into town for a nice dinner, a show, and then a stop to Dairy Queen on the lake afterwards to watch the sun set and enjoy the scent of the lake.

If you go to Bemidji I can tell you the best place I have found to have a high quality meal on par with some of the better sit-down restaurants in the twin cities is Tutto Bene in downtown Bemidji.

talks about how the state tourism board won't give you any specifics, that all the resorts and regions are great. That's what this piece did, too, in uselessly small detail. I guess we're counting on the comments section to fill in the facts??

I CAN'T recommend the Brainerd lakes area to anyone on a budget or looking for peace and quiet. Way to expensive way to noisy and its just a suburb of the metro. From memorial day to labor day its a madhouse of rude arrogant people who think they own the lakes the roads and all they encompass.

The birth place of Water Skiing and the last weekend of June they have a big party to celebrate it,but it is too late to get a room in town or camping,the best time to go is in the middle of the week.I will be going to Hermosa Beach today,see ya at the Poop Deck.

The Brainerd Lakes Area has so much to offer to people of all ages and interests. You can enjoy all the amenities of a bigger town/city but you can escape them with just a short drive. The area is home to resorts of all sizes on lakes of all sizes, restaurants, dining, retail stores and so much more! It's a wonderful place to vacation while doing as much or as little as your heart desires.

Why not try Hackensack, 127 lakes within a 10 mile radius. Our favorite is Twin Springs Resort on beautiful Pleasant Lake 800-279-5179.

Always surprises me that the Brainerd area still seems like "up north" to knowledgeable Minnesotans. It's a relatively quick drive, but that fast drive has created an environment that is just one step away from the being like suburban lakes these days.It's so busy there now compared to the real "up north" resorts. That may be the experience you crave, but if you are looking for a more real northwoods experience, head north up Highway 61, past all the corporate resorts that crowd the area north of Duluth and keep going to the Gunflint Trail. The corporate resort conglomerates end, the jet skis are over, the loons, moose, wolves and bears reappear, and you actually experience the quiet you went up north to find.