Lockport Marketplace

There is a little store called Lockport Marketplace that has a little bit of everything on the side of Highway 61 in Lutsen Minnesota. It is a gas station, restaurant, groceries store, espresso bar, and even a gift shop all in one that is open from 7 A.M. until 8 P.M. every day of the year. If you ever go there you will realize that it really does have a little bit of everything in it.

As a gas station it may only have two pumps, but it is always the lowest price in the county. It sells both regular gas and 91% premium gas. If you need a quick snack they also have homemade bakery items for a quick snack. Plenty of people who drop by once often come again on their way through.

For the restaurant it's open hours are from 7 A.M. until 2 P.M. and between those hours it sell both breakfast and lunch meals. The price ranges from six dollars to thirteen dollars for adults while a child's meals are usually around four dollars. While having great, and classic breakfast items with friendly staff, it is a great way to start off a morning on a vacation.

The groceries may have little in stock, however they focus on a wide variety of items. As the location is around an hour away from the nearest large chain groceries store the owners prefer to have a large variety of items in case you need that one item that you are missing to make one of your favorite family recipes. The groceries area is where the store originally got the phrase of "a little bit of everything."

If you need to wake up in the morning and in need of a quick coffee jolt you should drop by for some espresso. The store may not be as specialized as Star Bucks, but it is still great coffee. However they do have several classic espresso drinks that are popular as well as some original drinks.

For the gift shop you will mainly find quality shirts and sweaters for certain times of the year as well as several stuffed animal toys as souvenirs. Trust me if you forgot to pack that extra sweater in winter this is the place to stop. I have never felt such a nice sweater before.

Whenever I drop by the northern shore of Minnesota I always drop by for breakfast on my way through. The owners are often in the store and give great directions and suggestions for activities in the county. I suggest you drop by as well if you are driving through.

The Economy Needs to Change

Many people may have a complaint about the economy, but my biggest complaint about it is that we are too reliant on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels have many great uses and you could even say that they are running our countries, but that is the problem.

The phrase "too much of a good thing is a bad thing" is true. However in this case to much fossil fuel used will hurt us all. You all have heard of the problems that it can bring like rising sea levels, acid rain, global rise in temperatures, and many more. They are all true, and to those don't believe me research the subject for ten minutes. There are graphs, videos, and even full books on the subject.

The fossil fuels that we use are slowly killing our planet as we speak. The effects aren't immediate so it isn't a big problem yet. "Yet" is the key word there. We need to make the changes to an economy soon before it is a big problem. Changing the economy is a big thing, and we can't afford to rush it or it will hurt us all the more.

You may ask yourselves how changing the economy for the better will hurt us, but with fossil fuels it will. There are a lot of jobs that are reliant on fossil fuels. We need to slowly switch to green resources soon. If we are to suddenly change, it would be like a runner breaking his leg and needing to participate in a big race. However this race is between all of the countries, and who says that another nation may not trip us when we are weak.

The main problem is that the corporations are stopping us from making the changes. Nobody wants to make a big move because those corporations will move against that person. In the political debates neither candidates have discussed the environmental details yet likely due to this reason. The quicker we can make these changes the less it will hurt us in the long run.