Next time your at your favorite bar playing trivia and you get asked, “where in the world is the second-best travel hub in the world?” you can sit back, take a swig, and show all your friends up because you know this answer. DULUTH my friends has been the runner up for best adventure city according to Outside Magazine! And I quote: This hilly, forested, 26-mile-long city on the southern tip of Lake Superior is a magnet for aerobic fiends who train year-round on the city’s 72 miles of Nordic ski trails, the epic Willard Munger paved cycling trail, 81 miles of running and hiking trails, and 30 (and growing) miles of urban mountain-bike trails. At the southern end of town are two brand-new 500-vertical-foot, IMBA-designed downhill flow trails at Spirit Mountain ski resort. Offshore there are three quadrillion gallons of Lake Superior water, shipwrecks, and salmon and trout. Book a lakeside room at Fitger’s Inn (doubles from $135). Two hours north are the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one of the worst-kept but least-spoiled secrets in the country. It is also headquarters to the coolest furniture manufacturer, Loll Designs, where you can find many of it’s employees enjoying the said trails above. (I may have added that last sentence) Also in the news…. The Start Tribune gave a shout-out to Loll for being one the states most stylish furniture companies. Huzzah. And lastly… Our very own, Greg Benson, recently took a quick trip down to Austin to judge the Brand New Awards. A competition that celebrates the best identity work a company produced around the world in 2012. It should be of no surprise that the winning work had to with beer. Shocking. It is actually a pretty sweet design, no?   The story behind it is pretty neat as well: In the city of Rikuzentakata, a single pine tree stands as a testament to survival after the tsunami of 2011. This beer’s name means “One Pine Tree” and its design is a symbol of charity and hope for Japan’s brighter future. A scroll-like, handwritten label seals the top with its story written on the inside. The label is a solitary pine made of three triangles facing up, symbolizing the wish for progress in the reconstruction efforts. That concludes this month’s current events portion.