Day 56

July Already, Can You Believe It

Jul 1, 2013, 8:24 AM

I am shocked that this is the first day of July. Where has the time gone. We have been on the road almost two months already and it sure doesn't feel like it. Although now that I give life to that thought in some ways it feels like we have been gone forever. I miss our Happy Zone friends, and the time spent with Kim and that gang seemed to fly by, and now it feels like we have been gone for so long from them. So I don't know, I guess I am conflicted in so many ways, that's life isn't it? The good with the bad, the ups with the downs. . . Oh whoa, wait a minute, I am getting way too heavy here (and no I am NOT talking about my weight, so I better get no snarky comments from the peanut gallery)!!

Today's plans are not set yet. We are hoping we can get reservations for a dinner cruise leaving from Sault St. Marie. If we can we will go as far north as we can in the USA and then cross over into Canada. How cool will this be. I'll get a stamp on that damn passport that required extracting blood from a stone in order to get approval, at least that was how it seemed at the time. Anyway, if we can't get reservations for today we will go to Mackinac Island. Either plan has me chomping at the bit to get started. I just have to wait for the Soo Locks Boat Tour people to get in for the day so I can call. Hurry up 10:00 AM. 

Jul 1, 2013, 11:38 AM

YIPPEEEEE!!!!!! I was able to get us reservations for tonight's dinner cruise. This is even better than I had planned. Today is Canada Day, who knew, so instead of the dinner cruise taking off at 5:30 PM, for a two and a half hour cruise and dinner, the boat leaves at 7 PM and after it gets back to the dock you stay on board for the fireworks display from the Canadian side of the river. How exciting is this going to be? So we are finally on our way, we have our passports, jackets, cause it is going to get down right cold up here tonight (in the 40's), and we are off for a fun filled day and night. Don't worry I'll bring you all up to speed later.

Jul 1, 2013, 11:24 PM

What a day, what a day, what a day!!!!! We were in Canada for lunch and back to the US for a dinner cruise on the St. Mary river, then docking to see the Canada Day fireworks from the boat. It could not have been any better. Going into Canada we crossed the International Bridge and we were sitting for a good 30 minutes or more waiting to get through, then we went to the Sault St. Marie, Ontario waterfront park. We found a nice little place to have lunch and the weather was so pleasant we sat outside to eat. After lunch we went to the Bushplane Museum. Steve was very interested in seeing that and what the hell we had time to kill. We wanted to start back over to the US side about 4 PM. The dinner cruise started at 7, we were supposed to be there by 6:30, we weren't sure how far it was after we got back to the US and we were afraid it would take another 30 minutes or more to get through the boarder. Well don't you know we drove up waited behind three cars, they asked us how long we'd been in Canada, was our place of residence Florida, did we have any purchases to declare, OK, see ya!! That was it. We got more of a grilling getting into Canada. So we puttered around till it was time to go the boat.

The dinner cruise was fantastic. We had the best time. We sat at a table with a young couple that had just gotten married October 5, that was such a coincidence. They were so sweet and almost everyone had finished eating and they were going up top and the four of us were still sitting talking. We went up top and the cruise was really nice. We went down the St. Mary River a ways, then came back up the river and went through the Canadian Soo Lock. That was a wild thing. The other side of the lock was Lake Superior. At that point we were leaving Lake Huron going into Lake Superior, don't ask me how we got from the St. Mary River to Lake Huron, I just report the facts, anyway at this place between the two lakes Lake Superior is 21' higher than Lake Huron. This is where the locks come into play. You go up to these big, huge, doors. The lock master opens the doors, and closes them after you, then they fill this chamber you're in with water till you come up to meet the surface of Lake Superior. It was cool!!! It only took about 10 maybe 15 minutes. Steve and I had speculated about this earlier in the day. I wondered how long it took to fill the locks. I had no concept at all of what it would take. Minutes, hours, days, I didn't think it would be days, that didn't seem realistic. I didn't realize our cruise was going to be taking us through the locks. 

On the way back we went through the American lock. That was a bit more weird. You could feel the boat rocking just a bit from side to side as the water was being taken out of the lock. Going up, you really couldn't tell you were getting higher till you had risen quite a bit. The American side was much faster. We went down river after we left the lock to a place where they tied up the boat and we waited for the fireworks to begin. The Canadians put on one hell of a fireworks show and it was so perfect watching from the boat. We had great seats, a completely unobstructed view, we were outside on the deck and very comfortable. It was wonderful. Enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow we are going to head out to Mackinac Island. I can't wait!!