On the Road Again - Soo Locks
I was a little sad to leave Mackinac Island after such a wonderful week, but I was also excited and ready for our next adventure. I think Steve was looking forward to driving our car again. We were headed to CANADA! We had our passports, our vaccination cards, and (thanks to the little medical clinic on Mackinac Island) our negative COVID test results.
It was cloudy on Saturday morning as we boarded the ferry back to the mainland (our old friend, the Upper Peninsula).
At a quaint little family-run diner in St. Ignace, we chatted with friendly locals as we waited for our omelets. (The UP does GREAT omelets!)
We drove Interstate 75 north until it ended near the Canadian border. This is the same highway that goes south across the Mighty Mac bridge to Michigan's Lower Peninsula (the mitten). Fun fact: Way down South, I-75 runs through Tampa and across Alligator Alley, ending in Miami. So we have now driven both ends of I-75!
The little border town at the northeast corner of the UP is called Sault (pronounced "soo") Ste. Marie, Michigan. Across the St. Marys River is its sister town in Canada, also called Sault Ste. Marie, but with a French accent, I guess.
We were curious about the Soo Locks, so decided on a quick stop at the Visitors Center before crossing the border. There was a viewing platform alongside the locks, with a great view of the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge connecting the US and Canada.
The Soo Locks are significant because they enable large freighters to travel from Lake Superior to Lake Huron and onward, eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Huron is 21 feet lower than Lake Superior, and before the locks were built, cargo had to be portaged (carried on land) along the rapids and loaded onto a different freighter.
We could easily see the two of the four locks. In the first lock, the water was low, matching the water level to the east. And as luck would have it, a large boat* was entering the second lock from the west. We congratulated ourselves on our perfect timing.
* I was going to write "ship" but Steve reminded me that our Apostle Island cruise captain had said that every vessel on Lake Superior is called a boat, regardless of how big it is...but if it sinks, it's called a ship [wreck]. Hah!
Of course we had to stay and watch as the water level in second lock lowered until the boat could pass through to Lake Huron.
The Visitors Center did a great job of relating the history of the Soo Locks and explaining their design and construction. The changes in water level are accomplised purely through valves and gravity, and we developed a new appreciation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
