Lake Superior Tour

Just after our stake conference where my sweetie was released as the Stake President, we left on a vacation around Lake Superior.  It was supposed to be on a motorcycle but we took the car instead. I'm so glad we went by car.  We camped all but one night which was great!  We saved a bunch on hotels.  We have seen a lot of the attractions and done several tours along the southern border of the lake so now it was time to go see the Canadian side.

Our first stop was in Grand Marais, MI.  We walked along the lake shore and saw all these beautiful, colorful stones.  We picked up a few handfuls to bring them back for Michael Munk who collects rocks.  By the way, he loved them.

 The water was as cold as I remember it.  But the shoreline was so beautiful.

 While in Sault Ste. Marie we did a couple tours.  We went on the Soo Locks tour.  It was fun and I was glad I wore a jacket.  Even with the sun shining, the breeze was cool.  It was nice to be on the water.  We saw a lot of sites along the St. Mary's river.

While in Thunder Bay, we toured Fort William.  It was a fort designed for trading with the natives. Here's Pat with one of the canons.  It was sort of like being in Nauvoo where the people are dressed in the attire of the day.  The difference was that these were actors and they were in character.  That was fun!  There was so much to see at the fort but we only spent a few hours.  Being off summer hours not everything was open either.

In Thunder Bay you can see the Sleeping Giant.  In fact we stayed in the Sleeping Giant Park.  If you know what to look for, you can see him sleeping just beyond our campsite.

After dinner we went to Thunder Bay Lookout.  This was a place built out over the cliff so you could see how far down the lake was and see the cliffs.  Most of it was made with wooden planks.  The last few feet was with steel lats.  For some reason, I couldn't make myself walk out onto those.  I suppose because you can see through them more clearly.  I don't know.  I just freaked myself out about it.

Just a shot of the lake in the background.  Most of the  lake was not visible as we traveled around the north.  Still there were some beautiful vistas.

Back in Sault we toured an old ship.  There was a lot to see and experience like the living conditions aboard ship as well as some other artifacts.

One of those artifacts was this life boat that was on the Edmund Fitzgerald when it went down in Lake Superior.  It was found floating in the water the day after.  Both of the life boats found were severely damaged.

 This is the bridge to Canada.  

 The doors on the Canadian lock closed and the water draining.  

We found a cat hanging out in one of the homes in Fort William.  It was very friendly.  We had to have a photo for Tom.

We had a wonderful time being together.  Most of the time we didn't have any cell signal and no WiFi so it really was like being in solitude.  If I were to recommend to anyone else, I would say go from Thunder Bay over to Sault Ste. Marie.  Skip the northern route as there isn't a lot to see other than lots and lots and lots of trees.