Sault Ste. Marie, ON

On Saturday, Ron and I and about 20 other WINs crossed the border into Canada. Ron doesn't have the best luck when it comes to border crossings and they pulled us over and searched the rig. Now really, I don't know anybody more honest than poor Ron. I understand security, but after the toll taker on the International Bridge said how happy they were to have us since tourism is down, I didn't expect to be made to feel like a criminal.

So here we are in Sault Ste. Marie at another WIN gathering - thankfully not hosted by us. Carol is doing a fantastic job and is not only hosting this gathering, but the next three also. Is she crazy? Well, not yet anyway.

She somehow got us an invitation for lunch on an island in the North Channel of Lake Huron. We kayaked about a mile, mostly between the islands so it wasn't whitecaps like I had been imagining. Our host Tom even took his boat and picked up two of our WINs who don't have kayaks. (It's true - you don't have to own a kayak to be a WIN.) Here is Tom's cabin on the lake where he spends his summers.


Before lunch, our Yoopper Martha just had to take a dip in the lake. We have several WINs from Michigan, but I think only she is from the Upper Peninsula.

We had a wonderful time visiting with Tom and hope to see him on the road since he is also an RVer. These are both Peggy's pictures because I was afraid to take my camera in the kayak. Thanks, Peggy.

Yesterday we toured around town. First we went to the museum which covered local history. Here Diana found a place she thought looked pretty cozy, made out of birch bark.


On a building behind the museum was this cool mural, depicting transportation from the early trappers to airplanes.


After a great lunch we headed to the Soo locks. The locks bypass the St. Marys rapids between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The two lakes have a 21 foot difference in elevation. We had visited the American locks last year and I have pictures on my Flickr site of that (here's one)

However this trip we saw the Canadian side which is used for recreational boats.


We had a very informative tour starting at this visitor center which, along with other buildings there and in town, was built out of the local red sandstone excavated when the canal was dug. I think the stone is just beautiful.


After our tour we walked around the island on the river side of the canal. We saw lots of sign of beaver, some eels and found some friendly mallard ducks. It was a very nice nature walk.


Here are some of our group walking back across the lock gates. They wouldn't let us ride on them as they opened. Rats!