Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Hi all, Dianne here.  We've moved all the way across the southern shore of Lake Superior to Sault Ste. Marie.  We are camped at Aune-Osborne Campground, right on the shores of the St. Mary's River.  

Our view out the front windshield is of huge lakers and salties moving toward or away from the Soo Locks.  

Our view of the shore on the other side of the river is, of course, Ontario, Canada.


It wasn't so long ago, just this May, that we included a photo of another fuzzy flag we viewed from across a river:

I guess we've really covered some ground; gone from the southernmost tip of Texas, where we could see Mexico, to the Canadian border.

Just like in Duluth, we have a great view of the ship channel.  This time we are even closer to the water.  The sites are adequate, water and 30 amp electric, but the view makes up for it.  It is obviously a very well-managed campground, with lots of repeat visitors.  Here's a view of the campground from out in the river:

Our first full day we checked out the nearby Soo Locks.  We found a spot on the second tier of the observation tower and watched a ship go through, along with lots of other people.  When a large ship is scheduled to enter the locks, people come from all directions to fill the observation tower.   

Here's a shot of the ship we watched as it entered the lock...






 then the same ship once the water level was adjusted:

I can't resist photographing these old green and red tug boats:  

Every time I see one, I think of a favorite book I owned as a little kid, "Scuffy the Tugboat."

We also ducked into a small museum next to the lock, where we saw this handsome man sitting inside.  Take a closer look at the photo; it is actually a mannequin!  It was so life-like that Roger and I were kind of creeped-out by it!

After watching the ship descend to the Lake Huron water level, we walked over to Maloney's Bar for a delicious whitefish sandwich and draft beer.

Gotta take a quick backtrack to our last few days at Munising, with apologies to my Facebook friends who have already heard this story:

I am near-sighted and wear my glasses all the time, unless I take them off to read.  I got up one morning at Munising and couldn't find my glasses anywhere.  I looked high and low, all over the motorhome, including behind the couch, between the bed and wall (a tiny, 1" space), our messy shoe rack beside the door, all windowsills -- all the usual places where I look for them.  I finally gave up.  

Two days went by, and it was time to pack up to drive to Sault Ste. Marie.  Roger does the outdoor packing up, and I secure the items inside.  When I picked up the empty Franzia merlot box to toss it in the trash, I felt a rattle inside.  

A flashlight beam into the handle hole on top of the box revealed this:

I have NO IDEA how they got in there!  (Note the empty wine bag.  It's really a good thing I did not throw this out with the trash!

Now, when I posted this story on Facebook, I received a flurry of smart remarks about drinking box wine.  Our excuse is that the boxes weigh less, take up less space, and don't break on bumpy roads.  (Not to mention the fact that we'd go broke if we drank the type of wine we prefer every evening!)

This morning we took the popular Soo Locks boat tour, for an up-close and personal view of the locks.

We were fortunate to enter the lock at the same time as the 1000-foot M/V Burns Harbor (just visible peeking up over the concrete lock):

When we started into the lock at the Lake Huron level, here was the water level: 

Up we went in the MacArthur Lock, and up went the M/V Burns Harbor in the Poe Lock next to us:

Now you can see the ship's hull above the concrete lock.  An interesting freight capacity comparison is that one 1000-foot Laker is equal to six 100-car trains or 2,308 large trucks!

This morning we had a different view of the observation tower.  Again, it was filled with people watching the big ship go through.  (They waved at us, too).

When the water reached the Lake Superior level, the gates opened and out we went.

The bridge just beyond the Soo Locks is the international bridge to Canada.

We sailed on up the St. Mary's River and the narrator pointed out points of interest along the shore.  

On the Canadian side of the river, we sailed up next to a large iron mill.  The narrator explained how the large piles of limestone, coal, and taconite are used to make coils of steel.  Lots of the cargo in the huge ships we've been watching (both here and Duluth) have been limestone or taconite. 

 I photographed this ship "just because."

After checking out the iron mill, we sailed back down St. Mary's River and went through the lock on the Canadian side for our return trip.  Same scenario, but in reverse:  We sailed in, the water level dropped, the gate opened and we sailed on through.

  The difference in water levels is illustrated in this photo, if you look at the water line.

The pet photo of the day shows Bandido sitting in the motorhome, watching the ships sail by!

Small Town Fourth of July at its Best!

Hi all, Dianne here.  Roger and I decided to take advantage of all the festivities here in Munising, Michigan for the Fourth of July.  Wow, this town really celebrates!

We took our spots among hundreds of folks to watch the hour-long parade.  The weather was perfect:  around 77 degrees and sunshine.

All the little kids were especially excited, and showed up with buckets and sacks to catch all the candy they knew would be tossed their way from the bands and floats.

There was even a pipes and drums corps.

One interesting tradition here is for the high school class reunions to each have a float.  We saw the classes of 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, and 2001 ride past on floats.  

Here is one parade entrant following the class reunion floats that I just had to include!  If you can't make out the lettering on the sign, it says:  
"We the people of the class of 1976 regretably failed to twice elect Peggy Carberry homecoming queen.  We would like to right this wrong.  Peggy Carberry, homecoming queen, class of 1976."  Peggy was there in all her glory!


The parade went on for just under an hour.  Obviously a very big deal here in this town, because it seemed everyone in town was either in the parade or lining the streets.

Bayfront park had its own festivities going on:  lots of food tents and even something new for me, "Chicken Poop Bingo."  We wandered up to the tent to see just how it was played.

The chicken finally did his job on number 7, so whoever bought a chance on "7" won some cash.

We skipped some of the activities, but walked over to see the pet parade.  Once they finally got started, it did not disappoint!  Here are some highlights:

For my pet picture of the day, I'm including a photo of what I hope become three pets in loving homes.  These three cute dogs in the pet parade are up for adoption at the Munising, Michigan animal shelter.  The dog in the front is obviously part blue heeler, like Bandido.  He seemed very friendly and a great dog.  Pass the word, if you know someone who would like to adopt!  Bandido will tell you that shelter dogs are the greatest dogs in the world.

I'll close out our visit to Munising with yet another great sunset photo over Lake Superior that Roger took last evening.  

Lake Superior -- BEACH TIME!

Roger here...  Nothing like starting with the end of the day!  More sunsets to come.


Dianne and I decided to take a couple days of hiatus from our sightseeing.  There is so much to see and do here, but what a shame it would be to not enjoy our beachside setting, especially in this ideal weather -- highs in the mid seventies and sunny.  

Miles of beach walking are just 25 yards from our campsite.  Our doggies love the daily long morning walks.  Bandido has discovered a new joy -- digging deep holes in the sand between romps in the shallow water.

Here is a view of our campground across the bay from about a mile away.

The few times we have been to Lake Michigan in Indiana, we enjoyed the magnificent dunes, but were disappointed by the pungent brown water that was full of seaweed.  That is not the case where we are located right now on the south shore of Lake Superior, where the water is a deep blue and incredibly clear.  Instead of slimy kelp, the view through the water is of multi-colored pebbles and rocks.  We have collected enough of them now to put our motor home overweight.  (Remember Lucy's rocks in the Long, Long Trailer?)


Yesterday, when the sun became a little too intense, I dug out one of our purchases from the Cabela's store in Nebraska.  We often find ourselves unable to enjoy the outside due to a campsite configuration that puts our outdoor area directly in the sun.  If it is too windy to put out the awning, we either stay inside or slap on sunscreen and hats, and then sweat.  Our new toy solves the problem.  It is amazingly simple for one person to assemble in a five-minute time frame.  It is lightweight, easily carried in its over-the-shoulder sleeve.  And... it is small enough to easily fit in a bay.  I present to you...  the Sport Brella.

After spending an hour at the campsite, we decided to disassemble it and take it to the beach.  Pretty cool, huh?  Dianne even agrees that my impulse purchase by the check-out counter was a good one.

What a relaxing day, and the view......

(What you can't see in these photos are the hardy little northern kids swimming and playing in the cold Lake Superior water.  I overheard a man say the water temp was 55 degrees!! -- D.)

Back to the end of the day....  Here is a ten-minute record of the awesome sunset.  (My favorite pic is the last one, when the sun is fully down and the reflection on the water is perfect.)

Tomorrow... The Fourth of July Celebration in Munising, Michigan.  Should be fun.

We return to a retro Whippet Picture of the Day for today's pet picture.  We recently reconnected with RV Dreamer friends, Steve and Evin.  We met them at the RV Dreamers Rally in South Carolina last year.  They just sold their house and are ready to embark on full-time RVing!  Steve just e-mailed the above photo to us.  The picture was taken in April, 2010 at the bottom of the waterfalls in Stone Mountain State Park in NC, where we accidently ran into them and their three dogs at the bottom of a million or so stair steps.  Steve and Evin took the picture.  Our sadly-missed Jasper is the whippet on the left.  Chaplin is the whippet on the right.