When we got up Kathy & Johnny had already packed up their car. Was it something we said???? Ha!! Ha!! Hopefully not. We knew they had a long drive home, and that they hoped to see some lighthouses on the way. They had their coffee and took some honey buns with them, as we bade them a fond farewell. It's been a great couple of days as we've shared our little home with them, and I know we're all exhausted from our excursions.
We sat & drank our coffee slowly, as we were still waking up. The weather forecast isn't very good for tomorrow which is our last day here, and there were still places we wanted to see. We were both really tired though and not feeling 100%. What should we do???
As we drank more coffee and had breakfast, our bodies started to wake up. Our legs were another matter!! We needed a road trip without too much exercise. We decided we would go to the Soo Locks. They were 50 miles or a mere 45 minute drive away so we felt we should go and see.
This LINK gives a history of the locks.
They were originally built to enable boats to navigate the 21ft drop on the St. Marys River, which was the only waterway connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron.
Back when I was a pupil in a British school, we learnt about the Great Lakes. The size of them was incomprehensible to me as a teenager, and living in England, as small as it is. In fact I had no concept of the size of the USA until we drove from Atlanta, Georgia to Las Vegas, Nevada when we first arrived here from England!!!
We learnt about the Soo Locks as well. To be honest I didn't remember anything about the locks, except they were historical. I always remembered the names of the Great Lakes, as it was one of the things that was drummed into our memory in preparations for tests.
Fast forward 50 years and here I am. This summer, by the end of today, we will have seen 4 of the 5 Great Lakes. All being well we will see the 5th one, Lake Erie, on our way south.
We passed Lake Superior State University
and arrived in Sault Ste Marie, home of the Soo Locks. The town is celebrating the 350th anniversary of when Father Jacques Marquette founded the first European settlement here in 1668, remember the statue on Mackinac Island, and is known as the town where Michigan was born!!!
We went to the Visitor Center to see if any boats were going through the locks today and our timing was perfect, as one was just going through, and a tour boat was about to leave as well. We would have liked to go on the tour boat which goes through the locks, but we decided to save our money. We have exceeded our budget this month and need to conserve where we can. Maybe we'll come back and do that one day.
 |
| Administration Building |
We went to the purpose built viewing platform to watch the ship go through the lock. The boat tour was just leaving.
We watched the CSL Laurentien, a cargo ship, go through the lock.
 |
| Here you see the name |
 |
| Going down |
 |
| and down |
Once the water level had dropped to the correct level, the lock gates started to open.
The "bridge" started to open.
All ready for the ship to proceed. In this series of pictures look at the position of the ship in relation to the US flag that is flying.
There she goes.........
It was a long ship!!!!
The back of the ship
Back at the viewing platform, here's a reminder of the boat tour going out at the beginning.
This is the level of water in the closest lock now. The lock gates have been closed and the water level has dropped from when we saw the boat tour go out at the beginning.
Here's a closeup of the closed lock gates and the bridge that is now formed across the lock. Golf carts were zooming back and forth across the lock bridge.
Whilst we were watching the ship going through the other lock we didn't even notice the gates on this one closing and the water level dropping!!!
That was quite interesting although I was a little disappointed in the whole thing. I envisioned single locks at different intervals along the river, allowing for a gradual drop but instead there are 5 side by side deep locks to allow more river traffic to flow through. Of course, that's what makes these locks so magnificent. I clearly hadn't remembered anything I was taught 50 years ago!!!!
We went and walked through the small museum here.
This sign explains how there were rapids here that stopped all boat traffic before the locks were built.
State Lock in 1855.
Overhead view of them currently.
The number of hours for a freighter to pass through the 63 mile St. Mary's River.
The number of gallons that move through the lock every time a boat is raised or lowered.
I saw this sign for a Crepe Restaurant and had to take a picture.
After visiting the locks we decided to go and see some lighthouses in the area. Here is the BLOG for the rest of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Anonymous comments will not be published.
If you wish to leave a comment but not sign in, please use the Name/Url option. You can use your name OR an URL for this option, you do not need both.