Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan: Soo Locks Boat Tour

For the full story of the lock system in the Sault Ste. Marie area (for the record, cities on both sides of the border have that name), you need to head to the American side. A couple of companies will be happy to take you around the area on a ferry for a reasonable fee.

As these things go, this is pretty interesting. The journey starts along the American waterfront, passing an electrical plant that is a quarter-mile long. Eventually the ferry reaches a lock. If you are lucky, you'll get a good look at one of the big freighters that uses the Great Lakes for transportation. In the photograph here, you can see one of them going through one of the big locks. We went through a smaller one, shown on the left.

And once we were lifted up, we were on Lake Superior - in our case, completing our bucket list of Great Lakes. The tour goes into the lake a bit, goes past an enormous steel plant on the Ontario side of the water, and then heads back to the home port. It all takes a little less than two hours. They do have dinner cruises for those who like such things.

Here's your history lesson on the place:

 

If you find yourself in this part of the world, this probably is the one attraction you should see.

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