Happy Halloween

Phil and Chris noticed that I wasn't my usual cheerful self after being excluded from the Niagara boat trip.  They bought me a little pumpkin to cheer me up. 

A few days before Halloween they helped me carve my pumpkin...that is what everyone does here for Halloween.  I'm not sure they are going to let me go trick or treating...

A visit to Canada

We prepared the van and madly searched for the passports and other important documents necessary for us to not only drive into Canada, but importantly, drive back to the US.  Once we were organized
we hit the freeway for the bridge to Canada.

The border crossing went fairly smoothly.  We always worry about this and had heard a few horror stories about searches and xrays at the borders...we aren't carrying a few simple bags across...we have the whole van full of stuff and food.  One of the border guards even suggested a scenic drive along Lake Superior's North shore.

The weather wasn't terrific for our scenic drive, and only deteriorated.  We liked the moose crossing warning signs, however, didn't seen any moose.

On the north shore of Lake Superior looking at all the nice smooth stones.

 

 

This is such a disappointing photo!  The weather really did not cooperate for our first four days in Canada, and rather than fill pages with dismal, overcast photos, we've included only this one here.  Around Lake Superior, the mountains come down to the shores and it is stunning...maybe another day.

We had a window of opportunity to visit our friends in Toronto.  They like to travel and visit new places as much as we do, so we managed to time our visit between their trips away.  Cathy and Jim showed us excellent hospitality and we enjoyed visiting a few of the ethnic neighborhoods in Toronto.  It was even sunny for a few days.

Next we drove around the west end of Lake Ontario to Niagara Falls.  Of course the Falls are spectacular, but the canal system nearby is interesting and we spent a few days in the area exploring.  We walked a few miles along the Welland Canals on some of the nice multi use trails around St Catherines.  At Lock 7 we stopped for a hot chocolate and some lunch at a tourist information shop, and it started pouring with rain.  Lucky for us, a local baker was visiting the shop and he gave us a lift down to where we'd parked the van.  The humans, in their usual offensive way, say there is nothing worse than wet bear smell in the van.

Surprisingly, it was sunny and warm the days we set aside for Niagara Falls.  The town of Niagara Falls is really touristy, yuk, but even that stuff cannot take away from the beauty of the falls.  The current of the river above the falls races along at 48 knots.  There have been people that have survived a trip over the falls, accidental or otherwise, and a few died going that way too.

Once again I was left in the van while Chris and Phil got up close and personal with the water.  I guess it was the wet bear thing again.  They went on the Maid of the Mist, a tour to the base of the Falls, which has been running since the mid 1800's.  The stylish plastic ponchos are provided to all the passengers, and it is misty the entire time down at river level.  As the boat gets close to the horseshoe falls (pictured above), it gets really wet.

 Phil and Chris, and not Buster, also went to a nice restaurant for dinner at the Skylon, overlooking the Falls.  Great view and great food, and again, so very fortunate to have such marvelous weather to enjoy our time here.

I was so upset not to be included in the tour or dinner, I snuck out and had a swim.  Plenty of stunned little fish at the bottom of the falls to eat.  Now I'm in trouble again...I am just a terrible little bear.

 

Lighthouses, and a bridge

Upper Michigan has a lot of lighthouses.  All in one day, we were on the shores of three of the Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan and Superior), looking at some of the lighthouses.

 

This is the lightstation at Point Iroquis.  The light has been decomissioned and there is a replacement on the shoal offshore.

In Manistique we saw this lighthouse.

This is in St Ignace. 

 At St Ignace there used to be a railway that went out to collect rail cars which were shipped across the lakes.

We went way up to Whitefish point to visit this lighthouse and museum.  In 1978 the Edmond Fitzgerald sank not far from here on a night that the light was out.

Back in St Ignace we drove out to a park for a view of the Mackinac Bridge, although the weather wasn't cooperative.

Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan

Sault Ste Marie is home to several sets of locks on the St Mary's River.  There are locks on both the Canadian and the American side, and the earliest lock was built in 1855.  Today, about 10,000 ships pass through these locks annually, rising or lowering the 21 feet between Lake Superior and down river.

This is an arial view of the American side of the locks.

We waited at the viewing platform for a ship to come along and use a lock.

 Pretty soon a ship came and entered the lock from down river.

 After about 20 minutes the ship was raised to the upper level, the gates opened and the ship moved along.

Chris on the observation deck.  In the distance is the bridge to Canada.

 I was pretty excited when Phil and Chris told me we were going on a tour of the locks and would actually be on a boat as we went up and down...but once again, guess who wasn't included.

 This is the entrance to the same lock the ship used in the previous photos.

Once the lock filled with water, we continued up river and under the road and train bridges between the US and Canada.  The darker bridge is the train bridge and that whole section lowers to join up the tracks on each side.

 Looks like they were sort of cold on their tour.  At least my fur keeps me warm and I found some fun things to do too.

 

 

There is a steel mill on the Canadian side.

This is another type of train bridge...this one swings around a central pivot to join up the tracks.

 For the trip back down the river we entered the Canadian lock, which is smaller and primarily used by pleasure craft.

It may be smaller, but it is still a massive amount of water.  Jet skis and canoes are not allowed in the large locks.  Once time some jet skiers started swimming in the lock, and the authorities we worried that a swimmer would get sucked down into the water rushing out through the tunnels. 

 Scary thought.

 Chris and Phil both stayed on board and didn't test any of the vortex theories.

 

Fall Colors

We've recently had opportunities to kayak and canoe in Wisconsin.  Nice to be on the water, and a pretty time of the year to be out enjoying these last warm days.

 

Here are a couple of photos on Wilke Lake

This crane sort of blends in with the grasses, but he seemed to be enjoying the nice weather too.

 Three kayaks...three people...where is mine??

From south central Wisconsin we travelled north to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

 Spectacular fall colors were all over and we probably took way too many photos of the changing trees.

 We stopped in Hiawatha National Forest where it rained most of the time, but here is a shot when the sun finally came out.

 

 Way up north, on the shores of Lake Superior, just outside of a tiny town called 'Paradise' there are these colorful little cottages for rent.  I'm sure they are popular in warmer weather.

 Finally, the beautiful trees were masked with snowfall this morning when we looked outside.  We were shocked, this is really early for snow, even here in Sault Ste Marie.  Maybe we've taken the wrong route to Canada.