Today is technically a sea day as we won’t be docking or anchoring anywhere. Today we are transitioning through the Soo Locks which connect Lake Huron to Lake Superior. I have never been on either of these lakes so it has been very interesting.

Last night was a fantastic sunset, which my friends John and Diane took for me.

The Soo Locks are quite old and allow freight and recreational craft to go between the lakes. These locks are larger than the Welland Canal locks and can take larger ships but then these ships can never leave the Great Lakes. The locks are only open 9 months of the year due to the winter. 10,000 ships pass through the locks each year during those 9 months. The locks raise up the ships 21 feet.

There are 3 primary locks right now and they are building a new set of locks. The new locks will replace locks built in 1914 and 1919. It is a $3.5 Billion dollar project run by the Army Corp of Engineers.

As we come down the river before the locks, one side is Canada and the other side is the United States. It is a fairly narrow river at spots and I am struck by how easy it is just slip from one country to other with a simple boat. It is also interesting that the houses on the USA side are just cottages and look to be only used in the summer. The houses on the Canadian side are massive and look to be used year round. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me becuase the Canadian houses are just as far away from their major city (Toronto) as are the USA houses (Detroit). From Battle Creek to here is only about a 5 hour drive right up the Interstate.

Everyone was on the deck to see the Soo Locks. The crew served Gluhwein (a hot wine, typically served at the Christmas market in Germany). It was a little chilly this morning but it warmed up quickly in the sun.

Not much else to do today so I will be working on my train programs. Still tweaking the programs for my train show in a month and working on improving the grandchildren layouts in Germany and Battle Creek.

Another great sunset last night, a little different than normal.

Tomorrow is Silver Islet, Canada and possibly a kayak excursion as well as a submarine excursion. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.