Michigan, so far

We arrived in Michigan rather late in the evening on Saturday. We left Sudbury a bit later than we expected, and the drive took a bit longer than we expected. After dining in Sault Ste. Marie we crossed the border (actually, the fastest border crossing we've ever experienced) and made the drive down to Mackinaw City.

Final dinner in Canada was here. We feared a long border crossing and wanted to eat before attempting to enter the U.S. The crossing proved painless, but I don't know where we would've eaten in the area of Michigan through which we drove. 

Michigan immediately seemed different from the region of Ontario through which we drove. The landscape appears less harsh than the northern shore of Lake Huron. I-75 is a straight shot down the Upper Peninsula. A few exits' worth of the highway are closed due to repairs, so we detoured on a two-lane state route parallel to the highway. Not too much to see on it, though it looked more suitable for farming than nearly all of what we saw along Provincial Route 17.

We did get to see one last site in Canada, of course, before crossing the border. There's a national park dedicated to the Soo Locks and we had about 20 minutes there before they closed. The Soo Locks we saw are only used for recreational purposes anymore (the big commercial ones are on the American side). What we saw were built near the end of the nineteenth century, and a guide was willing to take us on down to the old machinery.

Powerhouse for the Soo Locks. The limestone along the corners was a fancy touch indicating this to be an important building. 

Caroline at the wheel of equipment which used to move tons of shipping through the locks. 

The former superintendent's house. 

A view of the old locks looking westward. 

We arrived at our motel a bit after 9 pm, which was late by the standards of this area. We even received a phone call around 8:45 seeing if we were still coming on by. When I checked in, the owner told me that he could tell me what there was to do if I came by during an earlier time of the day. How quaint . . . I think.