Up North!

We started our day with a bike ride. This part of Michigan is blessed to have a  bike trail that is more than 70 miles long. We rode about 10 of them.  It winds through  beautiful forests, with Mullett Lake off to the right. The only bike hazards are the wild apples strewn along the road.

Sunrise over Cheboygan 

Jack on the bike trail

Our day is stormy, mixed with beautiful. Midwestern weather is a crap-shoot.

Mullett Lake with a storm blowing in

We drove across the UP (Upper Peninsula) to Saulte St. Marie, Michigan, directly across the St. Mary's River from Saulte St. Marie, Ontario, Canada (both of them pronounced "Soo Saint Marie").  We watched two (smallish) boats go through the "Soo Locks" between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

There is a 21 foot difference in lake level between Superior and Michigan. This used to be a cascading waterfall, which necessitated taking boats out of the water, and "portaging" them 1/2 mile before putting them back in the river. The locks solved that problem, and the first locks were built in the late 1700's by a French fur trapper. The modern-day locks are a bit more sophisticated. There are four locks, plus a hydro-electric plant, plus a part of the river they left untouched. It's pretty neat.

"Soo Locks" at Saulte St.Marie

A sort of smallish tour boat going through the locks

We still can't figure out why the Upper Peninsula of Michigan doesn't belong to Wisconsin. Look at a map.