The Soo Locks

So there is so much to see in Northern Michigan we had a hard time deciding what to see. We had to factor in drive time and amount of walking due to the kids so the sight that we thought would be the most interesting for everyone was the Soo Locks.



As you can see in the picture above the Soo locks are a set of parallel locks that allow ships to pass from Lake Superior to the other Great Lakes. On the US side you are in St Sault Marie looking across into Ontario Canada. I had no idea what a lock was or why it was needed before this trip. We had just missed the last big freighter passing though the locks which was kind of disappointing, but we still got the idea of how the locks operate.






The water level on the Lake superior side is higher than the water level on the Lake Huron side so the boats come into the lock and the gates are closed. The water level is then dropped to match the other side and then the gate is opened and the ship can exit. Then as you can see in the bottom picture the water level is brought back up for the next ship. It was definitely something pretty neat to see even though we missed the whole process.
The kids were kind of indifferent to the process but like to see the water and the ship that was leaving. They did enjoy snack time...






After the Soo Locks we of course headed back for some more beach fun.









After dinner we took one more hike down to get some icecream.






All sugared up the kids decided to play some ring around the rosy...






We had so much fun that our time in Paradise was over so quickly. On Saturday morning we made one last stop on our way out of town at the berry patch for some breakfast.






Thank you Brooklyn and Diana for having us, we had so much fun!!!