June 2014 MICHIGAN Upper Peninsula 2 - Lock It To Me

Guess you have to be a little older to get the pun in the title.

Friday was full of Engineers Day festivities. This day celebrates the engineers who built and maintain the locks. Much of this was a rehash of last year for us, but we still enjoyed every moment. 

After breakfast we jumped into the activities. Right off the bat we ran into a friend of Jan's who lives in Charlevoix, MI. She hadn't seen him in years. It was a quick catch-up and then on our separate ways.

The military display this year was much smaller than last. We discovered in 2013 there had been an official military "exercise" going on during Engineers Day. This year was just a regular ol' day at the Soo for the US Army Corps of Engineers. So their presence was not so obvious.

We still learned some interesting facts. One was how quickly they can construct an emergency "bridge" over the St. Mary's River to Canada, if something happened to the real International Bridge. It was amazingly less than a day.

The Corps' main duty is to keep the locks safe, secure, and in good maintenance. The up to 1,000 foot long ships that pass through the 21' drop between Lake Huron and Lake Superior are important to the economy of both the US and Canada.

What a thrill to walk across the locks and see a big freighter headed right toward us! We also toured the old and elegant Davis administration building which is still in use. Displayed there are photos of all the old Lockmasters (we saw our Aunt Carol's dad's plaque who was the Lockmaster during 1950-1959), and historical and current data about the locks, cargo, and ships that pass through. The rooms and furnishings remain much the same as they were originally. And it was fun to see the viewing stand (as close as you can normally get) from across the lock. Definitely a different perspective.

Read about Engineers Day and the Soo Locks here.

Our next stop was the Cloverland Electric Hydroelectric Power Plant, a few miles down the road. (We passed by Mike's childhood home en route.) The plant is 112 years old and operates with pretty much the same equipment used from day one of its existence.

The building itself is of Romanesque design, a quarter mile long, and 80 feet wide. For you techies, the hydro plant consists of 74 three-phase generators. Each 60-cycle generator operates at 4400 volts, 180 RPM and 600 to 850 KVA (600 KVA is enough power to supply two big box retail stores).

Read more at about Cloverland Electric Hydroelectric Power Plant here.

We made a quick wet-your-whistle stop at Moloney's (is this becoming our hang out?) before boarding the 2pm Soo Locks Boat Tour. On this 2-hour tour we actually traveled through the locks on both the US and Canadian sides; saw a steel smelting mill, viewed riverside marine businesses, the city skylines and other significant points of interest; and cruised under the International Bridge between the US and Canada. We shared a spot in the Canadian lock with a beautifully refurbished tug boat, the Regan.




After we got our land legs we were in search of the American Legion (Post 3) in da Soo. One reason Mike joined the Legion (Post 221) in Frankfort was to get a discount on our reunion rental earlier this summer. So we decided to take advantage of the membership here. A fellow going into the hall, said if we didn't have a card we could be his guests. We had our own card, so we were all set.

It was FUN. Number one was  the view from the bar. It was wall-to-wall of very clean glass windows looking over the St. Mary's River and all the ship traffic. Number two was the hospitality of the members. After a few rounds we were being invited to people's homes, shown painted mailbox craft projects, toasting to this person or that, and having some all around interesting and hilarious conversations.

At this point, we needed to pile a little food on top of the alcohol we had been tippling all day. We ended up at Karl's Cuisine. Mike and I discovered this place several years ago when it was featured on the Under The Radar TV show, which features interesting places to visit in Michigan. It is probably the best food in town unless you want pasties, venison, ribs, or other hearty meaty fare. We all enjoyed the feast.

After some more wandering to walk off some of those delicious calories, we went to our separate corners for a wind down to a very full day.

PS - I have to add that we met Jan when we hired her to do our window coverings in our new loft when we moved from San Francisco to Michigan. We had her do a second decorating job when we moved to the condo building just next door. We always knew she was talented, but she really showed her stuff this weekend.

The room they were assigned was on the third floor of the hotel. It did not have normal windows but angled dormer windows that were uncovered. As soon as the sun came up this morning, it was too bright for them to sleep.

Now I'm not sure why Jan was carrying craft paper on her vacation, but she was. She decided to creatively solve the morning light problem by "decorating" the dormer windows with the craft paper. On Saturday morning we were told it did the trick. They were able to sleep in...almost to the point of missing the bridge walk!!!