Today we explored Sault Ste Marie, although we did discover that few businesses are open downtown, on Sundays. Eventually, we found espresso at the Delta Hotel, which we were able to have by appealing to the Maitre d’, who allowed us to sit outside on the patio, in the sunshine, before it opened officially. There is a walkway along St Mary’s River from where we could see the rapids (sault), the locks and power stations, on both sides of the Canada/US border. Two ships, very large “lakers”, were going through the locks in the distance. The war of 1812 was being celebrated this weekend and there were three tall ships moored by the Roberta Bondar Centre. Such ships were built in the “Soo”.

The Art Gallery of Algoma is a small gem and the exhibit of Abraham Anghik Ruben’s sculptures was a great find, as well as paintings by Jackson, Lismer, Casson and Emily Carr, among others, from their permanent collection.

Later, on returning to the Delta patio we met up again with Paul and Joe. It is unlikely that we will see them again soon, but we will keep in touch. We shared experiences of Thursday’s storm.

Our arrival in Sault Ste Marie marked the end of another stage in our journey and we do feel a real sense of accomplishment. The mountains were followed by the prairies, which were followed by the rugged hills of north-western Ontario (noting that most of the province lies even further to the north), and Lake Superior. We are now eager for the next phase, in southern Ontario, seeing new country and old friends.