Day 23 - Touring Around Sault Ste Marie

We were slow to get moving today.  We ended up watching a movie last night and crashed relatively early.  When we woke around 8 it was nice to just put the kettle on and have a cup of tea and read.

Was able to get a load of wash done.  Had a good breakfast and even made a tomato sandwich with veggies as a lunch for later.

I have been looking forward to checking out the canal here which is designated a National Park.  Here is an image of all the National Parks in Canada, and now we have seen many of them.

Staff at the office help to explain all about the locks.  Here Matea explains how the locks work and how ships pass thru.  She is wonderful!  Made it easy for us to understand and her friendly manner made it is for us to tease her with fun comments.  

The Canal was opened in 1895.  The lock itself was a technological marvel in its day – the longest and most modern in the world in 1895. It was one of 8 main line canals along the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence system and formed a very important link. The lock here is the very first lock in the world to be operated by electricity.

The Emergency Swing Bridge Dam used to protect the lock in the event of an accident retains much of its original built form.

You can walk over the canal lock and along some very nice trails.

 

This bridge takes you over to the US side of the river.

A leak!

We see a lot of geese!  Quite a few pairs with their goslings. They are not happy to see us!  They are very protective and they hiss at us. We take our time to pass them so they know we are not a threat.  Check out the video below to see how the geese react to us.

Of course Bea Damn is excited to see some Beaver Damns along the way.  But she said no one was home.

This is the butterfly valve that would open to allow water in.  

The lock had four of these valves and they are huge.

After spending about two hours at the Canal enjoying the canal and the trails we make our way to the Canadian Bush Plane Heritage Center.

The airplane hanger is huge and holds numerous exhibits, theaters, and of course bush planes.

This is the Ontario Yellow Bird.  In 1924 the government of Ontario set up a provincial air service to replace forest fire detention by canoe and foot patrols.  Based at Sault Ste Marie, the aircraft became known as the Yellow bird because of their yellow and black colors.  The Yellow Bird detected fires, transported fire fighters and supplies.

Below is the Beaver Water Bomber!  Beaver CF-OBS was the first production de Havilland Beaver manufactured by de Havilland Canada.   It was purchased by the Ontario Provincial Air Service in 1948 and was the first of a total of 44 aircraft purchased by them over the years.  CF-OBS is the oldest production beaver in flying condition.

Look I got a picture of a helicopter on the ground!  

Below is a video of a flight simulator they have.  You board a small bush plane and sit in the pilot/co pilot seat and watch an actual flight.

On February 23, 1909 J.A.D. McCurdy took off from Baddeck Bay, Bras d'Or Lake in Nova Scotia.  It was the first powered flight in Canada.  Below is a replica of the famous Silver Dart.

They also had to two movies that you can watch and they both were very well done.  One is about the experience of flying a bush plane that is quite cute and narrated very well.  You are made to feel like you are a passenger.  The other movie is a 3D movie about fighting forest fires and you really experience it and get the big picture on what it is like to fight forest fires first hand.

Although visiting the Bush Plane Museum would not of been on my radar to visit, it came highly recommended and Bernie wanted to see it.  And now that I have visited I am really glad I did visit.  I learned a lot and I have a real admiration for those that fly them. 

This museum is a great place to visit, and children will love it too. 

Here is our scavenger hunt list today:

• Moose
• Deer
• Hitchhiker
• Eagle/Hawk
• Licence plates from every Province in Canada - but you can not count the province you are in.  So if we see an Alberta plate in BC then it counts, but not if we are in Alberta. British Columbia  Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Yukon, and North West Territory
• Skunk - saw a dead one
• Sheep
• Beaver
• Goslings
• Buffalo
• Goat
• Owl
• Bear
• Loon
• Crane
• Prairie Dog
• Fisherman fishing
• Canoe
• Hummingbird
• Antique car on the road
• Old VW Bug
• Car broken down on the side of the road
• Helicopter on the ground
• Airplane on the ground
• Speeding ticket- hopefully not our own
• Ambulance with sirens on
• Dump truck
• Line painting crew at work
• Mail delivery person walking their route
• Cruise Ship 
• Coyote 
• RCMP officer
• Hop on Hop off Bus
• Sea Glass
• Lobster

If you have any items you think we should add to our scavenger hunt list, let us know.

So Today's Stats 
Driving distance today 40 km 
Total distance 6160 km