Our travels took us to Mackinaw City, and from there we wanted to explore the Soo Locks.  We thought this would be a neat way for the kids to “travel into Canada” without technically leaving the United States.  The weather for our trip was not the best, it was cold and rainy, we made the best of the situation and the kids had a good time.

From Mackinaw City  we drove about an hour north on 1-75, and explored a bit of the country side of Michigans Upper Peninsula.  We enjoyed a dinner cruise and buffet with the Soo Locks Boat Tours  We enjoyed a leisurely cruise down the river as a tour guide pointed out many points of interest.  We passed the Stewart J. Cort a 1000 foot vessel, Leeann and David were amazed by the size. When dinner was completed, we headed into the System Lock system; the kids really enjoyed seeing the water levels rise and fall.  We waived to the people watching from the observation deck, after a while though the kids got bored, you are in the lock for quite a while about 45 minutes.  Once through the American Lock we turned around in Canada and entered the Canadian Lock, the only difference was a Canadian Flag was flying on the shore line.  At that point night was falling and the rain had picked up.

Overall Rachel and I enjoyed the cruise and all of the different boats and sites along the way.  The kids enjoyed the trip as well, and were asleep in the car before we got back on the highway to head back to Mackinaw City.  We cannot wait to do a proper Michigans Upper Peninsula visit in the future.