We knew this day would come. We are leaving Canada today. We've had such a great time up here..... the waters are amazing, the people are amazing, everything - except the rocks - is amazing. We decided to cross over the river and head to the George Kemp Marina in USA to fuel up and check in with customs and immigration. I assumed we would have a hassle, because I've tried to check in 3 other times, but always got declined. I called the Port of Entry yesterday and talked to someone who said its probably a GPS thing, that isn't matching where we are to where we say we are coming in. With that in mind, I tried while we were sitting at the fuel dock. Surprise, surprise! It worked. In 5 minutes I got an email that said 'your party is cleared to enter'. Just like that. Here is the picture of looking back at Sault Ste Marie on the Canadian side from the US side fuel dock.

We left the town and headed down the St Mary's River towards DeTour Village. The river is wide and beautiful. I couldn't help wanting to dislike it, because ..... you know ...... its not Canadian. Turns out its beautiful on the US side too. Who knew?

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I sort of expected the markings to be somehow inferior to the CA side, but the lighthouses, the lighted bouys, and the channel markers are all well marked and lit.

It was a pretty uneventful trip down the river. There were a few narrow places, and a few places to pay attention in, but mostly just ooohing and aaahhing over beautiful homes on the shore. As we were coming into DeTour Village, this giant boat was peeking out from the trees. We couldn't get close enough to see if it was intact, but looked like it from the water. It looks like he just backed the boat up onto the land, and it is his home now. The guy must really love his boat. To be fair though..... I would live there too.

When we got to the marina and got all tied up, our first stop was the local market, which was freaking adorable. We were able to get all of the produce that we had to throw out when we came in to the US. Since no one boarded the boat, technically speaking no one would have known that I didn't get rid of everything, but I did click 'I don't have any fruits or vegetables' .... so I got rid of it all. On the way back from the market, we walked by a little restaurant that looked pretty nice, so after we put the groceries away we walked back and had some of the best fish ever. They were super busy, and very understaffed, so we waited a while, but they had a bar, and the bartender poured drinks like Carlos did.....lol. Two was more than enough. On the way back to the boat, we passed the marina park where this band was playing. They were attempting to be a rock band, playing Journey and Ozzy and the like. Not great, but not bad. We sat and enjoyed that for an hour or so then gave up for the night. Tomorrow is Mackinac day!

The sun is so bright I couldn't even look at the camera to click the picture.