'The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gichee Goomee'.

The words keep rolling through my brain as we sit in front of the Sault Ste Marie Lock that will lead us out into Lake Superior. We're a massive boat by Lake Pueblo standards, and pretty darned big when compared to many others, but when you put us out on Lake Superior, we just seem vulnerable. Our stay in Sault Ste Marie was very nice, and completely uneventful. I got all of the laundry done, we had a great dinner, and slept well tied at the dock.

This morning we woke up and had to make the decision..... do we head out, or do we not. When we get out, do we stay out, or do we head back in today. The last decision was put off until we decided if we were going out. The water at the lock was perfect. Flat..... calm..... serene. So was the water when the Edmund Fitzgerald started .....

Based on the wind reports, and the weather reports, and ..... this picture..... we decided to go for it. Today's trip was the darnedest thing we have ever seen. This is a massive body of water. We were in depths from 200 to 400+ ft all day, and this is what the water looked like.

It was creepy. Sort of like the lake was saying "you're getting sleepy...... very sleepy..... walk away from the helm" that way it can go crazy and kill us both. Well, it didn't. It stayed calm and beautiful the whole way to the point. Insanely calm. A calm like neither of us had ever seen. If you look at the pictures of the calm water, you can almost see a haze, where the water meets the sky.

We went into the harbor, found a place to tie up the boat, and decided to take a walk to the 'Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum'. That seems like a horrible idea when you live on a boat, but what the heck. Here is the harbor we tied up at. Nothing to write home about, but it is a harbor.

We walk along the road for about a mile. I honestly expected that we would be the only folks out here. Turns out we were wrong. There were cars on both sides of the road, and the parking lot was full. So many people. People on the beach, people on the boardwalk, and people in every building. I had no idea it would be this busy.

When we got done with the museum, we walked back the mile or so, back to the boat, and are 'in' for the night. I will cook up some stuffed bell peppers, partly because I love them, and partly to use up the produce before we check in with custom and immigration and can't have fruits and vegetables with us. I am sad to lose my little pansy plant, but I can't bring it in either. Dang it.

We made the decision when we got back at nearly 5 o'clock, that we would wait to leave tomorrow. May be a mistake, may not. Tomorrow is definitely a worse day than today, but today was so perfect that we can afford it to be a bit worse. We'll see. In any event, we can't go back tonight because the lock closes at 7:30 and the trip is 3 and a half hours.

We'll sleep well, and deal with it tomorrow.