The campground here is larger than the one at the St. Ignace casino with 64 grassy sites of varying sizes, 30 amp power, bathhouse, dump station, free use of hotel pool and weight room for $20 per night, and is located at the rear of the casino property in a very quiet area. There's also dry camping allowed in the casino parking lot. There are two other campgrounds in this city right on the St. Mary's River, but they also only have 30 amp power and no sewer hookups, for a higher cost due to the great views of the freighters on the river (most of the U P campgrounds do not have sewer hookups, only dump stations). The Soo Locks are on the route that vessels travel from Lake Superior to Lake Huron, so ships of all sizes pass through this area. Our campground site is across from the walkway to the casino and we have easy access to the main building. The hotel/convention center/ casino building itself is a lot larger than the St. Ignace facility, with an American Indian theme throughout.
Tuesday morning, we took advantage of the 1/2 price breakfast buffet in the casino - very good. We strolled through the casino, checking out which kind of slot machines might entice us to spend some money, and decided to put that activity off for awhile. We wanted to see at least one Great Lakes freighter on the river, so we headed out to the riverside. You can find out which vessels are scheduled through the locks via a recorded phone message, which is updated throughout the day, emphasizing that lock times are approximate. There's also internet webcams to check on the activity. There were two big ships downboound scheduled for the 1 P.M. time frame, so we found a place to park at a boat launch area on the river to wait for the first ship to appear. There was nice park bench under a large tree at the water's edge, with a steady breeze blowing, so it was a pleasant place to pass some time watching smaller boats and water fowl. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario is across the river.
. After two hours of waiting for the freighters, we drove the short distance to the lock area itself, and there the two ships were, waiting their turn. The road past the locks area was close enough that we could have had a conversation with the workers on one of the boats! We drove back east to a city park on the river to await their passing. After waiting another hour, the first one, the American Century, was sighted.
She's one of the larger great lake ships at 1000 feet in length and 105 wide, usually carrying iron ore pellets or coal to the Duluth, MN port and was built in 1981.
As we were getting ready to leave the area, the second ship appeared. This was the Spruceglen, a Canadian ship, 730 feet long, launched in 1983, She carries a variety of cargoes. So back to the riverside we went to get a closer look.
Our goal for the day was met and we headed back to the campground.
Yesterday it rained for several hours and we made an afternoon trip to Walmart to stock up on supplies. Grocery stores are not on every corner in the U P, and there are very few large cities so shopping is definitely a planned activity.
We decided to stay a 4th night so today we stopped by the hotel desk to pay the extra night's fee, and then ate at the casino's lunchtime half- price soup, salad and dessert buffet, before trying our luck in the casino. But Lady Luck was not on our side today, and we left after donating $8. As previously stated, we not big-time gamblers!
The cool weather continues. Tomorrow, we're heading west to yet another casino in Brimley, MI .
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