"Picturesque World's Largest Fresh Water Lakes in Paradise Michigan"

Dear Friends,

Note: - The essay is made in 3 parts for easy reading part by part at your leisure. All the parts are presented in one mail for an easy and ready review.

Part: 1

Come August-September, festivals come one after the other. We celebrated the days starting Sep1st to 3rd in a festive manner by visits to beautiful and great lake sights, historic land marks, mystery spots and Soo Locks.


We embarked on this tour by 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, the 1st September, 2007 from Canton by car. The first spot in our view was Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie in Upper Michigan where the last ship ride closes at 4.30 p.m. Considering the time limits and availability of vegetarian food, we packed home made puliodharai, curd bath, confectionery items, soft drinks, chips, water.
My son kept up a steady pace of 75 miles per hour, ably assisted in between by his better-half. A distance of about 320 miles stood before us on an excellent well laid roads and good weather conditions. What we didn't anticipate was the heavy traffic to the sight seeing places during the week end. We experienced three traffic jams at places in between mainly because some on-going repair works in the roads ahead. But when smooth flow of heavy traffic is burdened, loss of time is unavoidable. We estimated five and half hours of travel time but it took almost close to 7 hours. Since we carried the food with us, we saved a lot of precious hours as we ate in a work like manner, however enjoyed the tasty food, as we were hungry and eating in a group, in the midst of family members creates some emotional thrust.

We kept our fingers crossed whether we can reach and catch the last ride by ship to Soo Locks. We parked the car and virtually ran as the time was 5.25p.m then. When we hurried to the ticket counter, we found to our sweet surprise that the time had been extended up to 5.30 pm. for the Labor Day weekend. The tickets were issued to us and immediately the counter was closed and we were asked to rush to get into the ship which was almost on the move.

We felt as if we were characters in a high drama at the swift turn of events in our favour, and sensed great relief and devoured the fruits of labor of driving a long distance, when we boarded the ship and found the berths.

How Soo Locks work in Sault Ste Marie:-




The Sault Locks, usually called as Soo Locks, allow ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. 12000 'boats' in Great Lakes parlance in a year make the Locks busiest in the world even though during winter months Jan-March, ice shuts down shipping in the Great lakes. Sault Ste Marie gets the name from Canadian and American cities at the sites in Great lakes Ontario and Michigan.

Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the world stands at a higher elevation and St. Mary’s River is the only water connection (Strait) between Lake Superior and other Great Lakes. There is a section of the river known as St. Mary's Rapids where the water falls about 21 feet from the level of Lake Superior to the level equivalent to that of the lower lakes. This natural barrier through navigation made it necessary to construct the Locks Project known as St. Mary’s Falls Canal. The world famous Soo locks form the passage for deep draft ships around the rapids in St. Mary’s river.

Before white men came to the area, the Ojibwa Indians portaged their canoes around the Bawating (rapids) to reach Lake Superior from the St. Mary's river. We wereseated in the ship which started sailing on the higher elevation in Lake Superior. Two water gates namely the upper and lower which had been constructed at the strait of St. Mary’s come into operation by the navigation Locks. When the two gates are closed, the portion between the gates forms a chamber where the water gets 'locked'. Now the water is allowed to raise in the lock chamber by opening of the filling valve at the upper gate side, at the same time keeping the emptying valve closed on the lower gate side (Lake Michigan side). We then saw the upper gate got opened, when the water levels at the time of entry became on par and our ship entered the lock chamber.

We were then in the lock chamber in the St. Mary’s Strides. Now the ship can not sail into Lake Michigan side as the latter was at a lower level The Soo locks now operate in the reverse manner. The Upper and Lower Gates are closed. Next the filling valve is closed and the emptying valve is opened and the water is forced out of the chamber. During this operation, our ship was lowered in the lock chamber with the lowering of the water level. When the water level was brought down by 21 feet, it equaled the water level to that of the lower lake. The water gate on the lower lake side got opened and we all shouted "ho-hi-ho" in joy and in wonder when the ship proceeded (sailed) to the lower lake side.

After this, the Lock is ready for an up bound ship to come by and be lifted or may be filled to lower another down bound ship.

We were in good spirits after watching the Soo Locks Operations. We then moved to sojourn, the 'Quality Inn' in Sault Ste Marie. The Inn matches in style with its name and offers a complimentary hot b/f. We had enough of food what we brought and finished dinner before climbing the beds.


Part: 2

02 September - Visit to Michigan Lake & Joy boating in Lake Superior:-
As it dawned, all of us first wished my wife "A Happy Birth Day ". My son remarked that it is a day for celebrations as a hectic schedule awaits us.

'The Hall of Fame' in Quality inn was inviting us for the complimentary b/f. Cereals & milk; bagel; plum cake; pastries; waffle ( ready mix was available for self making in the hot pan ); bun; soft drinks; hot coffee and yogurt formed the menu.

We were appreciating the b/f menu as we started traveling towards the bridge view point first. Mackinac Bridge view gives an enthralling sight. We became busy clicking the camera from different angles.

Before I go on to the "Great lakes", I wish you get an idea about the two Peninsulas so that you will be able to appreciate the descriptions what follows.

Michigan's Lower Peninsula is surrounded by water on all the sides except southern border which it shares with Ohio and Indiana. Lower Peninsula, if you happen to see the map, has a recognizable shape of a mitten (a kind of glove with 2 sections, one for the thumb and the other for all the other fingers together)
Michigan is also referred as the hand print of Paul Bunyan, (a giant lumberjack and a favorite folkloric character who performs super human acts in American folk lore), due to its mitten shape. Michiganders or the “Mittens" hold out their hand and point to a spot on it to answer the question "where from you hail". They are also jokingly called as "Trolls", as they live below the bridge in the Lower Peninsula. They are L.P.s. The 'Thumb' portion belongs to the region of Flint and tri cities. (Saginaw, Bay City- Lake Huron; Midland).


Upper Peninsula of Michigan or upper Michigan (U.P.s) is the northern part of the two land masses that comprise the U.S. State of Michigan. Jokingly referred as ' Land above the Bridge. It borders St. Mary’s River on the East, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron on the South, and Wisconsin on the West. Though it occupies 1/3rd land area, it contains 3% of population only - The UPPERS are of Finnish ancestry. The land is heavily forested. Logging remains as a major industry. Sault Stemware where we were lodged is one of the five major cities in UP.
British post war approach was to treat the Indians as a "Conquered People" which led to the Pontiac Rebellion in alliance with the French whose interest in the region was 'fur trade’. The Fort was captured near the present day Mackinaw City and the UPPER PENINSULA became the part of U.S.

Let me now continue the story from the point I left. We drove from the bridge view location to Great Lake Michigan. Michigan takes its name from the 'Ojibwa Indian' tribes who lived in the region and Michigan means 'great lake'. 22,400 sq.miles of surface area of fresh water, 307 miles long, 118 miles broad, 279feet depth, shore line spreading to 1640 miles, endows Lake Michigan as the largest
fresh water lake located entirely in U.S. The Strait of Mackinac connects Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. The major States in the region of the lake includes Illinois (CHICAGO), Indiana, Michigan (Holland) and Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Green Bay).
We were enjoying the scenic lake as the car moved to Michigan Beach area. Lake Michigan Beach is well known for its beauty especially in Northern Indiana. The region is often regarded as "THIRD COAST" of U.S. after the Atlantic and Pacific.

The water in the beach was crystal clear. The sand in the beach is soft known as 'Singing Sand' because of the noise it makes while walking across. THE WATER IS COLD EVEN IN SUMMER. The famous 'Petoskey' stones are found only here. Petoskey are pebble shaped glaciates and derive its name from the name Petosegay, a child born to noble man and means "Rising Sun" or 'Sun beam of Promise’. The heavy wind blowing from the west builds up layers of ice on the surface.

We enjoyed the cool breeze blowing as we enjoyed the lunch what we carried.

Visit to Mystery Spot: - There is one Mystery Spot in St.Ignace, Michigan which is voted Michigan's No.1 unusual attraction. It was discovered in 1953. We went there to explore the world famous mystery. We experienced optical contradictions; a tall man appeared short when compared to a short man standing on a plane of equal height and vice verse when they interchanged the position. The viewer can feel the physical sensation when standing on an inclined plane or standing on the edge of an inclined chair. The discovery of the spot was initially made when men part of a tourist group could not keep the campus on a particular zone in a horizontal level anywhere in it when they attempted to find the direction of the place. The mystery remains as a mystery only even today.

Do you know getting lost has never been so much fun??
We collected the coupon at Mystery Spot to play two games. One was 'to get lost'- no map, no directions. We were caught inside a Fort Maze to start with. We struggled to come out of the maze. We made cross marks at such bewildering points not to turn and at such junctions tick marks as right routes. We made such sensible guidelines and found the way out of the maze.

The second game we played was mini golf. There were 18 mini golf posts in a field near the mystery pot. We were provided with the ball and stick. There was a thick competition between us in putting the goals. Each goal was designed in a field of winding up bounds and downs and it became necessary to plan the first hit in such a way that you get your ball more near to the goal than away. It was not possible. In one spot which looked very difficult, my son aimed the first hit itself so accurately that it landed in the goal spot directly. His wife also achieved this feat in another difficult goal spot. My wife achieved in the second hit in a tight spot where others struggled. I kept a steady pace trough out the 18 goals and was declared as the top scorer.

Pictured Rocks Boat Cruises in Lake Superior: - We drove from Michigan Mystery to another wonder spot. The drive to Lake Superior takes about 150 minutes from Lake Michigan Beach. We reached there by 5.30p.m. Just in time before last boat cruise. Let me first talk about the world's largest lake.


Lake Superior is bounded by Ontario Canada & Minnesota USA to the north, Wisconsin& Michigan USA to the South is the largest North American Lakes. By surface area it takes the pride of being the largest fresh water lake in the world and fourth largest by volume. Long Fellow referred the Lake in his poem "the song of Hiawatha' as "GITCHE GUMEE". Another poet by name Gordon Light foot also has referred Lake Superior as "Gitche gumme' in his poem “The wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald".


Lake Superior, the upper lake, which is at a higher elevation than Lake Huron, runs 350 miles in length, 160 miles in breath, 1333feet in depth and occupies a shore volume of 2900cubic meter, stretches 2726 miles. It is at an elevation of 100' above sea level. American limnologist Klump was the first person to reach the lowest depth in 1985.Its wave raises up to 20 to 30 feet high during stormy weather. The temp. Shoots up by 2.5degree by global Warming phenomenon

Its North Shore dates back to 2.7 billion years and contains intrusive granites of the Canadian Shield. The regions surrounding the lake are rich in mineral like copper, silver, gold, nickel and iron. Hem lo gold mines near Marathon, copper @ Thea no Point and silver islets are famous.

Lake Superior has been an important water way route for transportation of iron ore and other minerals. The last Ship Wreck occurred was in 1975 (SS Edmund Fitzgerald) and ship Wreck tours show through the glass bottoms all these land marks in the Upper Lake.

As already written, we just reached in time to catch the last services of the Boat cruises at 6.30p.m. My son, who has been spotting his school mate wherever we went, found again one at the ticketing venue for the cruises. He recognized my wife who was her class teacher. Another wonderful coincidence is that he also works in Michigan and had come to Lake Superior with his wife along with his colleague & family who hail from Bangalore. Interesting information which came to light was that they were also staying in the same hotel "Quality Inn" in Sault Ste Marie. Where we were lodged.

Thus we had expanded the group to four couples, 4 men and 4 women and we occupied the front row in the boat cruise. The journey on Lake Superior occupied almost three full hours (6.30p.m to 9.30p.m.).We discovered the Natural Wonders on Waters of Lake Superior. It was a breath taking cruise along Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore. The crystal clear blue green waters of Lake Superior have created master pieces of colors and rock formation found no where else in the world. We admired the incredible formations up close in comfort and safety- an unforgettable experience during the 37 miles cruises. The adventurous ride covered points like Lovers Leap, Grand Portal, Miners Castle, Indian Head, to name a few and were described with legend and lore by the captain of the Boat.


We left Lake Superior sight @ 9.35p.m. And covered the distance bordering to 200 miles and it was mid night when we reached the 'Quality Inn'. My wife can remember her birth day in 2007 as having visited the great five lakes in the world. By the time we went to bed, it was past 1a.m.

Part: 3


we had two more sight seeing places to visit on Monday, the Sep3. We finished b/f in the Hotel and started the journey to Mackinac Island. The spot can be reached within 2 hours. But it proved otherwise as Sep03, being a Labor Day in USA, was declared a National Holiday. Further the 50th annual golden anniversary celebrations were scheduled on Sep 3 in Mackinac Bridge. The bridge is spanning the straits connecting the two peninsulas of Michigan for the last 50 years. People are allowed to walk the 5 mile bridge on Labor Day every year. So the traffic was unimaginable and became impossible to cross. My son found an ingenious method to take a diversion at one crossing and detoured a few miles to reach the “SHEPLERS" Mackinac Island Ferry Schedule @ 11 a.m. The departure was from the downtown of Mackinaw City and St.Ignace. It takes about 20 minutes to reach the island by the Shepler's ferry crui
se.

Mackinac Island -






Your problems drift away as you enter the island. You walk to the sound of horse hooves on silent streets. The horse is the king in the island. The visitors enjoy the beauty of Prestine Mackinac Island - an oasis at any season by horse carriage and bi cycle hire. The atmosphere is conducive for enriching the family ties and friendship.

Many fun and interesting things to do in the Island. We made a walking tour- 8mile in circumference or 4 sq. miles in area. The highest point in the Mackinac Island is the historic Fort Holmes which is 320 feet above the lake level or 890'above sea level.15000 visitors per day during summer throng the island.

The Island is declared as pollution free and entry of motor vehicle is banned since its inception. The State Park covers 80% of the island. No camping is allowed.

Downtown streets are popular and lined with retail stores and candy shops. Most popular item is "Mackinac island fudge"- visiting shoppers are called "fudges". 100 year old 'Ojibwa Tribes' are the earliest inhabitants in the island. Wealthy industrialists built summer cottages in the island which retain the Victorian architecture. The island gets the name from Ojibwa culture name "Michimackinak" meaning " Big turtle". French used the territory for fur trade.

Mathew Geary House built in 1846 is available for vacation rentals. The Grand Hotel is a Victorian style structure of 1887.It came to National prominence after 1980 film “Some Where in Time" which was shot in the grand Hotel.

Mission Church (1829) in the Island is the oldest surviving church building in Michigan. Mission House (1825) which was a boarding school for Native American children became a hotel in 1939- now houses the employees of State Park.

Round Island light house is un inhabited and since repaired. The agency house of American Fur Trade Co. is now a museum.

Michigan Governor's summer residence is in the island since 1943.

The Haldim and Bay and a ship wreck form a historic island now.

We went around the Mackinac Island by foot, seeing the places mentioned above and enjoyed walking thru' the scenic State Park. We stopped at the most famous 'Rybas' Fudge shop and tasted the mouth watering fudges of popular varieties which include pecan, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, jelly which were exhibited in exotic designs.

We reached the Sheplers ferry service to take the ferry at 3.30p.m. And walked to the car park from the shore.

Drive through world famous Mackinac Bridge:
57000 people walked on Labor Day on 3rd Sep 2007 through Mackinac Bridge - Mackinac Bridge celebrates 50th golden anniversary- an opportunity for us to participate in a Nation Building Goal.

Mackinac Bridge at St.Ignace connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas in the State of Michigan and is opened to vehicular traffic since 1957.


The bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the straits of Mackinac and known by popular names like "Big Mac", "Mighty Mac". The bridge was built after decades of difficulties by English man David B. Stein Man. It is the world's longest suspension bridge at St Ignace in north and Mackinaw city in south.

We started the return journey at 4 pm and drove five hours non-stop. We had dinner at a friend's in Ann Arbor.

A sumptuous dinner after an eventful tour was indeed gratifying. The tour came to a successful end when we reached home by midnight on 3rd September 2008.


We will be happy to know your first impression of our tour which I have tried to enact with as much details as possible.