Thursday, May 30th

My campsite at Sault Ste. Marie this morning. The weather bright and sunny with a cool wind which increased over the course of the day. I decided to walk the waterfront boardwalk this morning, and anticipating warmer temperatures in the afternoon, thought I'd get my kayak wet finally in Lake Huron before moving on.

Found a coffee shop for a mug of java and then began my boardwalk journey with a Canada goose family. 

This ship had just left the locks heading east and gave a few blasts of its horn which took me back to growing up in Vancouver and hearing the ships in the harbour. This is a very business like waterfront, but the city has done a great job of making it accessible for everyone to use. Although I highly doubt there would be anyone walking this in the winter!









I stopped at the Algoma Art Gallery. Staff were working on the main gallery but let me in to have a look - which included several Group of Seven (how could you not?). The second of the two galleries featured a display borrowed from the Bushplane Museum - which is just down the road. I took this picture for my friend Chris who I'm sure has been to the Bushplane Museum. There was a great article about a woman who got her license in 1979 and spent her career flying bushplanes.



Travelling in a trailer which is packed to the gills helps to curb the gallery shop tendency to pick up things one doesn't need. But I did fall for some postcards from local artists.

Finishing the walk, I found that the wind had come up and you could feel how cold the water is so I decided against launching the kayak into that. Give me a quiet interior lake.
I still feel a bit guilty about spending the afternoon at my campsite, but I'm working on it. I rearranged my sleeping quarters and cupboards, and will tackle the car before dinner. Figuring out the GPS system ready for tomorrow's drive to Marathon, ON on Lake Superior.

I'm reading a book of short stories by Alistair MacLeod and just finished one called "To Every Thing There Is A Season" which he wrote in 1977. A wonderful poignant story of a boy taking a step toward adulthood, and a man taking a step toward the end of his life. I'm really identifying with his stories right now.

Off to do camp chores. While I won't have time to stop at Lake Superior Provincial Park, I'm fine with it - perhaps in the fall. I'm starting to develop some comfort around my ability to find places to stop and a sense of how far I want to drive in a day. While I'm looking forward to tomorrow's drive, it will be a long one.