Sunday, July 9, 2023
Stats: 5 hours driving, 271 miles, North Bay to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
NOTE: I’m sorry that my automatic email didn’t work today. I am going to try something different tonight for tomorrow morning’s email. If you get a wonky email with links, just hit any of those links in the email which will take you to my website. Click on the “BLOG” tab and you will see the most recent blog post. Thanks for your patience!
Church with Mother Marie
After breakfast at the Hampton Inn North Bay, we headed west about half an hour to Sturgeon Falls for worship at St Mary Magdalene Anglican Church of Canada. Today, Mother Marie was a visiting priest at this small church. But she was no stranger to the congregation. Rev. Marie had been a priest at this church for four years and later returned as an interum priest for 3 more years. The people clearly were delighted to see her.
And I was delighted to be there. It was extremely special to have Marie lead us in worship. I cried as she placed the bread in my hands and was full of emotion the rest of the service.
Fun fact: As the railroads moved west in Canada, the railroad companies were required to provide churches, explaining why this church is close to the tracks. Surprisingly, no trains passed by during service today.
Lunch overlooking the water
Marie, Rob, Gregg, and I walked down the hill from the church to a small marina where we had lunch outdoors. Rob introduced us to the “Montreal smoked meat” sandwich (corned beef with sweet mustard.) We also ate poutine which was simply wonderful!
Beginning our westward trek through Canada
The time flew by again, like last night, and we had to say our goodbyes. Driving west, the views of the water, trees, granite, and huge yellow rapeseed fields were a feast for the eyes. Towns were few and far between. We listened to a few Bible Project podcasts on the topic of Exile as we drove.
Ice Cream!
Marie gave us a wonderful tip to stop in McKerrow where they have a gas station, Wendys/Tim Horton, and a Trading Post with a large selection of ice cream. Of course we stopped and were glad we did! I could have spent hours in the Trading Post just looking around.
The brand of ice cream was Farquhar’s Dairy. We each got three scoops in a cup. My favorite was maple walnut. Gregg’s favorite pick was vanilla with a concoction of caramel, cookie dough, and chocolate chunks.
Walking tour of Sault Ste. Marie
Our next stop was Sault Sainte Marie which is still in Ontario. It is a bridge or two away from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. We’re staying at a Quality Inn near the water. They have wonderful walking/biking trails along the bay so we headed off for a good walk. My watch says I walked 13,500 steps today.
There is a set of locks in this area that allow barges and boats to go between Lake Superior and Lake Hurron. We happened upon a locks as it was releasing water so we hung out to see what came through. At first we couldn’t see anything except two ducks. I got a chuckle out of that. Come to find out, they weren’t alone. A small speedboat exited while the ducks stayed in the locks. I guess they wanted a round trip ride.
I tried to put some photos from today into a video to post below. That didn’t work and I’m about to fall asleep. Gregg is posting photos on Facebook if you’d like to see more photos.
Oh, I almost forgot, Gregg was reading the information on the back of our hotel room door – you know, the standard rules and legaleese, and found some curious information. We could have brought our horse! I’ll post that picture below along with a map of today’s route.
