Soo? Sault?

Day four, continued:  We arrived in Sault (pronounce Soo) Ste. Marie in time for a ride through the Soo (pronounce Soo) Locks between Lakes Huron and Superior.  It was fascinating.  I have actually been through several locks over the last few years.  On a Danube River cruise we went through five locks and on a Rhine River cruise five or six locks.  They were all fun and I understood and appreciated the concept of going through locks but none of them came close to the size of the Soo Locks.  On our cruise through the smaller of the Soo Locks (and earlier from an observation deck) we were able to watch a huge ocean-going cruise ship and a 1,000 foot long, 80 foot wide cargo ship, that carried I don't remember how many tons of cargo, go through the larger lock.  We had an excellent narrator on our trip through the locks and I learned more than I had ever learned before about how they, at least the Soo locks, actually work. It's all about huge pipes and gates and water pressure, no pumps involved.  For details, you will have to read a book. 

Here we are going into the locks. We were raised to the top of this wall by the time we were through.

After we came through the locks we took a large looping ride on Lake Superior, and came back through a smaller lock on the Canadian side.  On the way we saw this lift bridge called a 'jack-knife' bridge.  I'm sorry that I didn't get to see it action.