May 27th – “The Soo”
I left Barrie at 8:30am and arrived in Sault Ste. Marie at 2:15pm. That included driving non-stop to Sudbury which was a challenge not only of the mind but of the bladder. The drive was good. I waved to the Hunt family when I passed the Pickerel River (even though I’m pretty sure they’re in Barrie this weekend), and passed through many tiny but intriguing villages (see Facebook post J ).
The reason I drove so quickly was because I wanted to get to the Bushplane Museum before it closed, which I knew was at 4pm. I got to the Museum, and then things started to deteriorate. The woman at the counter asked me if I was 55+ so I could get the senior’s discount. For Pete sakes!! I’ve never been asked that in my life. So I said “yes” and took the $3 discount. I don’t think of it as lying, just getting justice for being insulted (don’t worry, I put the extra $3 in a donation bin halfway around the museum.)
The first thing I came to at the museum was a hands-on display all about eye-sight. Pilots have to have perfect vision, so this allowed you see if you had good enough eyesight to be a pilot. I discovered that I have a hard time distinguishing between green and blue and red. I never knew this. No wonder my family is always trying to dress me. I didn’t do any better at the vision chart. I couldn’t read the bottom three lines from a designated spot about 10 feet from the chart. Sigh. So now I was feeling like I was 55+.
The museum itself was really interesting. When I come back I’m going to invite the lady at the front counter to take the vision test.
After that, I took a long walk along the path down by the water. There are a lot of geese in the Soo. Like, A LOT. So there was goose “you-know-what” all along the trail. I thought about taking a picture and posting it as “poo in the Soo”, but I figured that no one but me and possibly my 13 year son would think that’s funny.
I like the Soo, but it’s so quiet. There’s no one around. You’ve heard of the song, “Sudbury Saturday Night”. I experienced “Soo Sunday Night”. Trust me, there’s no one singing a song about that.
But I also learned some neat things. For example, Sault Ste. Marie’s most famous citizen is the astronaut Robert Bondar. I did not know that. And I think the fanciest building in Sault Ste. Marie (at least from what I saw) is the OLG Lottery Headquarters. Think about that the next time you buy a ticket. J
Off to Thunder Bay tomorrow. I’m not sure what awaits me there, but I hear there’s a Sleeping Giant. Cool.