PA I D C O N T E N T
SWEET SUMMERTIME IN
SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO When summer crowds arrive, escape to Up North’s Up North. BY LYNDA WHEATLEY
A
fter one idyllic Northern Michigan vacation or a childhood full of them, nearly all of us who’ve made this place our permanent home eventually face the same predicament: Now that we live and work where we once only leisured, where the heck do we go to get away? Easy. Heed the call of your younger heart and head farther north, to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Known for warm breezes, minimal humidity and a decidedly relaxed vibe, the Canadian side of “The Soo,” as locals call it, is a dream summer escape for Michiganders—one peppered with diverse restaurants (many with outdoor decks and patios), stellar breweries, dozens of unique shops and boutiques and historical and cultural sites aplenty. Where to start? With the ultimate in land, Locks and water views—all three best seen on a leisurely two-hour boat
tour aboard the new Miss Marie. The narrated pleasure cruise, which launches each afternoon from the Waterfront Boardwalk, ferries up to 100 passengers along the St. Marys River and into Lake Superior. It offers a full bar, two decks with covered and open-air viewing areas, and, by arrangement, private evening charters. If gasp-while-you-relax tours are your thing, add the Agawa Canyon Tour Train to your list. In a single day, the train rolls past sparkling lakes, sky-high granite formations and forests so dense with leafy trees, shrubs and conifer spires, the very air seems to glow green. You don’t have to have an artist’s eye to appreciate the vast and pristine wilderness surrounding these rails—or Canada’s famed Group of Seven, the 1920s-era painters who so distinctly captured Agawa and other Canadian landscapes that their work is considered an arts movement. The train compartments include flatscreen monitors and GPS-triggered narration that tells you what you’re seeing as you see it. Travelers who prefer to explore under their own power are hardly overlooked in—or around—The Soo. Case in point: The popular and paved
88TTRRAAVVEERRSSEE NNOORRTTHHEERRNN MMI ICCHHI IGGAANN
0523 Sault St. Marie.indd 8
4/5/23 12:38 PM
