I had a few reactions to this display in the Dossin Great Lakes Museum yesterday. One was, “I have seen this many times before. It is in the visitor center at the Soo Locks.” And then I saw this “spike” (that’s the only way I can describe it) sorta midway between Isle Royale and Michipicoten Island. It is the Superior Shoal and it is NOT an island, in that there is no land above the surface. I am sure that the ships who travel Lake Superior are well informed about this shoal.

The display at the Soo locks has been there for decades. It hasn’t ever been cordoned off in any kind of way so umpteen bazillion school children (maybe including me) have stuck their sweaty little hands down into the depths of Lake Superior. The one at the Dossin is cordoned off so you can’t get close enough to touch it unless you are someone like The GG who doesn’t always “notice” rules, like when he rang an old ship’s bell in the museum. There was a sign saying don’t touch the bell. I heard a bell ringing and then I heard the GG reply to someone, “the sign is on the other side and I didn’t see it”. Well, sorta. We’ll go into Twinz of Terror culture some other time.

I wonder how many of these lake models are around. I’m not sure who makes them or whether that person is still living. Maybe it’s Googleable but I’m not sure what search terms I would use… I have posted only a part of the display. This one (but not the one at the Soo Locks (I don’t think) includes North Bay, Ontario, and Lake Nipissing.)

Lake Nipissing, as opposed to Lake Nipigon. North Bay (on Lake Nipissing, not Lake Nipigon) is a place I will always remember from The Long Trip my family took when I was three and my brother was on the way. I have a vague memory of being served tea by genteel older ladies in Toronto (Halliday relatives) and I have pictures of me smiling with the Sherman kids at their house in a town near Niagara Falls but I don’t really remember that. It’s okay, we became good friends a few years later and I’m still in contact with Dan. What I remember the best from that trip was staying in a motel in North Bay with a PINK BATHROOM! Unfortunately, The Commander remembered a SPIDER in that beauteous Pink Bathroom.

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