All,
This is our last day aboard. We’re heading for Toronto through the Welland Canal, which is pretty amazing. It’s what humans built to avoid having to go over Niagara Falls (or carry their canoes) up from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.
As we mentioned at the start, this cruise goes from Duluth, Minnesota, the western end of the Great Lakes, to Lake Ontario, as 20% of the world’s freshwater makes its way from the interior of the US, out the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the way French fur trappers first navigated this land, as did the Native Americans before them. The waterways have been the key to human exploration for millennia. It’s crazy to me that these lakes were all formed “only” 12,000 or so years ago with the end of the last ice age as the glaciers retreated and dug out these giant “ditches.” But that’s all for another blog by someone way more knowledgeable than I 😉
The Welland Canal has eight locks to lower the ship “step by step” the 250′ or so from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The locks are 80′ wide and the ship is 78′ wide. So, do the math. Only 1 foot on each side. It’s a tight squeeze. But how clever!
This will be the last of my blogs on this trip. It’s been a neat experience. I hope you enjoyed them. Back in the office next week. Can’t wait to see the gang.
Onward! -JB
They use bodies of water like this, alongside the canal, for the water needed to raise/lower the ships. Pretty cool!
The crew LOVED my LP Hawaiian shirt 😉