I woke up at 7am the next morning to get ready, check emails and take my back-to-back meetings. Hohyun was also up and as I was taking the meetings, he was running errands for us, which included getting coffee, cleaning the car, going to the bank, offloading the dashcam footage from the day before onto my hard drive, and moving stuff into the car. We left Sudbury at 10am and headed onto the highway for Sault Ste. Marie.

The drive was filled with trees, rock faces and lakes/rivers. We drove through a few small towns/communities (Espanola, Spanish River, Massey, Webbwood) and realized that the small towns were all very similar. They each had a Home Hardware, a main street that you drive through on the highway, and one set of major traffic lights. It was also surprising for me to see the number of First Nations cannabis dispensaries throughout the whole drive, which I guess gave me more insight into how they support their communities. The cell phone service fluctuated the whole drive and cut out in a few spots, but was mostly existent.

The first thing we did when we got into Sault Ste. Marie was check-in since I had a meeting in the afternoon. We stayed at the Howard Johnson by Wyndham and to be really honest, I was sketched out by the parking lot at first, but it turns out they were doing some exterior renovations. The toilet in the women’s washroom was really interesting too.

The person working the check-in counter was really friendly though, and he gave us a bunch of recommendations as to what to do. I had to go to my meeting though, so I just left Hohyun to talk to him about it. He moved all our stuff in afterwards as I was taking my meeting.

After my meeting, we headed out to look at Sault Ste. Marie’s tourist attractions, and as per usual, I didn’t know what they were until I showed up to them.

#1: Crystal Falls

This was one of the tourist attractions recommended to us by the receptionist. Hohyun decided to go here first because it was the one that was furthest from the city (15 minutes out). There was no parking lot, so we had to park on the street. We were immediately ravished by mosquitoes and unfortunately, the bug spray we had was not enough to keep them away. The walk to the actual falls took us through a foresty area, then a paved path, then to a small bridge leading to the base of the falls.

As soon as I got to the base of the falls, I knew I had to climb to the top. There wasn’t a marked path, but we just climbed all the way to the top of the small bridge while looking down at the base of the falls. I thought it was majestic and even pulled my drone out for a few photographs.

I wanted to stay longer but the mosquitoes would not leave us alone, so we headed back down, took a few more pictures, then ran as quickly as we could back to the car.

#2: Sault Ste. Marie Historic Canal

This place is a Parks Canada historic site and apparently is home to the last emergency swing dam. We wanted to see boats pass through the canal, but there weren’t any when we went. The weather was really nice, so we went for a walk along the canal and saw a really cute family of geese on the water. We saw downtown Sault Ste. Marie, which was on the other side of the water from where we were standing. Afterwards, we drove through the historic site and found the last emergency swing dam. We took pictures with the Parks Canada Historic Site sign and then left.

#3: Downtown Sault Ste. Marie

There was free parking next to an ice cream store (Elliot’s) and since it was a hot day, we decided to get ice cream. We found out that they hand-craft their own ice cream and had a really hard time deciding on which ones to get. The girl working at the counter was really nice and recommended us 2 of their speciality flavours (blueberry cheesecake and strawberry shortcake), which we got and both were delicious.

We walked by the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site but it was closed. The outside of it looked really cool though and it reminded me of an old pioneer village. We walked over to the Bushplane Museum after, but because of Covid, they were closed. There was a small waterfront path next to it, which we went on while eating our ice creams. We were able to see the American Sault Ste. Marie on the other side of the river was really cool to me.  

#4: Bellevue Park

This was definitely the highlight of Sault Ste. Marie. The park was really busy when we got there, and what impressioned me the most was that people were really open and friendly. It felt like a small town in that there was this huge community vibe. The park was massive and had at least 5 different sets of playground equipment, varying from old to new.

I was having a great time running around and playing on the playground equipment.  The swings were all taken, but one that I really wanted to go on was the one that spins in a circle. I set up my drone to film it and Hohyun spun us around. A little girl ended up joining us for a bit, which really made my heart warm. Being there made me feel like a kid again and I felt like I was truly living.

We were getting hungry, so we ordered dinner from this well-rated Italian place called Sandro’s. Their portions were huge, which was perfect for us since we hadn’t really eaten that day. We brought it back to the hotel and decided to work out prior to eating as not to feel bloated. We also wanted to catch the sunset at the same time, and we’d only have time to do so if we worked out first.

We went back to a different part of Bellevue Park to work out, and that place had incredible waterfront views. There were a lot of mosquitos, but the coolness outside made the workout a lot more comfortable (temperature-wise).

Afterwards, we went back to shower, eat, watch Superstore, and go to bed. Before we slept, we decided that we’d leave Sault Ste. Marie at around 12pm to accommodate my morning meetings, then slowly make our way to White River.