Birthday Celebrations

It is pouring snow this Monday morning, so I am happy to be inside my home, looking out. I treated myself to a new desk chair for my birthday. I tried the chair in the store, and I am so happy that it is comfortable and the right chair for my counter-height desk. It's perfect! Thank you for all the birthday wishes! They were very much appreciated. I always enjoy celebrating my birthday and this year I celebrated it a few times during our trip to the Sault for the 2025 opening of the Soo Locks. We stopped to see friends in Brockville and Toronto, and I was surprised in each place with a birthday celebration! We had four different celebrations within four days. I was also included in a March group birthday party that went until midnight. Lorraine (my sister, best friend and publisher) and I laughed that we hadn't been at a party that went until midnight in years. Each birthday celebration included delicious food. Prime rib in Brockville, the best steak I have ever eaten at Lorraine's lifelong friends house and a selection of delicious dishes at the house party. We offered to bring along a vegetarian dish for our vegetarian friend. I decided to make my vegetarian enchiladas and to make it fun, I took the enchiladas ingredients and made them into a stack, rather than rolling them individually. I forgot how delicious it was, and I will add it to the list of recipes I will make available to you.

We had the most delicious Profiteroles birthday dessert. I was so delighted to be a part of the March Babies birthday celebration. I had never had a profiterole dessert like that. It was fun to pick one profiterole out of the stack. They were filled with custard, covered with dark chocolate and piled one above the other with whipped cream holding them in place. It was decorated with strawberries dipped in chocolate. It was delicious and easy to serve to a crowd.

This was our first celebration in Brockville. We had a delicious Prime Rib dinner. I am often on the ship in Spring so this year was fun to be at home and celebrate with friends.

We made my vegetable enchiladas recipe and made it into a stack for fun. It was delicious.

Lorraine made a delicious chickpea salad to go with the enchiladas stack.

We made a birthday brunch for our friend on the 18th her actual birthday. Our host invited us to use her kitchen and Lorraine, and I began cooking. We brought our crepe grill and made our friend’s favorite crepes that she used to eat at our restaurant. We told stories about the Creperie as we ate the special treat. She and Lorraine have been friends since they were six years old. We couldn't believe that she was still recognized 11 years later from her interview at our Creperie during the filming of Food Network's show "You Gotta Eat Here". She said that people still stop her asking if she was on the show. If you want to look it up. We were on Season three, episode 11. The Crepes were delicious.

We made the crepe batter the day before our birthday brunch. The crepe batter makes better crepes if you make the batter the day before. We were so excited to enjoy the delicious crepes that we did not take any photos of the finished product.

We brought our portable crepe grill. It makes perfect crepes. I take it on the ship sometimes.

We left our friend's home north of Toronto early Wednesday morning to make sure we got to the Soo before the predicted snowstorm began. Each time we stopped the car, to pick up books, or fuel, the GPS came back on, there was a red screen and the voice said there is a winter storm warning on your route. The trip was supposed to take 6 hours and 45 minutes, and we completed it in 8 hours. The first snowflakes fell in the Soo an hour after we arrived. We had enjoyed multiple great meals in the last few days, so we opted to just pick up a ready-made salad at the grocery store to enjoy in our hotel room. We reserved three nights in the Sault, Ontario. We enjoyed our stay. We had a view of the Soo Locks from our fifth-floor room, and it was an easy drive over the International Bridge to the Soo Lock MI Visitor Center. It was fun looking as we crossed over the long expanse of bridge looking for any ship movement. The Coast Guard was moving through the Lock before it was officially open to ships and we watched it enter the Lock earlier that morning before crossing over to the US side. We had gone to the Delta Hotel to pick up a coffee and went into their Riverview dining room. We had such a nice conversation with the hostess. There is a beautiful riverwalk and I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in the warmer weather. The wind was very cold so we didn't spend too much time outside. I enjoyed the trip over the bridge that I had been under so many times and you can see into the lock. It reminds me of the Champlain Bridge in Montreal. When you cross over that bridge you can see into the St Lambert Lock too.

The Delta Hotel on the Canadian side has a fantastic view of the ships entering and exiting the Soo Locks. You can see the Coast Guard boat in the distance.

The riverwalk on the Canadian side. It looked so pretty with the fresh snow.

It was fun to drive over a bridge that I had sailed under so many times in the past.

You can look down into the Soo Locks when you cross over the bridge.

Before the Soo Lock 2025 Social evening Thursday night, we found a fun place to eat in Sault Ste Marie, MI, called Wicked Sister. All of their salad dressings and sauces are homemade so I asked to try a few, adding that I understood if there was an extra charge for the extra sauces. I especially liked their Blueberry BBQ sauce and thyme balsamic dressing.

We thought the name of the restaurant/bar was fun.

Both Lorraine and I love Brussel sprouts and this order did not disappoint.

The next morning we went to the Soo Locks again for the official opening. I searched over the side of the bridge looking for any activity. There was a great turnout for the 08h00 2025 season opening to greet the 1st ship. We arrived in time to see the second ship/barge pass through at 09h30. It was fun to be on the other side and walk by the familiar sites and landmarks that I usually see from the ship. I especially liked driving down the street lined with shops and asked Lorraine to pass by the Tower of History twice so that I could get the whole tower in my photo. We set up a table in the Visitor Center and happily signed books that people brought with them. We had time to sit and chat and there was a lot of laughter and storytelling. We enjoyed seeing and getting caught up with Roger from Know your Ships and Andrea from DRE designs at the event.

I like this photo and wonder if the young girl dreamed of working on a ship one day.

Lorraine didn’t mind driving around the corner again to pass a second time so that I could get a photo of the entire tower.

Lorraine didn’t mind driving around the corner again to pass a second time so that I could get a photo of the entire tower.

Our first ship of the season (which was the second ship of the season to go through the lock.)

When you drive around Sault MI, there is no doubt you are in a ship watchers playground.

We stopped in Walmart and they had this beautiful painting inside their door. We picked up my favorite Melinda’s Green Sauce.

In the background you can see the Captain Henry Jackman.

This is how close the Sault, Ontario and Sault MI are.

Before we returned to our hotel room that evening we returned to the grocery store to pick up another ready made salad to enjoy in our room. I don't have cable at home and enjoyed watching some cooking shows on TV. The next morning we packed up our things to make the trip home. We had been watching the weather and saw that we had a small window of opportunity to avoid the predicted possibility of snow, rain, and ice rain. We met with a lovely couple who asked if we could meet so they could pick up a book before we left. We had a fun conversation and could have talked longer but knew we had an almost 1000km (621 miles) drive ahead of us. We had planned to stop at the Giant Nickel in Sudbury. We chose the northern route and could not believe how beautiful it was. The fresh white snow, lakes, rivers, rock cuts were so beautiful. We had decided to listen to an audio book which was nine hours and 40 minutes. It was a great choice and as the km and hours clicked but we could not believe how fast the trip was going.

The drive across the North was so beautiful

We stopped in Sudbury at the Giant Nickel. There is a lot to see, but we just walked through the gift shop and Lorraine bought me some pretty mini stones that were in a package named Happiness

We were so fortunate with the weather and as we pulled into my parking spot at my apartment 12 hours after we set out on our trip home, the two main characters in our audio book were bringing their story to an end. It was a great road trip. Lorraine wanted to do something special on my actual birthday yesterday. I asked her if we could postpone our sister’s celebration to later this week. I needed a day to rest after our week-long trip. We had a wonderful trip to the Sault and met so many wonderful people. It was a lot of fun. We love a road trip and the long drive was part of the fun. It is now Tuesday morning, the 25th. It's snowing again and I will add the photos to this story. Lorraine and I made a plan to spend an overnight in Montreal the end of the week for our sister’s birthday celebration. Pack an overnight bag and join us. The weather looks good and we look forward to a walking tour in downtown Montreal. Have a great day.

We were surprised how beautiful this route was. It was a great finish to our road trip.

I think it’s cool that you can see the view in the rearview mirror too.

We will be happy to mail out books to you. You can order online at www.shiptoshorechef.com