First leg of our journey to 2025 Soo Lock opening

I was so excited to receive my Galley Girl -Ship to Shore Chef hat in the mail before we left on our trip. I designed and ordered a few samples of merchandise to see if we could find some fun items to offer you . The hat is great quality and I will keep you posted when the Galley Girl/Galley Guy hat becomes available.

Lorraine and I could not wait to see the sample products that I had designed and ordered. We opened it in the car. I was excited that it came before we left and plan to wear another one of my designs at the 2025 Soo Lock opening. I will share it with you next week. Lorraine loved her long sleeved hoodie that I designed for her and we will share that will you soon too.

Good Sunday morning. Lorraine (my sister, best friend, and publisher) and I are on the first leg of our road trip, with the final destination, Sault Ste Marie, and the 2025 opening of the Locks. We love a road trip and when we received the official date for the opening of the Soo Locks we started to build a plan. We had two choices offered by google maps. First choice was to take HWY 17 across the North. This suggested route would take 10 hours and 23 minutes. The first two hours were familiar because we almost always drivee through Ottawa when we go to Brockville or Toronto. We try to avoid driving through Montreal because there is always traffic. We enjoy the drive to Ottawa. The route then would take us North to Arnprior. I have gone that way in the past turning left at HWY 60. This would be my first time going further North and I looked for names that I recognized. Pembroke, Petawawa, North Bay, Sturgeon Falls, Sudbury, Thessalon/Bruce Mines (I have gone there by ship but never by car.) This area is familiar by ship. I always try to make sure to go out on deck to breathe in the beautiful scent of the trees. That particular route takes us through the rocks and trees, which is beautiful; however, it is March, and the idea of greenery and wind blowing through the grass is a few months off.

Option one of a route to drive to the Soo

We opted for the second option and planned to visit friends along the way. First stop Brockville and overnight at our friends at the Heavenly Haven.

The other route option also begins by heading to Ottawa. From there it takes you south to the 401 and passes through Brockville. This route immediately started to take shape in my mind. I am the planner by nature and started forming an idea in my head. Brockville is still home to me, even though our parents no longer live there, the memories are there. I called Lorraine and mentioned the plan I was putting together. She said we needed an oil change for the pretty read car and we built that into our plan. We made it for 1pm and thought we could have lunch just a block down the road from the Mitsubishi dealership. It was so nice walking along the sidewalk. I left my coat in the car and enjoyed the spring like weather. Lorraine commented on how nice it was to walk without the worry of slipping on the ice. We almost wished the walk to the chain restaurant "The Works" was longer. We have been going to this restaurant for years. Their specialty are burgers with every possible condiment combination you can think of. We liked that when we adopted a new eating lifestyle in 2014 that we could still enjoy a meal out at this restaurant. They had sweet potato fries on their menu long before it became a popular item. I liked that they offered lots of different homemade sauces. Over the years they dropped some of their sauces, but I still enjoy them having being inspired I recreated them at home. I credit my curry mayonnaise recipe and veggie-veggie dip to "The Works." We sat down and opened the menu and commented that they added a salad to their menu that we had not seen before. I read the ingredients out loud Grilled chicken breast, Crumbled blue cheese, sliced beets, walnuts, sliced red onions, and mixed greens. We both decided to order that. When asked which salad dressing we wanted, Lorraine said Balsamic and Ranch on the side. I said the same. Our salads came, and we looked down at the beautiful display of carefully placed ingredients. At almost the exact same moment, we noticed the beautiful slices of avocado. In whispered voices to each other, not wanting them to come to our table and remove the multiple slices of perfectly ripe avocados, we said, "Did you read avocado on the menu description?" There were lots of crunchy walnuts and huge pieces of blue cheese crumbles. We had made a great choice (and after referring to the menu again, it did include avocado.) As we put our forks down, Lorraine said she would definitely come back and have the same salad and if avocado did not come with it, she would order it as an extra because it was the perfect combo. She asked if I took a picture which normally would be answered with "of course" but she was answered with a “oh dear I was so excited I forgot.” We walked back to pick up the car and made our way down the HWY 416. We had time so we opted to take HWY #2 which runs along the river. The shipping season has not started yet, but I looked out just the same and imagined the many times that I sailed there. I mentioned to Lorraine that it would be nice to stop in Prescott and go for a little walk along the river. Every time we passed by I thought one day I would like to stop and go for a walk. Friday was that day. We parked the car and started out on the paved path. It was as beautiful as I had imagined. The spring-like weather adding to the experience.

We passed by this walking path so many times and Friday was the day we stopped. It was so beautiful.

The water was mirror calm. We read some of the information on display and were reminded that years ago there was a Ferry taking passengers over to the US. It stopped operating when the Johnstown- Ogdensburg International Bridge was completed in 1960. I have sailed under that bridge many times.

We thought it was fun that the ship they had in their metal art installation looked similar to the Frontenac and CSL Tadoussac (I was just working on her for 24 days in February).

The Prescott Heritage Path passes in front of Fort Wellington. Lorraine and I thought it would be fun to visit this Tourist destination and as we talked about it over breakfast our hostess Tammy said she would love to go with us, saying she hadn’t been since a school trip years ago.

We had called our friends and invited ourselves to come and visit them. I refer to their place as the Heavenly Haven, just outside of Brockville. They are so kind and we always have such a nice time with them. I am writing to you this morning from their dining room table. It looks out onto the St Lawrence River. It's raining lightly this morning, but that is ok. We had a beautiful sunny mild day yesterday and the day so the promise of spring and remember what the warm sun feels like is enough to keep us going until winter is really over. We just finished a beautiful Sunday brunch and as soon as I share this story with you, we will pack up the pretty red car and make our way to our next stop, Brampton, Ontario, just North or Toronto. Stay tuned for the next leg of our trip. We are excited to reach our destination :The 2025 opening of the Sault Locks. I will share more information over the next few days. The book signing meet and greet will be in the Soo Lock Visitor’s Center on the 21st from 9am to 3pm. We plan to bring both cookbooks and the children’s book. Bring your books which you have already purchased and we will be happy to sign them too. It is going to fun. We look forward to meeting Andrea from DRE Designs. When we chat online we always have so much to talk about. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday! Stay tuned.

It is a beautiful view, even on a rainy day. Next week the ships will start to pass.

Last time we visited our friends we talked about a kale and sausage soup. I said I would make it for them. (The one I made for them was so good Lorraine and I ate too much of it before it made it into the container to be delivered. We put the small amount leftover into the freezer and promised our friends we would bring a full batch next time. )

The dates are confirmed and we will be there! Bring your books to have them signed. We also plan to bring our extra books.

See you in the Soo. It’s going to be fun.

You can order online and we will be happy to mail them out to you.