Regardless, we have always come here for the proximity to the Locks, one of the Great Engineering wonders of the World. We have to have a bed for the night and on our first trip I chose the Algoma Water Tower Inn. I chose it as it was on the main drag (Great Northern Road) and had suites with a fireplace and an enormous bathroom with the Jacuzzi of the Gods! There's a coffee maker and a fridge and those are precious to us. The rooms are big and fully furnished and it's quiet.
There's a restaurant or two serving basic, not particularly tasty food and drinks. There's a breakfast buffet for guests where they have toasters that the "chefs" always forget to plug in so that the bread remains virgin white and unable to melt butter. As long as there are some potatoes and bacon and drinkable coffee (marginally so) I can stop the hunger pangs for a while. There's a Starbucks in the hotel where you can get sandwiches made up and we take advantage of this for our road trips.
The people who work in the hotel are all very nice-they are Canadians! Good simple salt-of-the-Earth folks you could have a beer with. There's not a lot to do in SSM at night. There's no theater district, no entertainment hub, so it's good for having an early dinner (which you will soon forget) then up to the hotel room to light a fire (Duraflame logs) run the amazing jacuzzi, read a little then hit the sack for a nice long sleep, for tomorrow there will be a drive up the coast of Lake Superior to enjoy, on smooth traffic-free roads amidst some of Nature's finest scenery.
Here are a couple of indoor shots from the hotel-the lobby area...
We'll see the exterior later on in a video and later still in another video we visit the room we stayed in.
We had dinner that night in Casey's Bar in the hotel. A sports bar configuration with multiple flat screen TVs showing ...well, sports I guess. It may have been Ice Hockey which the Canadians are fond of. I did go to a game once in Vancouver when the Canucks played some team from Washington DC. It was a good spectacle indeed as are all live sports events but I don't follow any team nor could care less if they all went up in a puff of smoke tomorrow. If I have a ticket and am in a packed stadium among the cheering fans then I am happy enough but don't go out seeking such adventures often-it is usually someone else's idea. I doubt if I could even stand up wearing ice skates so I admire the skills of the players. It's certainly a fast and furious game, unlike, say , soccer, where the object of the game would seem to be "not to lose" and at least draw. American Football on the other hand is-apart from being a "game of inches"- a thrilling spectacle indeed. I have been to many a game when I lived in New Jersey and had season tickets to the New York Jets back in the late 80's.
Prior to Casey's and going back to our first trip back in 2005 there was a Longhorn Steakhouse on the premises but that is now gone. It wasn't very good anyway so none are crying. Canadians are very easy going and affable and maybe not the kind to complain about lame food, lacking in seasoning or passion in the kitchen. SSM is a culinary backwater. You probably knew it wasn't Paris, Lyon or new York City. Restaurants come and go with alarming regularity. So many get it wrong. Meats need seasoning and salt and pepper are at the top of the list. A hot pan comes next. Then the chef just has to pay attention and focus on turning out another good meal for the paying customers. I know it's not easy...but I'm hungry and willing to pay for a meal that delights the senses.
Armed with some made-to-order sandwiches from the Starbucks in the hotel we set out on a drive North along the coast of Lake Superior....(video)
No comments:
Post a Comment