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Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Dr. Roberta Bondar Park

At the waterfront in Sault Ste. Marie, there’s a park named after Canada’s first female astronaut. You find out that she is a neurologist, biologist, pilot, the first female Canadian astronaut and crew member of the space shuttle Discovery.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Award Winning Costumes

We were attending the Travel Media Association of Canada’s Annual Conference. Since it was the group’s Silver Anniversary, glittery costumes were recommended – for awards of course. We went all out with our costumes and came in First Place.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Bears Videotaping Cubs Fishing

Someone in Sault Ste. Marie has a great sense of humor. We loved the statue of the adult bear with a camcorder on his shoulder videotaping two cubs. It’s down by the waterfront in Dr. Roberta Bondar park.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Riches to Rags in Sault Ste. Marie

Francis Hector Clergue, a”man of ideas” lived and worked in this 1821 powder magazine/fur trading post by adding an upper story. Arriving in Sault Ste. Marie in 1894, he promoted his “principle of correlation” by grouping related industries around a common power source. Supported by American investors plus local and provincial politicians, Clergue amassed an empire which by 1901 employed 7,000 and was worth about $119 million. The businesses were comprised of: mining, forestry, railway, steel and power. His amazing thinking and vision lasted only about 15 years here because by 1908 he hit a financial snag, lost it all, and moved to Montreal. C’est la vie.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Even Canadians Have Problems with those Pesky Geese

Sign in Dr. Roberta Bondar Park, Sault Ste. Marie “Caution, Scare Gun used for Goose Control”.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Group of Seven Food

At the Heritage Discovery Center we were treated to a meal described in the journals of Group of Seven painters who created their art here about a hundred years ago. The first course for us had been an entire meal for them – about ten pounds of onions. Though it doesn’t sound tantalizing, it was scrumptious, as they caramelized the onions and served them with homemade bread and butter.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Group of Seven Play

To fully understand the impetus and experience of the Group of Seven Canadian painters’ time in Algoma County, the Theatre in Motion is featuring a one-man show called Moments in Algoma, This group of Seven “experience” has an actor portraying painter Lawren Harris. It’s being shown at the Heritage Discovery Center.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Photo of Three of the Group of Seven

Here are three of the famous Canadian Group of Seven painters who started painting the Algoma scenery starting in 1918 with J.E.H. Macdonald. The others in the group are: Lawren Harris, Franklin Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson, Franz Johnson, Arhur Lismer, and Frederick Varley. They hitched a boxcar onto the Agawa Canyon train going up to the mines in Northern Ontario.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Inside Group of Seven Boxcar

The Group of Seven were Canadian painters who, in the early 20th century, especially enjoyed painting Canadian scenery. A few at a time, the men would live in this spartan boxcar which would get hitched to a train. They would be let off on a rail siding for a few days to paint scenery to their hearts content.

Canada: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario – Group of Seven Boxcar

If you would like to see a reproduction of the Boxcar that the Canadian Group of Seven slept, ate and painted in on the side railings of the 114-mile Agawa Canyon Train, head to Sault Ste. Marie. You can even take a ride on that train to glimpse the scenery they drew. At the end you can get off and enjoy the waterfalls and views and then return the same day.