Arriving at Sault Sainte Marie Chippewa County Intl Airport in Sault Ste. Marie places you among it all, with Lake Superior, the Soo Locks, and the eastern Upper Peninsula an easy drive away. Sault Ste. Marie is the oldest city in Michigan, a border town where giant freighters pass through the locks a few feet from the sidewalk. The feel is friendly and unhurried, with a strong Ojibwe heritage and a river that never stops moving.

Things to see in Sault Ste. Marie: - Watch thousand-foot freighters rise and fall in the Soo Locks from the viewing platform - Take a boat tour through the locks and under the International Bridge - Walk the decks of the Museum Ship Valley Camp, a retired freighter - Ride the elevator up the Tower of History for views into Canada - Try fresh Lake Superior whitefish at a downtown restaurant - Visit on Engineers Day in June, when the locks open to foot traffic - Drive out to Point Iroquois Lighthouse and the Lake Superior shore

The airport sits in Kincheloe, about 20 minutes south of Sault Ste. Marie. Tahquamenon Falls and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point are each about 75 minutes west. St. Ignace and the ferry to Mackinac Island are under an hour south, the Les Cheneaux Islands are about 45 minutes, and the Canadian Soo across the bridge offers the Agawa Canyon train. A pasty from a gas station counter is the proper Upper Peninsula lunch, and in winter the snow is deep enough for snowmobile trails right out of town. Bring layers, even in July.