TRAVELERS’ CHECKS

Sault Ste. Marie, nicknamed the Soo, is about an eighthour drive from Cleveland.

I flew Air Canada from Toronto into the Sault Ste Marie airport.

It’s the larger of two cities of the same name — the other in Michigan over an international bridge. Both share the famous Sault Ste. Marie Locks, through which lake freighters transport ore, grain and other things from Lake Superior through the Great Lakes and to the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic.

The city has plenty of accommodations and attractions, such as the Art Gallery of Algoma, with its introduction to the Group of Seven. Take in a live performance of “Moments in Algoma,” a one-man show at the Heritage Discovery

Centre about the inspiration for the Group of Seven.

Get information at 800461-6020 or www.saulttourism.com.

Find out about the Agawa Canyon Train at www.agawatrain.com.

On my return I spent a night in Toronto to further explore the Group of Seven at the McMichael Collection (www. mcmichael.com; 905-8931121) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (www.ago.net), both of which have extensive collections of Group of Seven works. The McMichael has an exhibit of masterfully crafted guitars inspired by different Group of Seven works. The AGO has a large collection of the artists’ original small-sized works from which larger paintings were created.