While “a two-hour cruise” may remind some of a long-ago television show, we actually went on a river cruise.  We went aboard the Huron Lady II for a cruise on the St. Clair River which connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair.  We went with another couple who have done this excursion before, so we drove to the city of Port Huron to spend the day.  On any normal outing when we go to Port Huron, it is because we are going to use the Blue Water Bridge to leave the states and go to Canada for a holiday trip.  For those of you that are not aware, the Great Lakes are so huge, that the water would cover the entire map of the United States of America nine feet deep.  The river is also one of the busiest waterways and conveys more shipments than the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal combined.

It was an enjoyable trip, but the boat is rather spartan in creature comforts.  The seats are like park benches, but one does get some beautiful views along the river, along both of the country’s shorelines.  Since we were not stopping at all during the excursion, there was no need to have our passport.  The weather was wonderful with a nice cool breeze, so we sat up on the top deck, while the lower deck did have an enclosed area with air conditioning.  The captain of the boat was a lady and I think she maintained a continuous narration of what we were seeing along the trip.  The captain also explained a few of the courtesies that the ships and boats display and the rules of “right of way,” especially since there was a sailboat race going on while we were on the cruise.  While we did see many sailboats, we also saw a large assortment of personal pleasure boats, which is a major hobby or sport in Michigan, but we also got a chance to see some cutters and ocean liners that ply the Great Lakes from the St. Lawrence Seaway.

They did announce just as we were leaving port, that there was a concession stand on the lower deck.  I have been in agony for a couple of weeks, but the pain has increased exponentially, almost to the point of not wanting to do anything, because a tooth that I had a root canal done years ago, cracked vertically and the soonest that I could get scheduled for an oral surgeon to remove the tooth and begin an implant procedure was over a month, and the pain that was just a dull throb has grown and as I sit to write this I have another eight days of blissed pain to endure.  I was all set to go and get some adult beverage, though I was the only one of the group that wanted some, and I was hoping to drown the pain for a little while.  They were selling small individual serving bottles of Barefoot Cellars California Chardonnay NV, I only mention this because some of the Chardonnay comes from South Australia.  The winery began in 1986 and is considered the second best selling brand in the United States and the largest wine brand in the world with current annual production around eighteen-million cases.  In 2005 Barefoot Cellars were purchased by E. & J. Gallo Winery.  Suffice it to say that this wine is produced in bulk with no concerns for extended aging, and even worse it was not even cold when pulled from the refrigerator and I was asked if I wanted ice cubes.  The offer of ice, may have helped, because it is perhaps the sweetest Chardonnay wine that I have ever had, but I really only wanted it for the alcohol, in hopes of numbing the tooth and gum area.  To be quite candid, outside of the wine and pain, it was a pleasurable afternoon.