Our room came with a fireplace, comfortable chairs and a four poster bed. This was shaping up as excellent. Some of small touches I like included hangers that hang on a bar like they do at home. The Inn has done it right - and there were plenty of them. Plus they had real glasses and everything seemed to work.

On down side, one of sliding closet doors had come off track. But maybe this was a plus as I resorted to my at-home behavior and set it back on track. They were short a waste basket in bedroom but all else was fine.

I checked for a data port on phone and didn't see obvious one, but when I asked about it they said they have wireless connections available with all parts to hook up most computers. And there really was a hard-wired port if I wanted that.

The room has a VCR and hotel has a very large selection of movies that you can borrow. And there's an excellent mini bar, coffee maker, bath robes, and everything else one might want in a hotel.

SERVICES

The Cupertino Inn doesn't have a restaurant but it does have a kitchen and it provides 24 hour room service. This would be especially nice if I had arrived after most restaurants (and kitchen) had closed. There are numerous restaurants in area - many within a short walk from Inn.

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Cymber Quinn, Jetsetters Magazine Editor – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com

The hotel is still a sentinel for business conferences and banquets because of its prime location. I stayed in one of Superior Lakeside rooms with a Jacuzzi and a superior view of Marina Park in foreground and Sleeping Giant Provincial Park in distance. Sun streams through clouds reflecting off largest of Great Lakes, and with such a breezy day I should have been out on water sailing. I walk along boardwalk circumnavigating marina and I vow to return for summer regatta racing season.

Legend of Sleeping Giant —

Looking East across shores of Lake Superior it requires little imagination to see form of a sleeping body — a giant, arms folded across a massive chest as if in a deep sleep. Outside Thunder Bay, on Isle Royal , a tribe of Ojibway natives kept a loyalty to their Gods and industrious mode of living. Nanabijou, spirit of deep sea water, rewarded them with silver mines, but if mines were ever revealed to white man then Nanabijou would be turned to stone and cover silver mines. The Ojibway became famous for their beautiful silver ornaments, and when upon seeing them, Sioux strove to wrest secret from them. The Ojibway never divulged secret of mines, so their Sioux enemies devised a cunning plan. When a scout entered an Ojibway powwow disguised as one of them, he succeeded in learning secret of silver. The scout found silver and stopped at a white settlement to trade silver for food, and word was out to white man. The Great Spirit lay down across what was once a bay and Sleeping Giant has been guarding Ojibway silver mines ever since. A warning fulfilled.

The Prince Arthur hotel is nearby original train station that serves as HQ now for fine dining restaurants that were unfortunately closed day I was visiting. But city is a melting pot of Italian, Chinese, Greek and French cuisine, and even Finnish fine food. Of course there are steakhouses, because this is after all an agricultural center filled with mom and pop hometown cafés. One of more popular lunch crowd pleasers near hotel is Gargoyles, filled with grotesque statues, begging for a bite of my salad and my hosts' sandwiches. A blues bar is located just across street from hotel, and in fact, one of most vibrant blues festivals is held at Marina Park every July. The town even has a fringe theater festival where performance art rules and I am certain Prince Arthur Hotel is one of venues. There is no better spot to watch Canada Day fireworks blasted off at Marina Park than a lakeside room.

Other services that prop up local economy are antique shops, photography and art galleries and studios, computer services, and a large health care hospital complex. The hotel touts itself as “The Heart of Heart,” and it is certainly true, because I met a computer programmer who was staying in hotel while installing a new system at regional hospital a few blocks away.

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Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Editor – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com