![[Lake scene drawing]](http://images.midwestweekend.com/graphics/lake_scene.gif)
Thunder Bay is the Miss Congeniality of Canada — blessed but not beautiful, endearing yet not alluring.
Craggy bluffs flank this working-class town of 120,000 on one side, and Lake Superior on the other. But the candy-striped smokestack of a paper mill is the first thing seen by those who arrive by air or U.S. highway.
Beyond is an unremarkable sprawl of commerce and industry. But Thunder Bay's homeliness is only skin-deep to those who know where to go: To the marina, where lovely sunsets frame the Sibley Peninsula with glowing bands of peach and slate-blue. To the Hoito in the Finnish district, where crowds wait patiently for crepe-like pancakes that make regular ones seem like papier-mache. To Italian cafes, for real gelati. And to Loch Lomond and Mount Baldy, where slopes are steep but prices gentle.