Swift Current, Canada

Regina, Canada

Brandon, Canada

Yesterday I spent a great day at Grand Beach. It was cloudy and cool in the morning, but cleared and warmed up as the day went on and I was able to get in some quality beach time; sitting in the shade, and reading a book. A day like that every once in a while is a great break. The experience at Grand Beach was a lesson learned in “dry camping” in more of a rustic environment. I had an electrical hook up but no water or sewer. I hadn’t used the water holding tank and pump before so I had to remember how to do all that. It also was a lesson in how much water 40 gallons really is, and the answer is, not much! Let’s just say it’s a good thing I’m travelling alone and one shower could do me for 2 days. I enjoyed the slower pace though and it certainly was quiet sleeping. The mosquitos were pretty ferocious, and I’ve been a Vancouver girl for a long time so am spoiled about that. Don’t think I’d do that kind of camping on a regular basis, but glad to have tried it out in such a beautiful spot. Today was a travel and visit day and an example of the extremes of Canadian summers. I started out in Grand Beach under overcast skies, and cool temperatures. (18 degrees) I only went as far as the northern outskirts of Winnipeg where I met up with my friend and former political colleague, Aaron, to have a visit. Great to catch up with him as it’s been quite some time since we’ve had a chance to chat and he’s really not an email kind of guy. 🙂 As I was arriving to meet Aaron, one thunderstorm was going through and the ominous clouds were to the west, the direction I was travelling. Between Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie the next band of storms hit and I had to pull over because of so much rain, wind and hail. No dents in the new car thank goodness. Behind that front was a heat wave and so by the time I got to Brandon, and my next visit spot, it was 32 degrees. I expect we’ll be in for another thunderstorm tonight. In Brandon I was able to meet up with my elementary school friend Brenda and her husband Don, who were on their way back to Winnipeg from a camping and bicycling trip in Alberta. Again, great to be able to catch up, although Brenda and I have recently been in touch lots both in person and through email after she found me through mutual friends. We hadn’t been in contact for decades. And it was fortuitous timing indeed, since just 25 km out of Brandon I noticed that some weather stripping on my trailer seemed to be flapping in the wind. It’s a moulding that covers the joint between the front and sides of the trailer. It looks like something lightly hit the moulding and caused it to come out of it’s channel and the heat and wind did the rest. Don is very tall and handy and so between he, Brenda and I (mostly he and Brenda) we managed to get a band of duct tape on the moulding to hold it on until I can get it repaired. I have made an appointment to have an RV Service place look at it first thing in the morning.   I seem to be single handedly keeping them in business as I travel across the country and hope I can look back at this blog in the future and laugh at all the adventures I’ve had. Tonight I’m sure not in that place. So I’m sitting in Tim Horton’s catching up on email and doing this blog until it cools down a little. My car said the external temperature was 41 at one point. My trailer does have A/C and I haven’t used it yet, so we’ll see what adventure that brings. Thankfully it runs on electricity which is supplied by the RV Park.

Winnipeg, Canada

Grand Beach Provincial Park, Canada

Today was a travel day heading north from Winnipeg to Grand Beach, a beautiful white sand beach on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is the 6th largest fresh water lake in Canada and the 3rd largest contained entirely within Canada. And it’s the 11th largest freshwater lake in the world. Really drives home the point about how fortunate we are to have so much fresh water.

As I was travelling along Highway 59, I noted a sign for Lockport, one of our old haunts and home of another Winnipeg institution, Half Moon. They serve the best hot dogs in the world according to many, myself included. And by coincidence, they buy their wieners from the company that my brother, Rae, has worked with for almost as long as it’s been around…..no just kidding about that part – they’ve been around for 100 years. It’s called Winnipeg Old Country Sausage, and they sell to everyone who serves great hotdogs around Winnipeg. You can read an interesting article about them at this link:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/busine ss/selling-good-food-for-generations-16 3983836.html

After a short stop for a foot long hot dog, I was off again and since I was in the neighbourhood I decided to stop and have a look at a Parks Canada National Historic Site, Lower Fort Garry. I hadn’t been there since I was in grade 5 or there about. In BC, where our daughter was educated, they learned about the gold rush in Canadian History Class but in Manitoba we learned all about the Red River Settlers (who settled at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers – yup, you got it, The Forks). There was a fort there, Upper Fort Garry, of which only the gate is still standing, across the street from Union Train Station. But there was also a fort further north on the Red River called Lower Fort Garry built by the Hudson’s Bay Company attempting to establish it as the major trading centre after Lower Fort Garry was flooded. But the population had already coalesced around The Forks and it never became a really vibrant centre of commerce.

After wandering around the fort, I headed further northeast to the east shore beaches of Lake Winnipeg and the grand lady of them all, Grand Beach. It is a fine, white sand beach with beautiful sand dunes that seriously rivals many of the beaches around the world, it’s just that it’s covered in snow for a good chunk of the year. And because it’s so shallow it’s nice and warm and the bottom is sand formed into ripples by the waves with no rocks. Only downside is you have to walk out quite far to get wet.

I plan to park myself in the water tomorrow as the forecast is for it to hit 30 degrees.

P.S. Thanks to those of you who pointed out that BDI is located in Elm Park, not the neighbourhood of Elmwood as I had originally posted.

P.P.S. Also, thanks to cousin Donna for the huge zucchinis, jam and dish clothes she brought with her when she came to see my trailer last night.

Winnipeg, Canada

I spent a lovely lazy Sunday morning chatting with brother Rae on his front steps enjoying the cool air of the morning while I did a final load of laundry. That was after another fabulous Chef Fines meal of grilled cinnamon and pecan buns and bacon. Rae raided his garden for me to take along some veggies and I was on my way.

I spent some fun time this after noon catching up with Rhonda, the friend I’ve known the longest in my life. We hadn’t seen each other for a few years so it was great to hear what was happening in her life and family and share some of what is going on in mine. We have lots of stories to remember given we went all through school together. Both of us pledged to be in touch more often.

Then I raced to The Forks to see the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights. It is truly a remarkable building and I had a chance to go up in the Tower of Hope to get a great view of the city. I stopped on the 4th floor to see the Holocaust exhibit, and was reminded of our moving visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau a few years ago.

There was a gathering happening in the public space at the Forks that made me feel like I was back in my old neighbourhood in Vancouver South. There was Indian music, food, colourful saris and turbans. Made me a little home sick for Vancouver.

No visit to Winnipeg could be complete without a stop to see the Golden Boy and I did so on the way back to my trailer for the evening. It’s an iconic statue and legislative buildings. Had a quiet moment remembering Dad.

Thanks for allowing me to reminisce some more on this cross Canada portion of my trip. Tomorrow I’m off to Grand Beach for a couple of days. Hope to show you that Manitoba has some phenomenal beaches too.

Winnipeg, Canada

Today Rae and I criss crossed the city a couple of times. I was able to see many of the old haunts as well as some of the new neighbourhoods. Winnipeg seems to be growing in leaps and bounds, and is stretching out closer and closer to the perimeter highway. There is even an IKEA!

Rae and I were up and out early this morning to head south to the hugely popular St. Norbert Farmers Market. It is one of the most diverse, largest and busiest farmers markets I’ve seen. The diverse cultures represented in Winnipeg (especially eastern European) were on display with the various types of food on sale, and we supported the local economy at several of the booths including a great breakfast of sausage on a bun.

As teenagers, Rae and I both worked at the Zoo at Assiniboine Park, so one of the places I wanted to go visit was the Zoo. I’m not a huge fan of zoos, but they have a great new Polar Bear Conservancy Centre, an education, research and transition facility within the Journey to Churchill exhibit. It seems to be really closely monitored and operating within a very well defined mandate that restricts it to take in only those orphaned cubs who are under 2 1/2 years and who are sure to die in the wild. The enclosures are huge with a pool area and visitors can go through a tunnel below the pool to look up at the polar bears gracefully swimming and playing underwater.

Next it was out to the west and St Francis Xavier to my campsite for Rae to see my trailer. I must admit his house is much tidier!

Half way home we remembered that I also wanted to go to a Winnipeg institution, BDI (Bridge Drive Inn) It’s a seasonal ice cream place in Elm Park on the banks of the Red River and next to a pedestrian bridge that has been serving up fabulous dairy concoctions since 1957. On a perfect weather day, we bought a treat and walked over the bridge to take in the beautiful breeze and fought off the wasps while finishing our choices. Yum – eat your heart out Nanci!

Despite having eaten our way across the city, we still managed to eat dinner. We had bought a couple of cobs of sweet local Manitoba corn at the market that was delicious with the tasty, moist and tender pork steaks Rae cooked for dinner tonight. I think I’m going to stay here for good. Don’t tell Rae.

Winnipeg, Canada

Friday in Winnipeg I looked after some maintenance items. The new vehicle came with a hitch that was sitting too high which meant the trailer wasn’t traveling level. That means the frig couldn’t run off propane on the road so I had to move the food from the frig to my cooler each day. So my first stop was at Bell Hitch in Headingly, a shop which had been recommended by cousins Gary and Mona. They were incredibly knowledgable and helpful. They provided me with the appropriate new hitch, installed the necessary hardware and I was on my way with only a $25 bill and after only 20 minutes. They even supplied me with a pin for my anti-sway bar that had gone missing on the bumpy Manitoba roads. Driving east on Portage Avenue towards downtown was a walk down memory lane. And of course I drove down Strathcona Street to see the house that I called home from age 2 – 20. It and most of the other houses on the street have stood up well. The street is lined with elegant elms which provide a archway down the street, and I remember well playing in the crisp leaves in the fall. Not a lot on the street has changed and I was able to remember most of the surnames of the people who lived in each house when I was growing up, and their kids. Next it was off to somewhere that I spent a lot of time as a youth- Polo Park Mall. It’s funny how places from your youth appear so much bigger in your memories than in reality. I needed to find an Apple store to ask some questions at the Genius Bar and pick up a new external hard drive to hold my pictures. With that task completed it was over to brother Rae’s to spend a couple of nights. I was the last of the sisters to see the adorable, comfortable and incredibly tidy house he bought a year or so ago so glad I finally got to play Oscar to his Felix. Our father was a great gardener and especially proud of his tomatoes and Rae has taken over that role. Rae was on his way to his daughter Megan’s place and so I went along to have a visit with Megan and my great niece, Meah, an adorable Chihuahua/Pug/Terrier cross. Megan is tackling an ambitious project and going back to school in the fall while continuing with her full time job. Then it was back to Rae’s for a delicious dinner, and I wasn’t allowed to help in the preparation, although I must admit I didn’t try all that hard. Rae is a great cook and I was happy to leave it in his capable hands. We talked while he cooked and over dinner and into the late evening. He has a much better memory of our childhood than I do despite being 4 years younger. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures today either. Will try harder tomorrow.

Kenora, Canada

I’m so fortunate that one of the friends I have known since Kindergarten had been reading my blog and saw that I was passing her way. Susan and her husband Doug have a beautiful home located on the Winnipeg River, which flows from Lake Winnipeg, north of the Whiteshell area in eastern Manitoba into the Lake of the Woods in Ontario. Susan graciously invited me to stop in for a visit and enjoy their hospitality overnight. I quickly accepted to allow us to catch up after several years.

While enjoying a beverage on the porch before dinner, a juvenile bald eagle entertained us by trying a landing on the roof not 10 feet from where we sat but took off immediately. We were able to see junior and Mom or Dad come and go from the nest all evening and Susan reports Junior has been back to visit other days since.

Susan and Doug already had plans for a few friends to join them for brunch the next day and I gladly delayed my departure to meet the interesting group and enjoy some more of Susan’s fabulous cooking, and baking. (the frittata was particularly delicious!) Always lovely to meet people from different backgrounds and vocations to hear their perspective of the world.

After the late start on Thursday, I headed off to Winnipeg, where I was born and lived for the first 25 years of my life. I rolled into the West Winnipeg KOA (nothing to write home about) just in time to get cleaned up and head into town to have dinner with brother Rae, and 4 cousins and a couple of their significant others. One of cousins, Ken, I hadn’t seen for so many years I’m not sure when the last time was and for another, Gary, it had been since our family reunion in 2007, so it was so great to see them and everyone else. We had dinner at Muddy Waters at the Forks. The steak sandwiches and hamburgers looked great, but those of us who had the pickerel were disappointed. It was rather bland and dry with too much breading.

Ottawanians should not read further because I’m going to rant again about the great job another city has done of using their waterways (and by inference the lousy job Ottawa has done). The Forks, not surprisingly located at the forks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers (and designated a National Historic Site because of it’s cultural and historical significance as a meeting place), has been developed in the last several years and includes a public market, a public meeting space for events and an ice rink in the winter, a skateboard park, hotel, restaurants with outdoor patios along the river, a riverwalk that in the winter turns into one of the longest ice rinks in the world (according to Guinness Book of World Records in 2008), a toboggan run, a AAA baseball diamond in the summer, and several museums, including the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Water taxis bring residents from other parts of the city along the rivers, and there is a terraced area for enjoying the sun and view of the river.

After dinner it was back to my house on wheels for the night just west of Winnipeg. The West Winnipeg KOA is not one of the better ones I’ve stayed in. It does appear the owners are trying to improve the grounds, but after quite a bit of rain the whole place was pretty waterlogged. The washrooms and showers are only just adequate and because of the restaurant in the same building have a food smell, but they are at least clean.

Sorry no pictures to accompany the blog today. Too busy and on the move.

Ignace, Canada