Manitoba - Day 9

As small as the cabin is we are really enjoying it. As a matter of fact, there is strong evidence that I'm getting taller as I age, not shrinking as I previously thought. Ah, the pioneers.

In the town of Wasagaming in Riding Mountain National Park there's a couple more wildlife statues. These are different in that they are created from natural ingredients if you will. Always a good thing in case your wildlife viewing efforts fall short.

We have visited two Bison Enclosures on past trips, one in Saskatchewan and one in Alberta. On both occasions we were bitterly disappointed, driving a long way on pothole-ridden gravel roads and seeing no signs of bison at all. With that in mind we undertook the voyage today with little to no expectation of seeing anything. Well, wouldn't you know it, we caught them on their lunch break so sat and watched them for about half an hour.

We also just about ran over this guy. He took his own sweet time crossing the road as we shut the engine off to wait. After an inordinate amount of time I started the engine and he disappeared in a hurry. Murray's friend Dale would know in an instant what this is. I'm guessing a ptarmigan or grouse but we're close enough to Saskatchewan so let's just call it a Prairie Chicken.

The grounds surrounding our cabin is quite lovely so a walk was a must. The path winds through the meadow and into the woods. A peaceful hike on another gorgeous, cool day.

Tomorrow we head north to Swan River. No idea what awaits so come along.   

😎🦢

Manitoba - Day 8

I was up early so managed to catch the sunrise at 5:30AM. Not spectacular  by any means but sweet because it's the first one I've seen since we arrived in the province.

A day to explore Riding Mountain National Park. This just looked like a nice place when I began researching last year so was the main reason I wanted to spend some time in Manitoba. The Eastern Gate of the park is an historic site. It has obviously been renovated but remains a majestic reminder of the past - especially given we travelled about 50 kilometres of gravel road to get to it.

Another day, another bear - two this time! A camera is unquestionably more successful than a phone for such occasions. We were only about ten yards away in the relative safety of the SUV.

The deer are always a thrill for me as well. Not necessarily so if you see them all the time. I know Gayle pretty much has them come up and knock on her walkout door...and she's got some awfully nice photos to prove it. I don't see them often so still react like a kid at Christmas.

I deliberately pick remote or isolated areas and travel at times that are not supposed to be popular. That's not always possible but so rewarding when it happens. Took this photo...stopped the vehicle where you see it, not off to the side of the road...no fear of anyone coming by...we were more concerned a bear might visit.

Always nice to be able to get a hike in. It was perfect; sunny, clear and about 10 degrees C.

Stay with us - we have one more day in the RMNP area then off we go.

😎

Manitoba - Day 7

In spite of the technological mishaps it was sad to leave our palace in the woods. Just wait until you see what we traded for. 

It started out as another beautiful day but as it progressed it clouded over and we even got a bit of rain. No matter - love being on the road. Having spent some time there in 2019, it sure was easy to see we were nearing Saskatchewan.

Our lack of wild life sightings was fortunately supplemented by a couple of Manitoba's largest...

That was all about to change. We drove through Riding Mountain National Park - yes there is a mountain there; more on that tomorrow. We passed a deer at the side of the road. As is typical, we made a U-turn, went back and it was still there along with a friend. That was pretty nice.

But the more infrequent a sighting is, the better!

Wow! What a difference a day makes! Our new home for the next three nights. At least when I flip a switch a light (one light) comes on then goes off when I flip it back.

Our plan is to explore the park over the next two days. Please join us.   😎

Manitoba - Day 6

I'm no wizard but don't consider myself a total dolt when faced with modern technology. Having said that the lighting system in this house is a nightmare. The lighting is staged in scenes with several functions per switch plate. It's all digital which I suppose is more efficient but the problems, yes that's plural, are numerous. To start with the buttons themselves serve many functions. It is not a simple matter of on/off. As a matter of fact normally it is on and only on, rarely does pressing the button again turn the lights off. And therein lies the problem.

When I entered the bedroom last night I turned on the light. No problem – why should there be? Well, that was just the beginning, that was the launch of the oncoming nightmare. I pushed the same button to turn the light off. Nothing. Push it again. Again nothing. So what do you do? Naturally you try one of the other 7 buttons on the switch plate. The first alternate I tried turned on every light in the entire house. Whoa! 

There were lights everywhere – there's about 60 light switches in this cabin. Accent lighting, sconces, potlights, overhead lighting and even lights I didn't know existed. New, improved, innovative advances are not always a good thing.

Today we chose to explore the other park in the region, Hecla Provincial Park, the one we made the mad dash through upon our arrival two days ago. It was another beautiful day so we were eager to be on our way.

The Grassy Narrows Marsh Boardwalk is a series of trails, not all on a boardwalk, ranging from 1.3 kilometres to 34 kilometres. We selected a few that totalled about 4 kilometres, knowing it was liable to get a little warm and/or wet throughout the process. The first stretch was a frog cacophony to end all others. How can such tiny animals make so much noise? A short boardwalk was closed but we walked along it anyway to soon discover why it was closed as it totally collapsed into the bog. The Bittern Trail followed the dike back to the road ending at the parking lot and a good safe boardwalk traversing the marsh. 

The Gull Harbour Marina lies at the northern end of the island and that was reason enough to travel there. The marina was an odd sight being May with no boats in the water yet due to the propensity of ice still in the lake. That made it a little chilly even though this was the hottest day we've had since our arrival in Manitoba.  

If there's a BBQ on site you can bet I'll use it. Perfect with a glass of wine - can't beat it to top another wonderful day!

Tomorrow we head west to Riding Mountain National Park for three nights. I'm sure our cabin there will not rival our palace in the woods here...but I'll bet the lights will be easier to operate.

😎

Manitoba - Day 5

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunshine, clear blue sky and about 18 degrees. I love that.

Today was an “explore the park” day because tomorrow we'll be heading back to Hecla PP which involves a 50 km round trip drive on the gravel road, something I don't want to do more than once. As it is, we'll have done in twice in this stay.

Bottom line, Grindstone is a nice area; very quiet, a cottage area that has not begun the season yet and very pretty. The views of the lake in particular are so cool (even cold) as there's still plenty of ice. It always feel cold, partially because of the wind but even a gentle breeze brings cold air off the surrounding ice of which there is copious amounts.

Even the sections we drove were so wonderful because of the sun.

There are plenty of beaches along the shore of Lake Winnipeg. Occasionally after a walk in the woods one might be inclined to check for ticks. Here, a walk out to the beach requires a thorough shoe cleaning afterwards to remove all the goose shit.

After lunch we decided to check out the South Beach neighbourhood that we call home on foot. Similar to this morning's views but oh so wonderful in this weather.

😎

Manitoba - Day 4

Today was a beautiful day...always is when we're on the road again. We headed north to the shores of Lake Winnipeg to check out a Provincial Park. First stop was at Lake Winnipeg Beach, rich in railway history of the province. They are quite a ways behind us for spring. The lake, a huge lake, is still frozen but so beautiful.

On the west side of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Gimli is an unincorporated rural community. They maintain a strong connection to Iceland from whence the first European settlers came. The only thing I knew about Gimli was the Gimli Glider, an Air Canada flight that ran out of fuel during a flight from Montreal to Edmonton in July 1983. It was skillfully and successfully landed at a decommissioned military airbase by the pilots' gliding and side-slipping to safety. There were some tense moments when it was revealed the base runway was an active illegal drag strip.

I wanted to see the Viking statue as I was initially perplexed, why here? Realizing the ties to Iceland and proximity to the US State of Minnesota answered that question in a hurry. The statue is in a park in Gimli as a tribute to their Icelandic heritage and to commemorate the 1967 Canadian Centennial.

Riverton is an old railway town which happens to also have a large moose statue. I am always attracted to anything related to trains so a stop here was crucial.

That's where things went off the rails - no pun intended, well maybe a little. Guided by an internet posting from our host VRBO for the next three nights, I followed directions into the wrong Provincial Park with no internet service and no way out. Even sitting by a church did not seem to ease our problem any.

Two hours later we arrived at our home for the next three days and nights. It's a cabin (in whose world?) and it's gorgeous...which is important because it is plagued with a few technical glitches assisted by our unfamiliarity with said technology. Even the host admitted to me, when I called with a few questions, that his systems were overly complicated. Oh well, we'll make do.  😅

Who knows what tomorrow holds?   😎

Manitoba - Day 3

Being our last full day in Winnipeg, today was our time to explore this very enjoyable city. It's smaller than I anticipated and older as well. All the housing we saw was circa 1960, all WWII houses that would have been demolished in short order in Toronto decades ago. The super houses in Toronto have no match whatsoever to Winnipeg's well-kept lovely homes when it comes to ambience and pride.

Though it didn't happen first chronologically I did find the perfect title slide for the day.

The Basilique Catedrale de Saint Boniface was not at all what I expected. My experience with cathedrals has always been grandiose, centuries old and dripping with opulence and over indulgence. This was quite under-stated and obviously much newer than most. I also was not aware until we arrived that it is the final resting place of Louis Riel.

Winnipeg's Legislature was well worth the visit even though we could not go in. Interior tours are only available on Fridays – missed it by that much (one day). The Golden Boy atop the structure is very well known to everyone but me. I am familiar with a similar topping in Denver. The Ukraine memorial was very touching and once again the view from the grounds was so inspirational.

For some unexplained reason I really wanted to see the Forks National Historic Site. The meeting of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers is something I was very much aware of so being this close it seemed a shame to bypass it. The natives of Winnipeg are certainly a hardy bunch. I saw a few wearing sandals and shorts. I thought it was actually quite cool so was more than a little surprised.

We finished our visit to Winnipeg with a trip to Murray's boyhood home in the early sixties in Saint Vital. No surprise given what I have said about the age of the homes here that it is still standing. We took a few photos of the house and street to send to Murray. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to revisit a home you grew up in? Sadly, most are long gone. 

We wanted to Facetime Murray but my phone was at about 2% battery so we couldn't. That became a real issue pointing out just how reliant we have become on these damn devices. As soon as I connected a cable to the phone to charge the battery the car had a stroke and lost Bluetooth connection along with all guidance features. That meant relying solely on my phone which was audio only and required me to perform the ultimate distracted driving. Fortunately we found our way back and went right to Enterprise to get everything rebooted and learn the secret of fixing it because I guarantee this will happen again.

Tomorrow we're off to points north. Stay with us.   😎