Manitoba - Day 22

It truly is the end of the road trip. We got gas and returned the rental to Enterprise. The Bronco was wonderful, the first Ford product I've experienced that was good in so many ways; most notably, the first I've ever rented that CarPlay worked flawlessly.

They were really good and dropped us at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. Unlike most I have seen, this is not a military museum but rather a commemoration of the courageous men and women who mapped Canada and created our first airlines. Years ago friends Murray, Rick and Steve piqued my interest in such places and I have been pursuing them each time one appears on my travels.

MANITOBA was an enjoyable visit. It's quite different from what I had imagined. I had only ever been to Winnipeg and the Falcon Beach Ranch near the Ontario border so did not have a lot to foster any meaningful opinion. That is exactly why we chose to visit for three weeks, much to the surprise of everyone we spoke to on the trip.

The wildfires did not affect us directly; we never even saw any smoke but we missed them by a narrow margin and it was very sad to hear of the devastation they caused especially in Whiteshell Provincial Park where we spent time in 2019 on our way to Saskatchewan.

I always thought Manitoba was just an extension of Saskatchewan in the classic misunderstood and totally wrong view of endless prairie wheat fields. Southern Manitoba leans toward that though not as fully as their neighbouring province. The surprise to me was as you head north it takes on a persona much more resembling that of Ontario. As in Saskatchewan it was a total shock to me to find a “mountain” in the guise of Riding Mountain National Park.

As always we learn so much when we travel and meet some wonderful people. It will be some time before we'll come across someone as engaging and enjoyable to talk to as RCMP Officer Richard Graham. It just supports my claim that Canada is an amazing land and you'll never run out of things to see and do...and you'll be forever grateful you took the plunge.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!...or is it?

We'll be home tomorrow then head out for a brief 5 day adventure on May 27. 

Some of you know where it will be, others probably have a solid good guess and the rest will have to wait and see. I'll advise you when the blog is up again and hope you'll continue to follow along. For now, thank you so much for joining us in Manitoba. I hope it brought you some joy. We loved it and loved having you along.

😎