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?   😎