Manitoba

August 31- September 3, 2016 – Days12-15

Another day on the North American Safari #5 road saw us leaving the province of Saskatchewan and heading into Manitoba. We can officially mark that on our travel map on the side of the MoHo. We enjoyed a scenic drive – the ever-present agriculture with more rolling hills and trees and other more interesting vegetation. The highway continued with construction, narrow lanes with close on coming traffic made for a tiring drive for Mike. There were many road signs warning us of possible moose and antelope appearances. Karen watched closely, especially in the roadside ponds for the listed animals, no sightings were made.  We stopped for the night in a small community RV Park in Elkhorn Manitoba.

Canada is complete, for now!

The next morning we continued east along the Trans Canadian Highway 1 (TCH-1) on a very windy, bumpy road. More construction – the highway department appeared to be working hard to try and complete their projects in the next few weeks before the season changes. The scenery was much the same, with many fields of hay, wheat, canola, corn interspersed with spaces of trees of various descriptions.  The Safari Motorhome and towed came to rest at the KOA campground west of Winnipeg. After setting up camp, we took an investigative drive into the city, about 30 miles east to Winnipeg. We found our way to the area called the Forks – the intersection of the Red River and Assiniboine Rivers. The Forks Market was an interesting collection of shops to investigate. Winnipeg is a very attractive and diverse city, a lot of traffic on Thursday night. Dinner was another M.Q.= Manhattan Quest, a disappointing participant; too sweet, small pour and not cold enough.  

beauriful bridge

not the best!

The Heart of Nation Trolley Tour was an interesting and entertaining 95 min “fly-by” view of Winnipeg & surrounding communities. We saw the charming French Quarter, the Exchange District (financial area), Assiniboine Park Zoo, MTS Center home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets team, Manitoba’s Legislative Building and many interesting buildings/houses of varying architectural design. Our next stop for the day was Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a very inspirational setting to explore and reflect on human rights in Canada and around the world at the.  Besides the amazing displays the building was an extraordinary structure to walk around.

loading the tour bus

modern architecture

Our last day in Winnipeg we went to the zoo – nice grounds with some very well done exhibits. We enjoyed the Journey to Churchill attraction with Arctic wolves, seals, polar bears, musk ox, and a snowy owl. The zoo also featured and interesting display of rare red panda and snow leopards. One of our favorite stops was the Toucan aviary – full of many colorful birds and one toucan that liked to pose for Mike. It was a perfect day to walk and see the sights. Winnipeg and Canada has been WINDY – today the temps were in the low 80’s with only a slight breeze.  Our journey next took us to the Manitoba Legislative Building with its neoclassic architecture and symbolic adornments. – We were excited to get a tour. There are people who believe that this building completed in 1920 is in fact full of Dan Brown like intrigue: grandiose interior of its ode to Olympus, is studded with hieroglyphics, freemasonic symbols, and numeric codes. The top of the building is complete with two sphinxes, and a Golden Boy. Our final Winnipeg experience was a decent Manhattan and a very good dinner of ribs and Cajun chicken. This has been a great stop along our 2 months adventure. 

Polar Bear

Toucan

Manitoba Legislature(gold man on top like Oregon)