Manitoba Roads - Beauty, Construction and Roadkill

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We left for Winnipeg early this morning as we had a long drive ahead of us. The stretch from Saskatoon to the border is flat, flat, flat. Cross the border into Manitoba and suddenly the roads improve and the rolling hills begin again. Driving through some of the small villages and towns, it's endearing to see signs proudly pointing out which NHL player (or players) came from there. And of course no small prairie town would be complete without a Chinese food restaurant. And Prairie people are straightforward - we passed a sign advertising "Big Black Bulls for Sale".

The countryside is quite lovely and one has lots of time to see it as road construction abounds! We lost count of how many times we were delayed by construction, but no worries - the road crews are friendly and chatty. The Prairies almost appear to be trying to entertain with their unique town names - Eyebrow, Superb, Finger, Forget, etc. I think our favourite was Ituna. It must be where Apple incarcerates phishers!

Manitoba has trees - lots of lovely trees everywhere. And soft blue fields of flax. And huts for cutter bees. And scores of ponds, sloughs and lakes. And did I mention road construction? The window to build and repair roads is a small one as summer is short. It was 34 degrees today so I felt sorry for the uniformed flagpeople who had to direct people in their cool, air conditioned vehicles.

Tim needed a bathroom break so we pulled into Portage Spillway Provincial Park. Wow - what a wonderful surprise. The spillway is a water control structure on the Assiniboine River that was made as part of a larger attempt to prevent flooding in the Red River Valley. But besides all the technical mumbo jumbo, it is a stunning structure. Water spills with a deafening roar in an arc to the river below. Pelicans gather in groups to catch fish, plunging their large bills in unison into the water and coming back up, also in unison, with their catches. Locals stand along the shores of the raging river to catch fish as well. It's all just damn pretty.

Finally we reached Winnipeg. While we only saw a small part, I'm already impressed. What brilliant person came up with the idea all those years ago to plant those stately elms that line Winnipeg's west end streets? Their gracious branches meet in the middle of the street, creating a lovely canopy. Heavenly!

We drove to to the French Quarter, one of the oldest parts of Winnipeg, where we were met by Claude and Ginette, the first Couchsurhing hosts with whom we've ever stayed. They are friendly, interesting, giving people who sat and had a drink with us before leading us to our private little backyard cabin dubbed "The Loveshack".

After settling in, they walked us to a hockey arena where we experienced food, drink, and dances from the various regions of Chile, part of Winnipeg's annual Folklorama festivities.

Then a much needed sleep. Claude and Ginette have invited us for dinner so we must get on with our day to see the many things this city has to offer. Allons-y!

(Scroll to the end for more photos.)

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