Before we headed out of Calgary, we had one stop to make... the house where Adam was a baby. We had the address from his Mom loaded into the GPS, and off we went. It wasn't too hard to find, and I was impressed to see a "history plaque" in front of the house. (I have kind of an obsession with them, and usually photograph them (so I can remember the details) before I even read them. Which is what I did this time. And then I read it.
The first paragraph contained the usual stuff about this being a Heritage House that was over 100 years old... blah blah blah. But the second paragraph was all about these two architects who bought and renovated the house in the late 70s or early 80s "in keeping with their young, affluent, urban lifestyle." The architects in question? James Jones and Sarah Garrett Jones (Yes, that's right, the history plaque was all about Adam's parents! I was so jealous! So of course we took a bunch of photos (the house is beautiful, with cedar shingles all over the outside, a cute porch... sort of my dream house, really). Then, fancy coffees in hand, we turned the car towards the Crowsnest Pass.
We'd had some trepidation about taking a route that went through the mountains for such a long time, but we needn't have been. I'm sure the Pass is no fun during the winter, but it's probably still better than the Coquihalla. At this time of year, it's a dream - it's really almost all a natural mountain pass, with quite a bit of room at the edge of the highway before you see any cliffs or anything, and there seem to be hardly any places where they actually had to blast away bits of mountain.
It was a delightful drive, and we made excellent time, which combined with the fact that we gained another hour as we entered Idaho, meant that we had time to stop for a snack in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, and still got to Spokane in time for a slightly late dinner. We checked into our hotel and then sought out one of the Spokane restaurants that have been featured on one of our favourite tv shows, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." The place was called Waddell's - named after Rube Waddell, a southpaw (or as his detractors called him in reference to his heavy drinking) "sousepaw" pitcher in the early days of professional baseball in the US. I don't know what other connection he had to Spokane or anything related to the restaurant business, but he does seem like the kind of guy you'd want to party with, so that's probably enough! (example fact: in the off season, he wrestled alligators.)
The food was amazing. Adam had some pretty impressive mac and cheese with sausage, and their signature cilantro coleslaw, and I had what was essentially a beef dip, but with lamb. OMFG it was delicious! Of course, it was also a near-ludicrous amount of food, so we gently drove ourselves home to the hotel, trying not to go over too many bumps, and watched some television while moaning quietly on the kingsize bed.
Monday, 25 August 2014
Edmonton to Calgary - Family and Floating(?) - Day 35
We got up and rolling just in time to say goodbye to George and Logan (Logan was on his way to his mom's, and then George had a bunch of errands to run) and head over to Mom and Dad's for a delicious pancake breakfast.
Because we weren't trying to cover too much ground (Calgary's only a 3 hour drive, you see), we had plenty of time to visit before leaving mid-afternoon. We stopped on the way out of town for "lupper" at Montana's Grill (which was huge and delicious). The drive was pleasant - the rain that was in the forecast never materialized, so it was sunny and beautiful the whole way.
We got a little worried because our Air B&B host wasn't home when we arrived, (turns out we didn't get a message she sent us) but she got home soon after, and let us in to her very cute home. (It was pretty similar to our old Millwoods house, actually - and Adam and I stayed in the equivalent of my old bedroom (upstairs, first door on the right)!
Our host, Treeka, runs a business out of her home called One Love Float - basically, (we asked) it's kind of a sensory deprivation while lying in a shallow tub of warm water with a ton of epsom salts in it (so you float). It actually sounded like a lot of things that I like... floating, warm baths, quiet... I'm sure I could deal with the dark, and since there's not enough room in the tank to turn over, the worst that can happen if you fall asleep is waking up with some salt water in your eyes. We didn't try it, though - seeing the setup involved (a pretty much total remodel of the basement (and garage) into a spa), I don't think I wanted to know how much a session cost!
We had hoped to meet up with an old friend (Mike Craig) in Calgary for a drink or something, but it turns out his new inlaws are in town visiting, so he couldn't make it, so we just hung out at our temporary home.
We reviewed our route for tomorrow (across via the Crowsnest Pass, down into Idaho, and across to Spokane - scheduled to take about 8 hours), and went to bed.
Because we weren't trying to cover too much ground (Calgary's only a 3 hour drive, you see), we had plenty of time to visit before leaving mid-afternoon. We stopped on the way out of town for "lupper" at Montana's Grill (which was huge and delicious). The drive was pleasant - the rain that was in the forecast never materialized, so it was sunny and beautiful the whole way.
We got a little worried because our Air B&B host wasn't home when we arrived, (turns out we didn't get a message she sent us) but she got home soon after, and let us in to her very cute home. (It was pretty similar to our old Millwoods house, actually - and Adam and I stayed in the equivalent of my old bedroom (upstairs, first door on the right)!
Our host, Treeka, runs a business out of her home called One Love Float - basically, (we asked) it's kind of a sensory deprivation while lying in a shallow tub of warm water with a ton of epsom salts in it (so you float). It actually sounded like a lot of things that I like... floating, warm baths, quiet... I'm sure I could deal with the dark, and since there's not enough room in the tank to turn over, the worst that can happen if you fall asleep is waking up with some salt water in your eyes. We didn't try it, though - seeing the setup involved (a pretty much total remodel of the basement (and garage) into a spa), I don't think I wanted to know how much a session cost!
We had hoped to meet up with an old friend (Mike Craig) in Calgary for a drink or something, but it turns out his new inlaws are in town visiting, so he couldn't make it, so we just hung out at our temporary home.
We reviewed our route for tomorrow (across via the Crowsnest Pass, down into Idaho, and across to Spokane - scheduled to take about 8 hours), and went to bed.
Saturday, 23 August 2014
Edmonton Family (and friends) day - Day 34
We had a fantastic sleep at George's house and then tried out his amazingly awesome shower (rain showerhead, oh yes!) and then went for a visit with Mom and Dad. Since Dad's car had just (finally, after about a gazillion years and over 350000km) given up the ghost, we introduced him to the magic of craigslist to look for a new one. We had breakfast and went to the farmers' market that happens just outside of their condo building (and Adam got some delicious Indian food for lunch). After a bit more visiting, Adam and I went to the Fringe.
Growing up in Edmonton, the Fringe Theatre Festival was an incredible summer highlight. And it was a great thing to be able to show Adam. We saw a guy on a 12' unicycle juggle knives and chainsaws, we ate fringe food (including, of course, green onion cakes for me!), and I tried a delicious Big Rock beer I've never had before (Purple Gas, a wheat beer flavoured with saskatoon berries and agave nectar... MMMMMMmmm!)
We also connected with my 2 favourite "Liz"es, my awesome college friend Liz Allison (Jorde) who was stage managing at least one show and was on the Fringe Jury so she was incredibly busy, but we were able to track her down at the Varscona Theatre before her call for the show, and my cousin Liz King (who just surprised us all with an email last week that she'd married her wonderful man Tony (the two of them came to our wedding last year)). Liz and Tony and his two younger kids had just been to the gym at Kinsmen Sports centre, and came out to meet us and blow all that healthy sportiness on Fringe food for dinner!
We wandered over to the Yardbird Suite (Edmonton's premiere jazz club- Adam sang the song "Yardbird Suite" as we walked up and I admit shamefacedly that I didn't recognize it.) and checked out the Big Miller statue (in Big Miller Park) and looked at the street marker for Tommy Banks Way (the jazz pianist turned Canadian senator - the street on which the jazz club sits has been renamed in his honour), and then went back to St Albert across the Walterdale bridge - probably the last time we will drive over that version of the bridge, as it's being replaced by a swanky new bridge which should be operational next summer. (And I will go out of my way to avoid the old bridge in the winter, because it has regularly tried to either kill me or my car.)
We got back to George's and sat down with George and Logan to watch the second of the new Spider Man movies on his GIGANAMOUS tv (a projector that converts the whole wall of his basement into a screen). I was glad that I was a bit braced for the ending, having been well versed in Spidey history by my ex, Roy (aka the comic book guy) or else I would have been much more upset.
Tomorrow, some more quality time with my parents, and then south to Calgary for the beginning of the end of this adventure.
Growing up in Edmonton, the Fringe Theatre Festival was an incredible summer highlight. And it was a great thing to be able to show Adam. We saw a guy on a 12' unicycle juggle knives and chainsaws, we ate fringe food (including, of course, green onion cakes for me!), and I tried a delicious Big Rock beer I've never had before (Purple Gas, a wheat beer flavoured with saskatoon berries and agave nectar... MMMMMMmmm!)
We also connected with my 2 favourite "Liz"es, my awesome college friend Liz Allison (Jorde) who was stage managing at least one show and was on the Fringe Jury so she was incredibly busy, but we were able to track her down at the Varscona Theatre before her call for the show, and my cousin Liz King (who just surprised us all with an email last week that she'd married her wonderful man Tony (the two of them came to our wedding last year)). Liz and Tony and his two younger kids had just been to the gym at Kinsmen Sports centre, and came out to meet us and blow all that healthy sportiness on Fringe food for dinner!
We wandered over to the Yardbird Suite (Edmonton's premiere jazz club- Adam sang the song "Yardbird Suite" as we walked up and I admit shamefacedly that I didn't recognize it.) and checked out the Big Miller statue (in Big Miller Park) and looked at the street marker for Tommy Banks Way (the jazz pianist turned Canadian senator - the street on which the jazz club sits has been renamed in his honour), and then went back to St Albert across the Walterdale bridge - probably the last time we will drive over that version of the bridge, as it's being replaced by a swanky new bridge which should be operational next summer. (And I will go out of my way to avoid the old bridge in the winter, because it has regularly tried to either kill me or my car.)
We got back to George's and sat down with George and Logan to watch the second of the new Spider Man movies on his GIGANAMOUS tv (a projector that converts the whole wall of his basement into a screen). I was glad that I was a bit braced for the ending, having been well versed in Spidey history by my ex, Roy (aka the comic book guy) or else I would have been much more upset.
Tomorrow, some more quality time with my parents, and then south to Calgary for the beginning of the end of this adventure.
Saskatoon to Edmonton - Alberta in August, how novel! - Day 33
After a little more visiting (and a dip in Uncle George's awesome pool), we hit the road for Edmonton. The highway is significantly better than I remembered it (I guess 10 or more years can do that, huh?) and the weather, while not great for the pool (occasional sunbeams through the clouds; the water was lovely and warm but it was not super-pleasant to have to get back out) was terrific to drive in... neither too hot nor too cold and no blinding sunlight through the windshield.
I was able to point out the Vermillion college where I went to Artstrek drama camp in highschool, but we didn't actually stop until Lloydminster, the city on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. We spent a good few minutes jumping back and forth over the border line, which is paved into the sidewalk, took some pictures, and then headed into the Alberta side of town, where (probably due to the single sales tax) had better restaurants in it, and had a lateish lunch. (As I believe I mentioned before, we call it "lupper.")
Then we carried on to Vegreville. After an initial hesitation, we took the old highway into town to see the World's Biggest Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter Egg). The new highway bypasses it, but I remember seeing it so many summers on our way to Saskatchewan that we couldn't pass up the opportunity.
Another highlight was driving past Elk Island National Park, where we saw a whole herd of buffalo out grazing near the highway. There were more of them in one place than I think I've ever seen!
We got into Edmonton before 7pm, and drove through to Mom and Dad's place in St Albert. We had a nice visit before my brother George and his son Logan arrived for dinner. We ate and then followed the boys back to their place, where we had a great long visit with George before bed. More adventures tomorrow!
I was able to point out the Vermillion college where I went to Artstrek drama camp in highschool, but we didn't actually stop until Lloydminster, the city on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. We spent a good few minutes jumping back and forth over the border line, which is paved into the sidewalk, took some pictures, and then headed into the Alberta side of town, where (probably due to the single sales tax) had better restaurants in it, and had a lateish lunch. (As I believe I mentioned before, we call it "lupper.")
Then we carried on to Vegreville. After an initial hesitation, we took the old highway into town to see the World's Biggest Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter Egg). The new highway bypasses it, but I remember seeing it so many summers on our way to Saskatchewan that we couldn't pass up the opportunity.
Another highlight was driving past Elk Island National Park, where we saw a whole herd of buffalo out grazing near the highway. There were more of them in one place than I think I've ever seen!
We got into Edmonton before 7pm, and drove through to Mom and Dad's place in St Albert. We had a nice visit before my brother George and his son Logan arrived for dinner. We ate and then followed the boys back to their place, where we had a great long visit with George before bed. More adventures tomorrow!
Thursday, 21 August 2014
Clearwater Lake, Rosetown, and Saskatoon - Nostalgia Overload! - Day 32
Today, after a bit of a sleep-in, some delicious breakfast (compliments of Anne) and some more visiting, we hit the road at around 11. We drove up Highway 4 towards Kyle, SK (where we stopped at the Co-op for a few picnic groceries before heading to Clearwater Lake and my family's cabin. This cabin originally sat at Crystal Lake in the 1930s (it belonged to my great grandfather) before the lake dried up, and they just moved the cabin to Clearwater, where it's been ever since.
The provincial road towards the lake was torn up for about the first km. We felt pretty lucky to be in prairie flat land so that we could see that it was only bad for that first little bit, and then it was fine. Otherwise we would have had to be a lot braver to head down that way. When we arrived at the park (the lake is in a Regional Park) the booth was closed, so we had to go to the office to pay our daily rate for the park, which we did, and then walked down to Main Beach for a look around (the water level here, too, was very high, making for an even smaller "Main Beach" than can be explained by the fact that everything is bigger in your memories from childhood... after that, we drove around the lake to the cabin.
When we found it (after going the wrong direction only once!) I looked at the cabin for the first time in easily 25 years (it has been kept in excellent repair by my uncle George and family), and was a bit overcome with nostalgia and memories of family summers of the past. We let ourselves in and the waves of stories and memories just kept coming! I really spent some amazing times there, and the fact that almost everything is exactly as I remembered it just made me imagine that at any moment, one of my cousins would come around the corner (and we'd all be kids again, waiting for Grandpa to come back from his secret trip to the store to bring us the candy our moms said we couldn't have so close to dinnertime). It was actually a little overwhelming and I got a little maudlin - good thing Adam knows he married kind of a drama queen!
We ate our picnic lunch (sandwiches on delicious buns we bought at a cute little cafe in Wolseley SK where we had lunch on the way to Swift Current, and potato salad) and hung out a little while before closing the cabin back up again and heading North towards Rosetown and Saskatoon!
When we got to Rosetown, we drove up Main Street to where my Grannie Pinckney used to live. The house is still there, and looks very much the same, except that some trees have been removed, and several houses have also been removed to make way for a giant Co-op store that has moved in as the house's new neighbor. The house itself looked almost exactly the way I remember it (at least from the outside) and again, I was transported to summers and Christmases as a child when we would come to Grannie and Grandpa's to visit, and play games in the "porch room," or look in all the built in cabinets in the basement for treasures.
From Rosetown, off we went to Saskatoon. We made good time, and arrived at George and Maida's in time for a visit out by the pool (I was very tempted to dive in, but decided to hope for better swimming weather tomorrow) and some fantastic meat pies and salad for dinner.
After dinner, George drove us around past our old house, the Bessborough Hotel, the Mendel Art Gallery, the gazebo in the park where I remember dancing on the grass while Dad played with the Bridge City Dixieland Band, and the neighborhood where Mom and Dad lived when I was born (although the actual house has been torn down and replaced. It was so thoughtful of them and I loved it (and Adam was a very good sport)!
We stayed up talking and telling stories and getting caught up (and Maida and George getting to know Adam) until about 11 or so, and then went to our room to (write blogs) relax and get ready to sleep.
Wish me luck for a sunny morning by the pool, and then it's off to Edmonton!
The provincial road towards the lake was torn up for about the first km. We felt pretty lucky to be in prairie flat land so that we could see that it was only bad for that first little bit, and then it was fine. Otherwise we would have had to be a lot braver to head down that way. When we arrived at the park (the lake is in a Regional Park) the booth was closed, so we had to go to the office to pay our daily rate for the park, which we did, and then walked down to Main Beach for a look around (the water level here, too, was very high, making for an even smaller "Main Beach" than can be explained by the fact that everything is bigger in your memories from childhood... after that, we drove around the lake to the cabin.
When we found it (after going the wrong direction only once!) I looked at the cabin for the first time in easily 25 years (it has been kept in excellent repair by my uncle George and family), and was a bit overcome with nostalgia and memories of family summers of the past. We let ourselves in and the waves of stories and memories just kept coming! I really spent some amazing times there, and the fact that almost everything is exactly as I remembered it just made me imagine that at any moment, one of my cousins would come around the corner (and we'd all be kids again, waiting for Grandpa to come back from his secret trip to the store to bring us the candy our moms said we couldn't have so close to dinnertime). It was actually a little overwhelming and I got a little maudlin - good thing Adam knows he married kind of a drama queen!
We ate our picnic lunch (sandwiches on delicious buns we bought at a cute little cafe in Wolseley SK where we had lunch on the way to Swift Current, and potato salad) and hung out a little while before closing the cabin back up again and heading North towards Rosetown and Saskatoon!
When we got to Rosetown, we drove up Main Street to where my Grannie Pinckney used to live. The house is still there, and looks very much the same, except that some trees have been removed, and several houses have also been removed to make way for a giant Co-op store that has moved in as the house's new neighbor. The house itself looked almost exactly the way I remember it (at least from the outside) and again, I was transported to summers and Christmases as a child when we would come to Grannie and Grandpa's to visit, and play games in the "porch room," or look in all the built in cabinets in the basement for treasures.
From Rosetown, off we went to Saskatoon. We made good time, and arrived at George and Maida's in time for a visit out by the pool (I was very tempted to dive in, but decided to hope for better swimming weather tomorrow) and some fantastic meat pies and salad for dinner.
After dinner, George drove us around past our old house, the Bessborough Hotel, the Mendel Art Gallery, the gazebo in the park where I remember dancing on the grass while Dad played with the Bridge City Dixieland Band, and the neighborhood where Mom and Dad lived when I was born (although the actual house has been torn down and replaced. It was so thoughtful of them and I loved it (and Adam was a very good sport)!
We stayed up talking and telling stories and getting caught up (and Maida and George getting to know Adam) until about 11 or so, and then went to our room to (write blogs) relax and get ready to sleep.
Wish me luck for a sunny morning by the pool, and then it's off to Edmonton!
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
Brandon, MB to Swift Current, SK - Family fun! - Day 31
We were a tiny bit disappointed with the breakfast offerings at our Brandon hotel - although I suppose when you wait until the last 15 minutes of the 4.5 hour free breakfast window, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that it's a bit picked over! I had some cereal but all Adam got was a little piece of danish. But we packed up the car again (we had a chance to tidy up the whole car and reorganise since it was such a short drive into Brandon. (Adam always feels a little bit bad when he just relaxes while I do laundry and repack the bags, but I keep trying to explain to him that it makes me feel good to have everything clean and tidy and consolidated!
It was the kind of day that is proving to be kind of standard in our western trip - quite rainy in the morning, but clears up and gets quite sunny and lovely by the time we reach our destination. We drove from Brandon on the TransCanada highway - it was remarkable how high all the water still was after the flooding they'd had earlier in the year - there was a fairly long stretch of the highway between Brandon and Virden MB that had obviously been completely submerged for awhile and the ditches were still full of water until we parted ways with the Assiniboine River just west of Virden.
Of course as soon as we crossed into Saskatchewan, we had to put on the CD of the Muppet Movie we found in the collection that Sarah Wolfman-Robichaud loaned us, just to hear the line in "Movin' Right Along" about "send someone to fetch us, we're in Saskatchewan!"
We skirted around the edge of Regina and Moose Jaw - and I was imagining Randy Apostle Celebrations/Jubilations Moose Jaw jokes the whole way! I told Adam about going to Temple Gardens Spa with Mom, but we didn't take the waters ourselves this time.
What with the time change, (since Saskatchewan wants nothing to do with this Daylight Saving nonsense) we arrived at my cousin Anne (Pinckney) Ailsby's house in Swift Current a little after 4, instead of 5, as we had expected. Anne and her two boys, Simon (3ish) and Marcus (3-4months) were there, and Anne was making delicious ribs to take out to the men out working on the farm for dinner. I got to cuddle with the baby while Adam tried to get Simon's attention (with moderate success), and then we got to eat our share of the fantastic dinner while Anne and the boys went to deliver the food. (And, apparently, Simon got to drive the combine a little - in other news from Simon, the combine is red).
Not too long after Anne got back, (and fed Simon a snack and put him to bed) she heard that it had started raining on the farm, so Robin would be back fairly early. We all stayed up awhile chatting, and then Robin and the sleeping Marcus went up to bed. Adam hung in there a little longer, and then went downstairs so Anne and I could have some awesome, gossipy, girly fun! (We even texted Elda to tell her we wished she had been there!)
Finally, it got late and we all went to bed. What a great visit!
It was the kind of day that is proving to be kind of standard in our western trip - quite rainy in the morning, but clears up and gets quite sunny and lovely by the time we reach our destination. We drove from Brandon on the TransCanada highway - it was remarkable how high all the water still was after the flooding they'd had earlier in the year - there was a fairly long stretch of the highway between Brandon and Virden MB that had obviously been completely submerged for awhile and the ditches were still full of water until we parted ways with the Assiniboine River just west of Virden.
Of course as soon as we crossed into Saskatchewan, we had to put on the CD of the Muppet Movie we found in the collection that Sarah Wolfman-Robichaud loaned us, just to hear the line in "Movin' Right Along" about "send someone to fetch us, we're in Saskatchewan!"
We skirted around the edge of Regina and Moose Jaw - and I was imagining Randy Apostle Celebrations/Jubilations Moose Jaw jokes the whole way! I told Adam about going to Temple Gardens Spa with Mom, but we didn't take the waters ourselves this time.
What with the time change, (since Saskatchewan wants nothing to do with this Daylight Saving nonsense) we arrived at my cousin Anne (Pinckney) Ailsby's house in Swift Current a little after 4, instead of 5, as we had expected. Anne and her two boys, Simon (3ish) and Marcus (3-4months) were there, and Anne was making delicious ribs to take out to the men out working on the farm for dinner. I got to cuddle with the baby while Adam tried to get Simon's attention (with moderate success), and then we got to eat our share of the fantastic dinner while Anne and the boys went to deliver the food. (And, apparently, Simon got to drive the combine a little - in other news from Simon, the combine is red).
Not too long after Anne got back, (and fed Simon a snack and put him to bed) she heard that it had started raining on the farm, so Robin would be back fairly early. We all stayed up awhile chatting, and then Robin and the sleeping Marcus went up to bed. Adam hung in there a little longer, and then went downstairs so Anne and I could have some awesome, gossipy, girly fun! (We even texted Elda to tell her we wished she had been there!)
Finally, it got late and we all went to bed. What a great visit!
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
Winnipeg to Brandon - And another funky, funny motel - Day 30
We got up (thus allowing Mike to come down from the bedroom - sometimes we feel a little self conscious about our odd musician schedule, but he was a very good sport). We had another little visit, said our thank you and goodbyes and then went out to have breakfast and do a little sightseeing.
We drove into downtown on Portage Avenue, so the first "sight" to see was the famous Portage and Main intersection, where the "crosswalks" are now tunnels dug under the street, since it gets so cold and windy there that people actually froze to death. "Portage and Main, 50 below," indeed!
I had planned to go first to the Forks Market and get breakfast, but I missed the turnoff, which drove us past the "restaurant with the $1,000,000 bathroom" - they built a bridge across the river, put a restaurant on it, and it cost a million dollars to plumb it. (That's the verb for plumbing, right?) and right into Old St Boniface (Winnipeg's French Quarter).
We found a cute cafe for breakfast - Adam is still singing the praises of the rye bread there, and then back to the famous Cathedral. All the times I went to Winnipeg to work, I intended to go to St Boniface Cathedral, but never actually did. So this time, I was determined to check it out. I was very glad I did. St Boniface Cathedral had been around for a long time in various incarnations, but when the fourth version caught fire and was largely destroyed in 1968, they built a new, modern cathedral inside the ruins of the old one. It's really beautiful. There is (of course) an attached cemetery, and it includes a plaque memorializing the hundreds of people that are buried there without any stones or other memorials. Apparently there are over 6000 people buried there - and nowhere near that amount of space or number of gravestones. We also saw Louis Riel's grave and the controversial Louis Riel Sculpture that used to stand (in a concrete tube so it couldn't be seen from the front doors) in front of the legislative buildings.
Then we went back across the bridge (and caught the turnoff) to the Forks Market. I showed Adam the high water mark of the 1998 flood (the one I was in Winnipeg for) and we found a star bowl and went partway across the bridge where you can actually see the "forks" of the river (Red and Assiniboine). It was awesome!
We walked from there to the train station (where I actually took the train back to Edmonton from Winnipeg at least once) and looked at the renovated main area - I had remembered a slightly more intricate decor, but they've done a beautiful job of the restoration.
Back to the car, and we drove past the Legislative Buildings (planned to stop, but couldn't find parking - oops!) and then down Osborne Street through Osborne Village (the Commercial Drive or Whyte Ave of Winnipeg) and I was able to point out the bar where I had the most delicious dessert martini of my life (the chocolate martini with Godiva liqueur and a Hershey's kiss as garnish). Then, onto the highway.
We decided to take it pretty easy and only go as far as Brandon, where we arrived at around 4:30pm, just in time for a delicious "lupper" (I intend to bring in this term, like "brunch" for a meal sort of between lunch and supper.) at The Docks on Princess in downtown Brandon. This restaurant/pub has a mission to give us the "taste of Manitoba," serving locally sourced food. I had a pulled pork sandwich made with locally farmed pork and a delicious pretzel bun made by a Brandon bakery, and Adam had a beer braised beef sandwich and a beer from the "Farmery" in Neepawa MB (birthplace of Canadian author Margaret Laurence) where they describe the beer as "grown" instead of "brewed" - they grow all of the ingredients for the beer at the "farmery" and Adam said it was delicious! (I opted for one of my favourite non-local beers, Kronenbourg Blanc, which they'd just started carrying - I was even able to tell our server about the pretty blue bottle it comes in if you don't get it on tap).
We had hesitated over all our usual hotel booking websites, since the motels/hotels in our price range hadn't gotten very good reviews, and a search of the area suggested that there were several small motels that didn't have an online presence, so we decided to take our chances. Which turned out to be a great idea, since we found a nice, updated motel that was inexpensive, had some free wifi (although not consistent enough to post this!) and gave us a chance to do laundry and relax for the night.
We drove into downtown on Portage Avenue, so the first "sight" to see was the famous Portage and Main intersection, where the "crosswalks" are now tunnels dug under the street, since it gets so cold and windy there that people actually froze to death. "Portage and Main, 50 below," indeed!
I had planned to go first to the Forks Market and get breakfast, but I missed the turnoff, which drove us past the "restaurant with the $1,000,000 bathroom" - they built a bridge across the river, put a restaurant on it, and it cost a million dollars to plumb it. (That's the verb for plumbing, right?) and right into Old St Boniface (Winnipeg's French Quarter).
We found a cute cafe for breakfast - Adam is still singing the praises of the rye bread there, and then back to the famous Cathedral. All the times I went to Winnipeg to work, I intended to go to St Boniface Cathedral, but never actually did. So this time, I was determined to check it out. I was very glad I did. St Boniface Cathedral had been around for a long time in various incarnations, but when the fourth version caught fire and was largely destroyed in 1968, they built a new, modern cathedral inside the ruins of the old one. It's really beautiful. There is (of course) an attached cemetery, and it includes a plaque memorializing the hundreds of people that are buried there without any stones or other memorials. Apparently there are over 6000 people buried there - and nowhere near that amount of space or number of gravestones. We also saw Louis Riel's grave and the controversial Louis Riel Sculpture that used to stand (in a concrete tube so it couldn't be seen from the front doors) in front of the legislative buildings.
Then we went back across the bridge (and caught the turnoff) to the Forks Market. I showed Adam the high water mark of the 1998 flood (the one I was in Winnipeg for) and we found a star bowl and went partway across the bridge where you can actually see the "forks" of the river (Red and Assiniboine). It was awesome!
We walked from there to the train station (where I actually took the train back to Edmonton from Winnipeg at least once) and looked at the renovated main area - I had remembered a slightly more intricate decor, but they've done a beautiful job of the restoration.
Back to the car, and we drove past the Legislative Buildings (planned to stop, but couldn't find parking - oops!) and then down Osborne Street through Osborne Village (the Commercial Drive or Whyte Ave of Winnipeg) and I was able to point out the bar where I had the most delicious dessert martini of my life (the chocolate martini with Godiva liqueur and a Hershey's kiss as garnish). Then, onto the highway.
We decided to take it pretty easy and only go as far as Brandon, where we arrived at around 4:30pm, just in time for a delicious "lupper" (I intend to bring in this term, like "brunch" for a meal sort of between lunch and supper.) at The Docks on Princess in downtown Brandon. This restaurant/pub has a mission to give us the "taste of Manitoba," serving locally sourced food. I had a pulled pork sandwich made with locally farmed pork and a delicious pretzel bun made by a Brandon bakery, and Adam had a beer braised beef sandwich and a beer from the "Farmery" in Neepawa MB (birthplace of Canadian author Margaret Laurence) where they describe the beer as "grown" instead of "brewed" - they grow all of the ingredients for the beer at the "farmery" and Adam said it was delicious! (I opted for one of my favourite non-local beers, Kronenbourg Blanc, which they'd just started carrying - I was even able to tell our server about the pretty blue bottle it comes in if you don't get it on tap).
We had hesitated over all our usual hotel booking websites, since the motels/hotels in our price range hadn't gotten very good reviews, and a search of the area suggested that there were several small motels that didn't have an online presence, so we decided to take our chances. Which turned out to be a great idea, since we found a nice, updated motel that was inexpensive, had some free wifi (although not consistent enough to post this!) and gave us a chance to do laundry and relax for the night.
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