Day 4 - Gord's Second Province

After a good night sleep we were able to get on the road again fairly early. Thunder Bay offered us some welcome amenities (swimming in the hotel pool may be Gord's highlight so far), but with so much more to see we were happy to have it behind us. 

Man Ontario is big, after the requisite morning nap we were able to get to Dryden ON for our first stop of the day. The guide book described Dryden as the place "where rustic Northern Ontario met the lights of the big city" - and we weren't disappointed. The 2% milk at the Timmies went down E-A-S-Y, even if the change table wasn't great.

Ultimately we were able to find a lovely public park with picnic tables, lots of shade, and even a splash pad. Lunch was delicious and we were back at it in about an hour. The goal is Winnipeg tonight, so we don't have a lot of time to navel gaze.

It turns out that the country between Thunder Bay and the Manitoba border is nothing if not consistent. Gone are the magnificent (and white-knuckle inducing) ups and downs of Lake Superior, but the rest is pretty familiar: lots of Canadian shield, endless evergreens and a pristine lake every 2-3 minutes. To say it's boring would be unfair, especially when the sun sparkles off of the beautiful blue water, but some variety might be nice. We'll probably regret thinking that once it's all been replaced by the consistencies that will be the prairies.

And then we were there - Manitoba! Gord accomplished something at 10 months that took his father 33 years, likely just the beginning of a trend for this pair. Of course we stopped at the Manitoba welcome centre - they had Canada Day cake!

Sadly, during that break we suffered our first casualty - the Magellan GPS had something heavy dropped on it, rendering the touch screen useless. We'll have to do some MacGyvering to find our destinations from here on out.

Then came Winnipeg. It seemed to appear out of nowhere, like Eldorado, or Milton. The sprawling outskirts made little impression on us, but once we got to the downtown area and saw the wide boulevards and lovely buildings we were impressed. A few turns, and a few more (Winnipeg, sign your streets better!) we arrived at our lovely Victorian B n' B. 

After a few minutes to change and stretch we decided to put our fatigue aside and head for 'the forks', it was Canada Day after all and there were festivities a plenty. The walk was fairly simple and we only got lost once, thankfully some "friendly Manitobans" lent a hand and pointed us in the right direction. 

We strolled through the Market and found some delicious sandwiches and desserts, and then managed to find a great spot by the Red River to chew. There was musc coming from all directions, a large native drum circle, and more people watching then Gord knew what to do with.

And that was our Canada Day. Gord fell asleep on our way home, which was good because his parents were trying to enjoy a slurpee! 

Tomorrow we will enjoy a delicious breakfast and then get on the road. We've got a date with Gord's 3rd province, and the beautiful prairie city of Regina.

Hope all is well and that you all feted Canada as she deserves.

TOTAL FUEL FILL UPS: 2

DAILY WILD LIFE: crows, lots of huge crows. And Turkey Vultures. I've read that the habitat/range of carrion eaters has followed the hi-ways and byways - and now I believe it.