Day 4 – Manitoba-Saskatchewan (Winnipeg to Moosomin)

Day 4 – Manitoba-Saskatchewan (Winnipeg to Moosomin)

Day four y’all! We slept in a bit today; we got up at 7:30 and had sandwiches for breakfast. We had a quick meeting regarding our teamwork and organization. It’s a good thing we got that sorted out, so we will work better in the future.

We packed all of our stuff and loaded it onto the Sprinter, and then we walked to the legislative building in downtown Winnipeg. This is where the provincial government of Manitoba debates and passes laws, and works for the betterment of the lives of Manitoba citizens.

We explored a bit of the building on our own, and then later went on a tour. The guide talked about many interesting facts of the architecture, history, artwork, and mythology incorporated in the legislative building. Like the unlucky number 13 is used in the rotunda (e.g. 13 segments in the columns, 13 light bulbs in each lamp, the circle being 13 feet in diameter, and many more), is used to ward off bad luck. And the original architect, Thomas Kelly, actually stole the columns used to build the building, and used it to build his own house not three streets away! Very smart, right? He eventually got caught and went to prison for two years.

We walked down to the Forks, a national historical site…although we didn’t see anything really historical… It’s filled with shops and vendors selling their wares. We looked around for a bit, then went to the Forks Market and bought our lunch. Hey, Fish and chips aren’t just exclusively available on the coast! The fish and chips, along with the seafood chowder we got, were positively…awesome! (Just watch out for some fish bones…)

We looked around the indoor market for a bit, and went down behind the market to the Red River for a while, and then we were back on the car. After about five hours, we entered Saskatchewan. The car ride seemed longer and shorter at the same time; five hours seemed so short compared to the three days it took us to get out of Ontario, however, since the land was all flat, except for a single hill we went over, and the road was straight, save for a couple of broad turns, it was field after field after field…

Don’t get me wrong! It was absolutely magnificent! Flat land (mostly), was sparsely dotted by small groupings of trees. The perfect pastel blue sky was streaked with white wisps of clouds, flawlessly mirroring the rows upon rows of crops of luscious green and fields of gold. A few times we also passed fields filled with sunflowers, reaching higher and higher towards the sun. (I hope that conveys the pure loveliness of the prairies.)

We saw a coyote! It ran right across the highway in front of us on the way to Saskatchewan. It was sandy gray…and smaller than most of our expectations. Apparently they’re vicious though…

We’re staying in a really nice hotel again. With a swimming pool! So after our dinner of pizza and KFC, we took the opportunity to go swimming, and also learn about water rescues.

So after letting our inner tourists loose today, the hardcore camping begins tomorrow as soon as we reach Medicine Hat, Alberta…and Dinosaur Provincial Park! We’ll be sleeping with the dinos…and bugs… :D