Manitoba

My Hero had found himself sitting next to a Winnipegger on the flight here, who suggested that we really needed to see where the locals like to spend a summers day: Lake Winnipeg. More specifically he recommended the towns of Winnipeg Beach and “the Viking town” of Gimli.

Guess where we headed this morning, then?

First though, we needed some breakfast and chose one of a local chain of diners where we’d find the usual offerings we enjoy when we are on this side of the Atlantic.

The pancakes were fine if not quite up to the spectacular standards of yesterday. Never mind, If I ate one of those apple babies every morning life would be way too predictable, wouldn’t it?

Out on the highway then, discovering the landscape to be uncannily similar to that of the part of the East Riding where I grew up, flat and fertile.

It really didn’t take long to reach our first destination, Winnipeg Beach “where Manitoba comes to play”. We had thought that, on a warm and sunny Sunday, the place would be heaving. But not a bit of it. We parked the car with no problem whatsoever and strolled over the grassy park to the promenade, where there were surprisingly few people on the beach.

I felt sorry I’d not thought to bring my swimming things with me today but thinking about it, I wasn’t sure I wanted the faff of all of that!

And there were birds. Big birds.

But I couldn’t resist putting my feet in though. Cool, cold even!

So it was with sand encrusted feet that I climbed back into the car for the journey north to Gimli., curious to discover what Viking connection we’d find there.

The answer was not much beyond the fact that this area had been settled by people from Iceland, resulting in the distinctive placenames on the map today. The beach was rather nicer than Winnipeg Beach though and we enjoyed a walk along the prom in the warm sunshine.

There was a reminder that we weren’t in California though!

Not wanting to spend all day by the beach and finding these towns to be little more beyond a strip of beachfront and a few holiday homes, we decided to continue our exploration of the Interlake area and headed back onto the road north. We’d found something else of interest to follow.

The Interlake Barn Quilt Trail

We first came across this phenomenon on a Road Trip some years ago in Ohio, where we found it a great way of getting a feel for that small corner of the world. Here we were again with map in hand, trying to spot a squre metre or so of coloured pattern on the side of random buildings then. Each of these quilts was registered on the website and a small description of each with a bit of background information about the design etc too.

Because not all the Barn Quilts are on barns.

There were frequently other interesting things to see too, such as these lines of straw bales out in the fields and the many Ukrainian churches we came across on our meandering about the countryside.

Of the hundred or more quilts on our map, we spotted a dozen or so. Some were easier to find than others and the map wasn’t always as accurate as it could have been. In the small town of Arborg, it took us quite some time to find the quilt in the photo above, on the wall of a quilt shop. We gave up trying to find the second quilt in town but decided that we couldn’t leave without seeing the world’s largest curling stone, also marked on our map.

We found both in the same place.

As the afternoon wore on, the clouds came in and my phone was showing a red thunderstorm alert. Looking at the sky, that seemed imminently possible, so we decided that we’d head for home and just catch a couple of the remaining quilts on the way.

Rather off the beaten track, I rather liked this traditional design in a conventional setting too.

None of us understood the significance of the four pairs of shoes carefully arranged on the grass verge by the side of the road though. Any ideas?1

Last but not least was another lovely one, set on the side of a museum building in the town of Teulon. The rain was starting and it really was time for home by now.

Another lovely day was brought to a close at Kevin’s Bistro again, where a return visit enabled us to discover three more delicious dishes from the menu. A great place we’ll remember, for sure.