Smeds Dagg Cross Canada Adventure 2013: Blog Post No. 5

We entered Manitoba west of Roblin late in the afternoon of July 2, and continued east to Dauphin and then south into Riding Mountain National Park. Almost immediately upon entering Manitoba the terrain got more interesting, with more hills and trees and less flat prairie area. It was approaching dusk as we entered the national park, and the wildlife was out – we saw three small black bears along the side of the road. The campground is on the edge of the village of Wasagaming, within a couple of blocks of Clear Lake. We set up camp and had dinner, and later Rhonda and I walked into town and along the lakeshore for a few blocks while the girls stayed behind and watched a movie.

The next morning after we left the campground we went into the village and found a place to park. I knew that my dad, uncle and grandmother had worked here in the summers in the late 1940’s, in the Chalet Hotel (which burnt down in about 1960). At the local museum we learned where the hotel had been, and added some information to a log book of people who had held summer jobs there over the years. We also learned that, while there are some beautiful homes here, by law they are all summer places, and must be vacated in the winter. We sprinkled some of my Dad’s ashes (which I have had since his cremation more than 4 years ago) in the lake, then hung out at the beach for a while before driving south to Minnedosa, the town where my dad grew up. It was too early to go to my uncle and aunt’s house, so we went for dinner at a local restaurant and then drove back to my uncle Ralph (Dad’s brother) and Aunt Ev’s house, and parked the RV in their driveway for a couple of nights. Later we drove out to their old house outside of town, where a fellow lives who repairs RV’s, but he wasn’t able to fix our broken electric step.

We were awakened by a siren that goes off at 8:00 AM every morning. After breakfast I walked over to the funeral home to talk to the guy about getting a monument for my Dad made up, and later Uncle Ralph and I and Salty walked into town to the post office. Then we all went to the library to use their internet service (Telus doesn’t work in rural Manitoba), and after lunch Ralph went with us to two cemeteries, where we found lots of my ancestors and also found a good spot for my Dad’s memorial. We spread some more of his ashes on his parent’s graves. My cousin Kim’s two daughters, Corrine and Pamela, along with their infant daughters, came over for a visit in the late afternoon, and Kim and her partner Brian came over after dinner.

Friday morning Lyndsay and I went back to the funeral home to make the final arrangements, then we all (except Ev) went on a walk to the heritage village and dam, where Ev met us with a vehicle, and we then drove around to see a few more sights before going back to the house for lunch. After lunch we said our good-byes and drove east to Winnipeg, stopping at an RV to see if they could fix the step (they could not). We saw some of Assiniboine Park, including a statue of Winnie the Bear (who inspired the Winnie the Pooh stories) as well as an art gallery. We then drove downtown and parked near the legislature, had dinner, and walked around the grounds and inside the building for a while before driving to a Wal-Mart to park for the night.

After breakfast on Saturday morning we drove back into town and toured The Forks National Historic Park as well as St. Boniface, the old French Quarter of Manitoba, which Louis Riel and his cohorts established. We then drove to the Royal Canadian Mint on the eastern edge of town, had lunch, and had a very interesting tour. Rhonda, Lyndsay and Shannon all bought commemorative coins of The War of 1812, which got us thinking and inspired some of our later adventures in Ontario. Finally, we continued east, but had to stop for a half hour nap because both Rhonda and I were too sleepy to drive. The great plains ended abruptly a short distance before the Ontario border, being replaced by trees, rocks, and small lakes.