The morning was cold with a temperature of 12C, so hot coffee and tea was very welcome. We stopped at Poor Michael’s Emporium which has pretty much everything except for the kitchen sink. Here you’ll find books, records, clothing, jewelry, arts and crafts, coffee, pastries, etc. The store was packed with people and merchandise.

As we drove to Portage La Praire, the hills and trees slowly gave way to vast fields and meadows with some rows of trees planted to reduce the wind. Adjacent to the highway were railway lines and we were in awe of the several kilometre long trains pulled by two or three locomotives.

Portage La Praire has a Residential School Museum that we wanted to visit, but it wasn’t open on Sunday, so we spent the day in town and will visit the museum tomorrow.

We drove to the Island Park and walked around a bit enjoying the beautiful trees and water fountains. Lots of people were out having picnics and swimming at the waterpark.

The Prairie City Cinema provided the evening’s entertainment in the form of a foul-mouthed pack of dogs in the movie “Strays”.

The first point of interest for today was the National Indigenous Residential School Museum in Portage La Prairie. This was an actual residential school and now houses a museum along with an indigenous police station.

The museum was closed yesterday so we spent the night in Portage La Prairie to be able to see it today, but alas, although it is supposed to be open Monday to Friday 8:30-4:30, nobody showed up to open it today. Even another couple that booked a tour for 10:30am had to be disappointed that everything was dark.

Disappointed, we set out for Winnipeg to visit the Assiniboine Park and zoo to see the animals. What a fascinating place to see different animals from all around the world.

The Gibbons were particularly fun to watch jumping from rope to rope and chasing each other. Their white hands, feet and faces really stood out.

A large section of the zoo focuses on the Churchill area with polar bears and harbour seals. The polar bears were relatively inactive but the seals were having a blast entertaining the crowds.

The facility housing the polar bears and seals has an underwater tunnel so you can see the animals in the water. Really neat and definitely worth a visit.

Did you know that Inuksuit are like street signs with specific meaning? Here’s a chart of some of different ones and their meanings.

After seeing the seals swimming we thought we should also practice a bit and this happened at the St. James Assiniboia Centennial Pool and Fitness Centre. For $15 we swam lengths until exhausted. The seals were definitely faster and had more endurance and elegance.

Canada has two mint locations, one in Ottawa which largely manufactures collector coins, and one in Winnipeg which manufactures circulation coins for Canada and has produced coins for over 70 other countries since opening in 1976. We loved the flag alley of customer countries on our way to the mint parking lot.

Étienne Gaboury was the architect who designed the Winnipeg mint in a triangular shape that rises up dramatically from the prairie like a mountain.

At the entrance to the mint we met “Loonie”. Unfortunately he was pretty stingy and we had to pay for our own tour. We learned that he wasn’t even supposed to be on the $1 coin but ended up there because the master stamps of the original design of a canoe similar to what had previously been on the silver dollars had been “lost in transit” from Ottawa. To ensure that no counterfeit coins could be manufactured, the design was changed and the loon image was selected.

No picture taking is permitted on the tour with the exception of the gift shop and the entrance hall that has a historic coin stamping machine. This machine had been manufactured in Cologne, Germany close to Ruth’s hometown.

We saw the entire manufacturing process starting with the large steel coils from which the coin blanks are stamped. During production the coins are treated with various coatings to give them specific electromagnetic properties so that vending machines can recognize them. Of interest was also the process for making coloured coins. In 2004, Canada was the first country in the world to manufacture coloured circulation coins. We were told the Winnipeg facility makes 1 million Canadian and foreign coins a day.

After the mint, the second highlight of the day were crepes at La Creperie Ker Breizh. The owner came to Canada from Brittany, France in 2018 and began making crepes as a street vendor in Winnipeg before opening this amazing restaurant. The crepes and galettes were delicious!

We had a long interesting conversation with a retired truck driver who had also been a COBOL programmer at one point of his career. He loved truck driving because of the freedom and the people he met along the way.

Our third place of interest was the Winnipeg Art Gallery which we were told had a vast Inuit art exhibition. The exhibition included many varied pieces from 500BC to now but we were a bit disappointed in the lack of contextual information besides the artist’s name, title and year.

Leaving Winnipeg was a major challenge because of all the road construction and traffic during rush hour. We spent over an hour trying to move 3 blocks before finally giving up and taking side streets to zigzag our way out of the city. Once on the highway it was clear sailing to Falcon Beach Provincial Park where we had previously been and hope to have a day or two of relaxation.

Not much to report today as it was a day of having a Ukrainian breakfast (consisting of eggs, perogies, toast, sausages), relaxation, spending time talking to two of our neighbours, and swimming.

The cameras and GPS took the day off as well.

Today was another wonderful lazy day, starting with breakfast at The Nest again, this time with the Traditional Breakfast. After an early morning nap, we went for a 30 minute swim in beautiful warm sunny weather. There were far more people at the beach today and lots of kids having fun in the water and on floating toys.

Our campsite neighbours, Jannet and Rudy and their two dachshunds Sammy and Saffie, invited us over for a great dinner of stir fry, potatoes, and a crisp salad. Ruth supplied a dessert of fruit salad which was topped off with Jannet’s delicious ice-cream.

We had a wonderful evening of conversation and Rudy played the guitar while we sang along. Rudy is an accomplished guitarist and has played in several bands. The two dogs joined us and Sammy curled up between us for a nap. We felt like family.

We left just before midnight so that we could still do our daily Duolingo language lessons. Duo gets upset if he doesn’t see us for a day.