The Road Goes On…

Category: 2023 Western Canada

  • Souris, MB to Indian Head, SK

    Souris has Canada’s longest swinging bridge at 184m in length which was opened to the public on August 17, 2013. It capacity is listed as “approximately 74,843kg (165,000lbs) – equivalent to 925 white tailed deer” on the plaque next to the bridge. We wonder if the white-tailed deer is an ISO standard.

    The previous bridge was washed out by flooding a few years earlier, but a small remanent remains.

    Adjacent to the bridge is the Hillcrest Museum (“The Castle on the Prairies”), built in 1910 commissioned by Fred Sowden, the son of the founder of the town Souris. He built the first bridge so that he could walk over to his property on the other side of the river.

    The museum has many historical artifacts and, can you believe it, 5000 preserved butterflies from all over the world.

    Here are a few of the unique artifacts. The first is an early vacuum cleaner that requires a small child to operate:

    There was also a Wanzer sewing machine. The Wanzer Sewing Machine Company had its factory in Hamilton, Ontario from 1860-1891, initially starting out making Singer machines and later developing their own models.

    Another interesting artifact was an egg scale.

    The butterfly collection is quite something to see and it occupies an entire room.

    After the museum we were hungry and went to the Woodfire Deli where we had a wonderful pizza and a Caesar salad.

    The last stop in Souris was Lagasse’s Studio of Fine Art. This gallery features work from area artists and also offers workshops and lessons. We got a quick demonstration on making alcohol ink coasters. Ruth is all excited about trying it herself!

    Souris advertises free ranging peacocks but we didn’t see any. Maybe this was good because we heard rumours that the last batch had started nipping tourists.

    After Souris, we headed up to the Trans-Canada highway and drove into Saskatchewan where we are spending the night at the Indian Head Campground. This campground had been recommended by a fellow traveller who raved about its fabulous washroom facilities. As you can see it even has a tub with clawed feet, complete with a sign that says anyone caught washing their pet in there will be immediately expelled from the campground.

  • St. Claude, MB to Souris, MB

    After a wonderful breakfast with Robert and his wife, we were off to Gaol Museum and ended up in jail. Please send bail money….

    After escaping jail we hurried to Treherne and visited their town museum showing furniture, pictures and stories of people who founded and lived in the town.

    Directly across the street is a private automobile museum with everything from early Fords to a 95 Miata. Ruth found a new love.

    The next and last unique attraction of the town are houses, a church and a well built entirely of glass bottles.

    We continued west on Hwy 2 and slightly north to visit the Spirit Sands, an area of dunes with a hiking trail.

    Returning to Hwy 2 and heading west we saw a number of beautiful canola fields in full bloom. The yellow of the fields and the blue sky were magnificent.

    We are spending the night in Souris and will be exploring further tomorrow.

  • Morden, MB to St. Claude, MB

    We left the Morden campground in the morning and headed for Hwy 2 which we felt had some more promising sightseeing. Our first stop was St. Claude which our guide sheet said had the largest tobacco pipe at 19 feet long.

    The Gaol museum didn’t open for another 30 minutes so we thought we’d visit The Dairy Museum of Manitoba and come back later. Little did we know that wasn’t going to happen today!

    The dairy museum features exhibits that explain how dairy farming, milk production and cream separation was done over the years. It starts with the global cow.

    Our amazing guide, Robert, was extremely knowledgable and spent many hours showing us the artifacts and additional exhibits on the history of the town, the school, businesses and railway station.

    While we were in the school, we learned that Robert had also been a teacher and Ruth talked about having worked with the Hutterite teachers in Manitoba during her Goethe time. One of Ruth’s old contacts turned out to be a close friend of Robert’s and her colony was only 15 minutes away. Robert said he would see whether he could arrange a visit that evening.

    Prior to visiting the Hutterite colony, Robert gave us a tour of the church in St. Claude. It is a very modern style church was many angles and hidden windows. Certainly not to be missed.

    The drive to the Hutterite colony featured exciting weather with a torrential downpour and hail but we made it to a warm Hutterite home with tea, cake and wonderful conversation.

  • St. Malo, MB to Morden, MB

    The morning started with a trip to the St. Malo Farmer’s Market. Not too many farmers present but quite a number of crafts.

    On the way out of the arena we came across a really neat sign encouraging parents to just let their kids play hockey and enjoy themselves.

    Altona was our next stop to see The World’s Largest Painting on an Easel at 23.3 meters (76.5 feet) tall, a likeness of Van Gogh’s sunflowers which matched Ruth’s T-shirt well.

    The Gallery in the Park is a 1902 home that is now an art gallery and featured a special exhibition on Mennonite clocks, most of which had been made in what is now the Ukraine over a 100 years go.

    Some tell stories of the persecution that the Mennonites endured in Russia and serve as witnesses to history.

    The clocks were prized possessions and were carefully packed and transported to their new homes since they are the Heartbeat of Home.

    The ticking pendulums and chiming bells of Mennonite clocks have served as the background soundscape in Mennonite homes for centuries.

    The gallery exhibited work by three other artists and has a wonderful sculpture garden outside.

    In Morden we visited the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre and saw ‘Bruce’, a huge 15 meter (43 foot) mosasaur and his girlfriend ‘Suzie’.

    It was a very educational exhibition and we learned a lot about continental shifts, prehistoric animals, how fossils are formed and how they are excavated and preserved.

    Dinner was at Moment in Thyme Neighbourhood Grill where we had a wonderful pita dinner.

    After that we headed to the municipal campground where we are spending the night.

  • Rushing River Provincial Park, ON to St. Malo, MB

    We finally made it to Manitoba and had a great experience at the Manitoba Visitor Information Center where we received many good suggestions on what to see and do along with a sizeable package of brochures.

    Our first stop was at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach where we learned about the history of the Mennonites starting with their beginnings in various European countries and their migrations to avoid persecution.

    There were two major periods of Mennonite migration to Manitoba, the first in 1874 and the second starting in the 1924. Life wasn’t always easy but they had greater freedoms and rights in Canada.

    The heritage village features a number of building including stores, a blacksmith shop, a print shop and the Livery Barn building which now houses a restaurant where one can enjoy pierogi, sausage, borscht, coleslaw and rhubarb cake. Tasty!

    A special exhibition consisting of posters telling the stories of families who left their home countries to start new lives in Canada was put on by graphic arts and photography students at a local high school under the guidance of their teacher. It told stories of some of the original Mennonite immigrants as well as stories of more recent arrivals from countries such as the Philippines. Touching stories and very worthwhile seeing and reading.

    It was now time to find a place to stay for the night. The tourist information agent had suggested a provincial campground in St. Malo which turned out to be a hidden gem. The Manitoba provincial campgrounds are much cheaper than the Ontario ones – $19.50 for an electric site vs $44 for a non-electric in Ontario. The St. Malo surrounds a reservoir and has swimming and boating possibilities. Great beaches and lots of sites available. In the evening the Canada Geese had swimming lessons.

    The early evening light at the beach was stunning as was the ice cream from the nearby stand. I think we might be the only vehicle with Ontario plates.

  • Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, ON to Rushing River Provincial Park, ON

    Another driving day – 610 kms, breaking our record from yesterday. We chose to take Hwy 11 west of Thunder Bay towards Fort Francis, ON where we stopped for lunch. Fort Francis is right across the river from the US. Google Maps said there were two restaurants in town (besides Tim Hortons, etc) and we chose to try the CanAsian Family Restaurant. They offer a mix of Thai, Chinese, Filipino and Canadian cuisine. We went with two Thai options – a spicy curry and Pad Thai noodles. Excellent choices!

    After lunch we walked through town and explored a few of the shops. First stop was a really neat art gallery with glass, pottery, paintings and jewelry. The next stop was called Betty’s the Pink Store and it had a wide assortment of craft supplies, fashion, shoes, sewing machines – pretty much anything you could think of. Betty’s was started by Betty Anderson who made a living as a seamstress and eventually saved enough money to open her own store which is still run by her descendants. Ruth found some beads she needed to have for an upcoming necklace.

    The town has a nostalgic flair which today continued onto the street with a small collection classic cars. Unfortunately for Ruth, no 1957 turquoise and white Belair. We had to settle for a 1956 Ford Victoria.

    Hwy 71 between Fort Frances and Kenora has a lot of hunting and fishing lodges and a lot of “8 miles” ahead signs, so probably gets a lot of American tourists.

    Our original hope had been to make it to the Falcon Lake Campground in Manitoba, but with our excursions, time and energy didn’t permit. We debated staying in Kenora but chose the Rushing River Provincial Park instead. We were quite lucky to get a spot right at the beach which we took full advantage of with a refreshing swim.

  • Lake Superior Provincial Park, ON to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, ON

    Today was mostly a driving day – we covered 551 kms, a good portion of which was behind our trucking friend from EMCO.

    We stopped for lunch at Drifter’s Restaurant in Terrace Bay where we had been on a previous trip. Great food, same as last time!

    We decided to stay at the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park as we had enjoyed it on a previous trip. This time, however, the black flies were unbearable and even just registering for our site cost Martin a pound of flesh. We skipped the walk and swim but watched a movie while the little buggers were desperately trying to come through the window screens.

  • Massey, ON to Lake Superior Provincial Park, ON

    While driving toward Sault Ste Marie, Ruth searched for some attractions along the way. Boy did she find something interesting! Entomica, an insectarium in the Canadian Bush Plane Heritage Centre. It was the right place for both of us. Huge flying insects for Ruth and old airplanes for Martin.

    These huge bugs from Africa have velvety bellies and claws. Creepy, crawly, interesting, but not necessarily something you’d want to wake up with.

    Not only did they have fascinating insects, but Willie Wonka, the chameleon captured Ruth’s heart.

    Chris, the director and curator, spent quite a bit of time with us and showed some more unique insects and explained where they lived and why they are so special.

    Once the insectarium closed at 3:30, we visited the bush planes and learned about the heritage of these airplanes and some of the people who built and flew them. Ruth was very happy to see a special exhibition of the history of women in aviation in Canada. It took a long time before they were truly accepted.

    There was a movie covering the use of aircraft in forest fire fighting operations, which seems timely given the current wildfire situations throughout Canada.

    A Canadair CL215 water bomber. I believe these were built at the Canadair facility that was close to where we lived in Montreal.

  • Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park, ON to Massey, ON

    Day 3 and our van needs some fuel. There are a lot of reservations in this area with cheap fuel for all – $1.39/litre today.

    The next stop was at the French River Visitor Centre where we hiked to the Recollet Falls where the deer flies warmly welcomed us and extracted their ounces of blood. It was extremely hot and humid but the 1.5 km hike was definitely worth it. We had fun taking pictures.

    After our hike we visited the museum and learned about the importance of the French River in the fur trade and the rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company which later merged into one company.

    We asked the very friendly museum staff for recommendations for a campground to stay for the night and they told us about Chutes Provincial Park. Chutes gets it name from the chutes that were built to help move logs over waterfalls.

    The park has a lovely swimming area in the pool at the base of the waterfall with currents which we took advantage of.

  • Midland, ON to Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park, ON

    Early breakfast with 2 eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast at Stacked was a Canada Day Weekend delight. Now we were fuelled and ready to go. The first stop was at the Art Barn, 8 kms away. This used to be a dairy farm and the barn now sells crafts created by local artisans. The owner of this 50 acre property also allows campers to stay overnight for a donation. Maybe on the way back…

    We continued on north on Hwy 400 to Parry Sound were we enjoyed the Canada Day festival that was happening – Ribfest, artisan booths, log sawing. One of the artisans was from Düsseldorf in Germany. We walked to the harbour and ate a huge ice cream while sitting in Muskoka chairs watching the floatplanes taking off.

    We continued our drive not knowing where we would stay for the night and came across Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park which happened to have two sites left. What a beautiful small campground, right at a bay with fabulous swimming opportunities. We talked to quite a number of people and Ruth fell in love with an American Bulldog. Martin talked to the park warden for a while and learned all about the training they undergo and why they need bullet proof vests.

    After a long, enjoyable swim in warm water and dinner, it was time for Duolingo in the van.