Seriously, what’s not to like? We enjoyed it so much last year that we returned this summer! We gave Logan the choice of which province between Saskatchewan or Manitoba. He chose Manitoba, so off to Winnipeg we went! We actually stayed at a small Provincial Park about 45 minutes away from Winnipeg, which provided enough distance from the city to feel like we were among nature, but close enough to do day trip excursions.
Our travel to Canada, did not go as planned, however. Shortly after crossing into North Dakota, our truck started having issues. We made a quick trip to Minnesota to run the check engine code and get an idea of what was going on (sure we could have visited an auto parts store in Fargo, but by driving into Minnesota, I was able to cross another state off my list). The code wasn’t very helpful. Thankfully, we were still able to drive and tow, just at a reduced RPM. After getting settled at our campsite, the next day we dropped the truck off at a Ford dealership and headed to the Assinboine Zoo (the dealership shuttle dropped us off). Turns out the high-pressure fuel pump went out on the truck and would take days to fix! Days! Oh and about $4,000 USD! Our trip just got a lot more expensive and now we were stranded sans vehicle. To save me the headache of trying to find a rental vehicle on my own, I gave AAA a call and let them figure everything out for us. Thank you, AAA! Because of this fiasco, we didn’t get a change to go to the Assiniboine Park, next door to the zoo and see the Winnie the Pooh statue. Bummer. But the zoo did have a really cool animatronic dinosaur exhibit and polar bears!
Manitoba has a long history of Mennonite and eastern-European settlers, so one of our day trips took us to a Mennonite village.
We also drove to Lake Winnipeg, which is the largest lake in North America! We visited the lake in the town of Gimli, which is near the Southern tip and the narrow section. And yet, we still couldn’t see across the lake! Amazing!
Also, if you’re ever in the town of Gimli, eat here. They have the best pierogies and cabbage rolls I have ever eaten! I wish they would open a branch in Colorado! But alas, there are no Ukrainian restaurants anywhere in the state!
Another great aspect of the trip was we met some awesome locals who happened to be camping in the site next to us. Our trip coincided with the first week of the Olympic games, and I had been streaming the games online during our trip to make sure we didn’t miss any of the action. Our last night in Canada, our new aforementioned neighbors invited us over to their camper to watch the Olympics with them. Their camper had the ability to mount a TV on the outside. So we all pulled up some chairs, shared some beers and popcorn and jointly cheered on our respective teams. It was awesome! People in Canada (and those from MB, especially, are some of the nicest people we’ve ever met)!
Even with the vehicle troubles, we loved our Canadian vacation and will be back again, probably in 2017. Which province shall we visit this time?