Winnipeg Trip–Day 1 Travel to Crookston (Saturday, September 27, 2014)

Today was a long day.  We started at 5:45 a.m. which was early as we had a play the night before.  With my back injury we needed to make a lot of stops so I could walk around and change positions. 

I never knew rest stops sometimes have hiking trails so we were pleasantly surprised.  The rest stop near Black River Falls (near I-94 mile marker 121) had a nice half mile trail.  The view was beautiful.  The trees had just started changing colors, so those vibrant red and yellow trees really stood out from the green trees.

We stopped at El Loro, our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Twin Cities for lunch, took Highway 10 from there and really enjoyed some beautiful top down weather which was in the mid 80s.  It got warmer as we went north which was interesting (you will see our trip ended with drastically different weather).  We averaged 48.5 miles per gallon for the whole trip up and saw 50 miles per gallon after we filled up in Motley, MN.  The top down did not appear to affect mileage.

We made it to Crookston by about 5:45 p.m. and had Happy Joe’s pizza with my Grandma.  It was so good to see her.

Winnipeg Trip–Day 2 Crookston and Grand Forks (Sunday, September 28, 2014)

We spent the morning with my Grandma in Crookston, visited with my Aunt Diane over lunch at Red Lobster in Grand Forks, saw my Grandma in Grand Forks and my uncle Dean, and returned to Crookston to spend the night.  My Grandma in Grand Forks seemed to be having a good day so it was good to see that.  I also don’t see my aunts and uncles in ND much, so it is always nice to visit with them.

Here is a photo of the view out of the room we stayed in at my Grandma’s in Crookston.  I apologize for the glare off the window.

Winnipeg Trip–Day 3 Hallock and travel to Winnipeg (Monday, September 29, 2014)

On our way up to Winnipeg we stopped in Hallock for lunch with my cousins, their families including their two infant daughters.  This was the first time I had seen them and so I really enjoyed that.  We also had a good time with my cousins.

Once in Winnipeg we sought out Mongo’s Grill.  Before we left, I had searched for gluten, dairy, egg, and meat free friendly restaurants and this one fit the bill and seemed to be one my husband would like.  Well it was quite the experience.  They give you a bowl and tell you to fill it as much as you would like with more ingredients than you can imagine (veggies, meats, fish, chicken, noodles, etc.) along with your choice of sauces and oils.  We quickly realized we were amateurs as we watched others pile their bowl twice as high.  They had a laminated list of all the gluten free options so it was easy to pick out those and our waitress had checked into the sauces for other allergens.  The end result was really good.  We hope to visit another one in the future.

We stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton Winnipeg South.  The room was clean and very comfortable but a little small.  I’m not complaining though as it was free (through points earned by my husband on business trips).  They also had a hot tub and pool which we enjoyed one evening.  We stayed here three nights.

Winnipeg Trip–Day 4 Winnipeg (Tuesday, September 30, 2014)

This morning we got up early so we could pack a lot into the day.  We started with Jonnies Sticky Buns for breakfast.  They had rave reviews of their vegan, gluten free sticky bun.  Their sticky buns (both gluten free and full of gluten) were good but not quite all they had been hyped up to be.  For me, I still remember how good sticky buns with gluten and dripping in butter can be that it is hard to replace that.

From there we headed to the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg.  This is where they produce all of the coins for circulation for Canada.  The mint in Ottawa produces the collectors’ coins.  They also produce coins for over 75 other countries.  We also learned that they press (but not stamp the image) for at least some US coins.  I understand that it is cheaper than the US can produce them.  The tour was really interesting although we were there at the rare moment the employers were in a meeting so many of the machines were not running.  We couldn’t take pictures inside but here are a few pictures from outside.  The picture of the flags represent all of the countries they have produced coins for.

From there we headed downtown to the Boon Burger Café, a vegetarian burger joint before heading to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights which had just opened.  The Museum is beautiful and a lot of thought went into what each aspect symbolized.  It was full of human stories which made it very interesting.  Since it had just opened they were not allowing individuals to tour on their own and so you had to go with a tour guide which meant you spent more time in places that weren’t as interesting and less time in places you wanted to spend more time.  But it was still a great experience and there was a beautiful view from the Tower of Hope.  All of the panes of glass are unique and hand cut.  It symbolized the diversity of all of us and how we are dependent on one another and come together.  Our guide made the statement, “If one were missing in the winter, we would freeze.”

Views from the Tower of Hope (the glass and beams made it challenging to get good photographs.

Here is a photo of the EXIT sign that is most common in Winnipeg (although we later saw the EXIT signs those of us in the US are so familiar with).

Even though our bodies didn’t seem to have any more energy left in them, we then wandered The Forks, took some more pictures and did some shopping.

After our weary feet and bodies headed towards the hotel, stopped at Applebee’s (which is really not gluten friendly) and then enjoyed a Vidal Icewine by Magnotta from Ontario, Canada in the room evening.

Winnipeg Trip–Day 5 Winnipeg (Wednesday, October 1, 2014)

Learning our lessons about rush hour traffic the day before, we had a more leisurely start to the day.  Our first stop was the Winnipeg Legislative Building.  There wasn’t a lot to see as the legislature was not in session but the building had some beautiful architecture and flowers were still in bloom in the gardens.  Here are some photos:

From there we walked past the Canada Revenue Agency which is of obvious interest to my husband.

Lunch was at Thidia’s Authentic Thai Restaurant.  The server was very knowledgeable about gluten free options and was very willing to look into dairy and egg free options as well.  I had a rice roll with a very good peanut sauce and asked for no spice in my dish and it was made that way.  My husband who loves Thai food enjoyed something a bit spicier and really enjoyed his food.

We left behind the camera in exchange for a notepad and pencil and headed to the Winnipeg Art Gallery.  Their feature exhibit is Up Close Dalí.  The exhibition included one of his most famous works of art, The persistence of memory.  The painting below is courtesy of Lucid Practice.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Inuksuik 1989 by Canadian artist Manasie Akpaliapik (1989) – Inuksuits are landmarks made by natives to help navigating the woods and finding good hunting spots.  The one below is in the shape of a person which I have since learned is not a traditional Inuksuits but an artists interpretation.

Bacchanalian Piece Sir Thomas Samwell and Friends by Philippe Mercier  (1733) – I really liked this piece as it showed the casual and humorous side of people in this time period which is very different than typical paintings from this era which were very formal.

The Story by George Agnew Reid (Canadian Artist) – This painting captures a memory that we can all relate to across cultures and across time.

Merrymaking 1860 by Cornelius Krieghoff (Canadian Artist) – This is a painting I tried sketching out the basics which made me realize all the unique features of the image, a setting sun with changing clouds contrasting both the light sun and dark sky, the staircase from the second story balcony, horses pulling sleighs, and how each celebrated the freshly fallen snow.

Grey Day, Les Éboulement, by AY Jackson (Canadian artist) (1935)– I can’t find an image of this painting which is unfortunate because it was one of my favorites.  The artist used curvy parallel lines to show movement of the snow, sky and landslide (les éboulement).  The painting is of a house in a village west of Tadoussae on the north shore of the St. Lawrence.

The art museum had a lot of diversity in its collections and really was the perfect size to feel like you have seen a lot yet not so much your eyes have glazed over which can happen at bigger galleries.

We finished up at the art museum shortly after 1:30 p.m. and seeing that we had enough time we decided to head over to the Manitoba Museum and catch the 2:30 p.m. Planetarium show.  With 40 minutes to kill before the show once we had purchased tickets we did a quick walk through of the Manitoba Museum which was really interested. 

They have a full size shipping sailboat that you can walk on and through which is extremely impressive in size and grandeur.  The ship is a replica of the Nonsuch, a 17th Century English ship.  The replica was made about 40 years ago with tooling from the period and has sailed 14,000 kilometers before being “docked” at the museum.  Here you will find some more information on the original and replica ships from the Manitoba Museum; you will see there are ties to Wisconsin. 

The Museum seemed to have a lot of interactive exhibits and a great variety of things to see.  If we had more time (and energy), we may have enjoyed spending a bit more time. 

The planetarium show was very good (well, at least the parts I was awake for).  After the full day we had, I really struggled to keep my eyes open once they turned the lights down.

After passing by the Giant Tiger many times in these days in Winnipeg, we decided we had to know what it was all about.  Their logo had the statement "Your All Canadian Family Discount Store".  It definitely was a discount store but I'm not sure any of it is made in Canada.  We learned that they buy the inventory of companies going out of bankruptcy.

The rest of the evening we spent relaxing in our hotel room.  I enjoyed a Canadian wine (Winnipeg Blue Bombers Cabernet/Merlot by Strew Inc. from Niagara on the Lake in Ontario).

Winnipeg Trip–Day 6 Winnipeg (Thursday, October 2, 2014)

We started the day with a trip to the Assiniboine Park Zoo which is a beautiful zoo with some really interesting exhibits.  The owls were a unique exhibit as you don’t normally see owls at zoos.  There was also a really neat exhibit where the badgers were active.  As our state animal, I was ashamed to admit this was the first badger I had ever seen in person.  They also have a polar bear exhibit (part of which was closed due to maintenance) that seems to closely resemble the exhibit at the Detroit Zoo.  And like many zoos these days it seems, they had an Australian Walkabout with emus and red kangaroos.  A joey about 8 months old was so much fun to watch.  Here are some pictures:

Also, like as is often the case at zoos, the animals not in captivity that wander the zoo can be just as interesting.  Winnipeg has an abundance of red squirrels (as opposed to the much larger grey squirrel we are used to) one of which had dug its way into the butterfly exhibit (which only had a few butterflies left as it was the end of the season).  There were also a fair number of prairie dogs in random exhibits.  It’s funny how they make up an exhibit at the Minnesota Zoo but roam free at this zoo.  I also enjoyed the birds athough a few less Canadian geese might have been more enjoyable.  At one point, we looked at an exhibit and had to figure out which actually belonged as there were Canadian geese, peacocks, and cranes.  Here are a few of the highlights:

I got a good chuckle out of this weather station:

It may be hard to read the sign so here is what it says:

Weather Station

If the Rock is wet
…it’s raining

If the rock is swaying
…it’s windy

If the rock is hot
…it’s sunny

If the rock is cool
…it’s overcast

If the rock is white
…it’s snowing

If the rock is blue
…it’s cold

If the rock is gone
…tornado

Up to the minute

For a late lunch we headed to the Polo Park Mall which is a very nice mall but nothing special to a tourist and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel.

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites (a free night from a promotion of staying at Marriott hotels previously).  This one came with a little waterpark that was so much fun.  There was no one else in the pool area and so we had it to ourselves.  There was a tube slide, water fountains, a zero depth pool, and a donut shaped area that had quite a strong current.  When we swam against the current, we really couldn’t move forward and with very little effort it would float us around in a circle.  We laughed like little kids as we enjoyed it all.  Here are some pictures.