Manitoba At Last

For anyone that has ever driven across Canada, or across Ontario, you will know the sheer joy you feel when you see the 'Welcome to Manitoba' sign. It takes FOREVER to get out of Ontario and you start to think that you will never see the light at the end of the tunnel. But you do, and that light is Manitoba. Not the most exciting place, but still awesome since it is no longer Ontario.

We decided to take it easy through Manitoba and do a bit of sight-seeing. We drove down to Winnipeg because I wanted to see the St. Boniface Cathedral. It was mostly destroyed by fire so ther is only the outer shell of the cathedral but it is easy to tell it was pretty amazing in its full glory. They have built a church within the remains of the cathedral that is pretty nice. One of the main reasons that I wanted to go is because they also have the tomb of Louis Riel there. Anyone who studied Canadian history will know the significance of Louis Riel not only for Manitoba but for all of Canada. If you don't, I suggest you look him up. He's a pretty interesting story.

After we visited the cathedral, we walked into the downtown area towards the well-known Forks Market. Its an enclosed market area filled with little shops and eateries and things. We did a bit of shopping and saw a guy making glass jewellery, which was really cool. I also ate real homemade Ukrainian perogies which were heavenly! One of the interesting things for me, probably not for Jasper though, was that we walked by the nuilding site for the new Human Rights Museum that is under construction. It is set to be built in 2012 and is currently about 40 million over budget. Its a little controversial to say the least. They haven't really done much progress on it, but I've seen drawings of what it is supposed to look like and it should be amazing. I plan on going back to visit it once it is built.

After that, we headed out for a little fun and exercise at a corn maze. I don't even know how big it was, but it was HUGE! Jasper and I had a race to see who could complete the scavenger hunt and find their way out of the maze the fastest. Neither of us could complete the scavenger hunt but I was the only one to find the proper exit, so I WIN!!! I also got eaten alive by mosquitoes and covered in mud. A good day over all.

We then headed to Jason and Sam`s cabin in Riding Mountain National Park for the night. It was super nice of them to let us stay there and a very nice place. We finally got to just sit and relax and enjoy a beer. Thanks guys!!