Winnipeg

The train ride to Winnipeg was pretty uneventful... slept a lot, looked out over the prairies, and took up about 10 seats, since there were hardly any other passengers.

We arrived later than expected, which is apparently normal for the train, and got a hotel room at the Fairmont. We had a few errands to do, preferably without our bikes, so we booked two nights at the hotel so we could leave our gear in the room. We spent two days checking out the city and picking up some gear.

Winnipeg has some beautiful areas with parks, cultural exhibits, and historic buildings. The church in the picture is in the French Quarter, and has been partially restored. We were lucky to be hitting the city during the long weekend, it was busy and there was a cultural festival going on. We walked through the Forks, and toured the trails in the area. I think it was a perfect time to visit the city, everything was green and lush looking. Our hotel was right on the intersection of Portage and Main, which is apparently not always as nice.

I was especially fond of the Nutty Club buildings close to our hotel.

On our way out of town, Luke heard some strange sounds coming from his bike, and wanted to get it checked out. Unfortunately, it was a holiday, so we needed to wait another day. We got a campground just outside of the city, and spent another 2 nights. Since we were stuck in Winnipeg for a while longer, we decided to make the most of it and took a tour of the Mint. There are two in Canada, the one in Ottawa makes silver and gold collectable coins and the one in Winnipeg makes circulation coins. I got to hold a gold brick, worth $250000 and of course took a picture in the beaver coin.

To get his bike checked, Luke and I went to Olympia Ski&Cycle. For those of you who don`t know, Luke worked at the Olympia in Prince George when he was younger, and the Winnipeg store was the original. It was cool to check it out, and talk to the owner who had heard all about Luke years ago. I had also been having troubles with my seat (with Luke telling me to quit being such a baby) so we tried out a new one. I got a nice women`s specific gel seat, and it has been making a huge difference in my comfort level. I am only sorry I didn`t do it earlier!

We eventually did make it out of Winnipeg, and powered by monster cookies we biked 140km to Falcon Lake. The campground there was pretty, and along the way we found some Mr. Nutty candy so we stopped to enjoy it.

The next day we went about 75km to Kenora, and stayed at the campground on Lake of the Woods. The roads were great, freshly paved and wide shoulders.

It seems like we have made it a long way now that we are in Ontario, and we have been on the road for a month. However, Ontario is a very large province and will most likely take about another month for us to cross.