Just back from my trip to Winnipeg (The Windy City!)

[Toby]

I just got back from my trip to Winnipeg and thought i would share some impressions. My husband , daughter and i put 500miles on the rental car and explored the province of Manitoba and was awakened to the beauty of the prairies. Winnipeg is a very cosmopliltan city with great shopping and fun activities, including the Forks Market area, Asiniboine Zoo (white tiger and bear!), and roaming for shopping deals in St. Boniface, Corydon , St. Vital and other unique nieghbourhood areas. The highlight was a meal stricting dedicated to Ukrainian fare, and pan fried perogies smothered in butter and onions. (these perogies were the size of your fist, and home made!). The farthest we went north was to Portage le Prairie, with stops in Stonewall and Selkirk, and shopping in the quilting stores on the way! Farthest south we got was Winkler/Morden were the Menonite community is still flurishing and the fabric stores are fantastic. Best tourist experience, shopping in Carmen, Manitoba and having a chat at Kathy's fabrics with most of the women of the community! What a hoot as we easterners sure needed to hear a few words of wisdom on how to govern, the country in there eyes is falling to pieces!
Winnipeg itself was beautiful, and the tourist spotts interesting and very inexpensive. As a matter of fact all of Manitoba was about 30 to 40% cheaper in prices then hear in ontario, making it even more of a fun vacation as our dollar went alot farther! I would highly recommend Manitoba as a destination to explore! (Recommend visiting in early spring as there are no mosquitos!) We had great weather and great fun!
Thanks Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba for a great vacation!
Cheers
toby

[Leigh]

Welcome Back! Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

[BevJ]

Sounds wonderful. Welcome back.

[Diane]

Welcome back... glad you had a good time. :)

Diane...

[angie r]

What a lovely trip! Welcome home!

[darlene]

Glad you had fun here! MB is great! You hit an unusually warm April too!
Did you stay at the Holiday Inn?
Did your dd like Friesens?

My aunt/uncle live in Morden and I know the area well. My gramma and another aunt/uncle used to live in Carmen. My cousin lives in Selkirk. Did you like the big catfish there?

Portage is west of Wpg though...not north.

:lol: about the advice to you as an easterner! I think most any province west of the MB/ON border has strong opinions about ON! :lol:

Come back for a visit anytime. Oh...the mosquitoes are out here now!

:)

[Melody]

Glad you enjoyed your trip. :)

[Beth/TX]

Glad you had a great trip. Welcome back. :)

[Kate]

sounds like you had a fantastic time! it's great to go away- but wonderful to get home to your familiar surroundings too.

[Toby]

Thanks everyone, the trip was great and as a person who loves to travel, I am now contemplating my next destination....
My daughter did enjoy the Friesens Printing firm in Altona, and marvelled at how small the community was. The company is the hub of industry for the area, and surrounded by farms. We teased my daughter the rest of the trip that she should work really hard and get summer jobs thier to get away from her parents. This did not go over so well as she then threatened to look for her jobs in the big cities of ontario, and that we would foot the expenses.
(Help i have an ambious 13 year old, planning to take over the world!)
Sorry about my geographical mistake about Portage , you are indeed correct that it is west of Winnipeg. My husband likes to drive, (was once a rally car driver) so we took every back road possible, driving north then west for the best roads. We found one road that was gravel and listed as 73 kil long, we drove it for 54kil before I was ready to kill my husband, this gravel road was like driving on water and fun to dodge the prairie dogs!
My next trip hopefully will be really up north, as i have always wanted to see and be seen on Baffin Island. This trip will probably be solo as the rest of the family thinks I am nuts. What can I say...before i die I would like to see a polar bear in the wild...Thats not to crazy right!!?
Cheers
Toby