Leaving Red Lake - Arriving in Winnipeg

On our last day in Red Lake we visited the Heritage Centre - really interesting, very well done: exhibits recreating homes, shops, cabins etc of the past with photos and commentary by real people. Brought it all to life. We also visited the Municipal Office in Balmertown and saw their wonderful collection of rocks - precious and otherwise, including some containing gold. 

Roger caught a very big fish!

In the evening, I changed into my pyjamas while we washed all our clothes - so of course Jim's brother John and his wife Tracey called round. With their boisterous and very affectionate labrador Jet. Jim is a real live underground gold miner. He blasts the gold out of the rock. Wow! A bear visited us, too, at the end of the drive. Very exciting.

Jill in pyjamas with John Jeffries, a real, live
 gold miner and thoroughly nice man - after this
 picture was taken we ran up the drive to see a black bear

Today we left Red Lake, after a fond farewell to Robin, and drove to Winnipeg. Our first stop was Vermillion Bay and a roadhouse called Buster's - famous for its ribs. Rightly so, we discovered. And sweet potato chips. Yummy.

Most of the way, during our six-hour journey, the terrain was Canadian Shield - lake, after lake, after lake and wonderful mixed evergreen and deciduous forest for miles and miles. But after we'd crossed the provincial border into Manitoba it began to change and the land changed into cultivated prairie. The road was very, very flat and very, very straight and very, very long. Again for miles and miles. Canada does long distances with a vengeance.

Jill being chased by a bear in Kenora, just off the Trans-Canadian Highway

We're now at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Winnipeg. The city looked rather nice as we drove through - lots of trees and low rise buildings. We'll explore tomorrow. Aunt Marj flies back to London, Ontario, in the morning and we spend two days here before flying west to Edmonton, where Ernie and Debbie are going to meet us from the plane. The cocktails are ready, apparently!