August 15 - Still Winnipeg
Today we went to the Royal Canadian Mint to see where all the coins for our country and 73 others are made.  I had no idea they were not made in Ottawa along with the bills.  The tour was excellent and the building is beautiful.  It was very interesting to see all the big machinery and to watch the process, well worth the $5.00 entry fee. 

Dalton in front of the Royal Canadian Mint, isn't it a beautiful building!

Dalton at the entry, every well kept

A 28 lb. gold brick, it comes with it's own security guard

When entering you drive between the flags of the countries that Winnipeg makes coins for, pretty impressive when you see the flags against the building.  I tried to get a postcard but they didn't have any.  I would have had to stand too far away to get the picture I wanted.

Next we went to the Cuban Pavilion.  Last night we strolled into the Scandinavian Pavilion at 6:00 when the door opened and we were the last two people they let in, so tonight we went early, 5:10, it was cold and raining, a nice Cuban gent let us in (there were 7 of us).  He said if we were very good and didn't wander around we could sit inside.  We were the first in this time.  The food wasn't so good but the show was wonderful, full of energy and great bodies.  The Cuba Libras were good but they had no dark beer.  We really enjoyed ourselves. 

The costumes were really good, they were doing the Cha Cha

This was the Conga

The Mombo and Rumba were in there somewhere

This guy had a washboard stomach that was the envy of every guy in the place

The finale, everything was so colorful and vibrant

It was still pouring when we came home, driving through little lakes, could hardly keep the windshield clear.  Glad to be home in our cosy, little RV.

August 12 - Leaving Saskatoon
The morning we left was a little sad, had to give up the baby, Dalton wouldn't let me take her.  Louie and Carol made us a lovely pancake breakfast before we headed out.  We stopped for gas at Dundern and it was $120.9, we didn't think that was too bad.  We decided to take the Transcanada Highway from Regina to Winnipeg, it may be a four lane highway but it is the roughest road, outside Australia, we had ever been on.

We took a little detour to Craven, wanted to see what it looked like when there wasn't a music festival happening.  the Qu'Appelle Valley is really lovely.  You could see signs of flooding, I think Saskatchewan had more rain than ever before.  Everything was green, I believe the farmers are having bumper crops this year.

Last Mountain House was a Hudson Bay Trading Post just North of Craven

The first 2 doors held families, sometimes 2 families per room the 3rd door was for single guys

Some of the items in the store

Robi shopping again

These are the bleachers at Craven, sure looks different when it's not occupied

We continued on to Brandon where we spent the night in a Walmart Parking Lot.  We were too tired to drive all the way to Winnipeg.  It's a good thing we stayed because we met this very friendly Manitoban who provided us with some good tips about our Motorhome.  He just came up to us and said he could save us a bunch of money and he proceeded to provide us with some good information.  When they say "Friendly Manitoba" they really mean it.

We arrived in Winnipeg fairly early on August 13th, something must have been the matter with Dalton because when we passed the MacGregor Golf Course, I asked him if he wanted to play and he said "No". 

We checked into the Arrowhead RV Park and the owner was full of good information as to what was happening in the City.  It took us about half an hour to get registered, we told him he should work for the Tourist Bureau. 

Dalton got in touch with one of his relatives and we had a very nice visit that evening.

August 14
We drove into the City and went to "The Forks" it is where the Assiniboine and the Red River meets, it is a huge park with walking trails along the river as well as boat rides, which we took.  We walked on the Riel Bridge, it is really unique.  The boat ride was really nice as well.  The Legislative buildings are really beautiful, we took a picture from the water side but not the street side, which we should have because it is also beautiful.  The architecture is really impressive. 

This is the second week of Folklorama which is the world's largest and longest running multicultural festival of its kind.  There are several pavilions where you can eat the food, listen to the music, take part in the celebration.  Tonight we went to the Scandinavian Pavilion, it was fantastic.  There was all types of folk dancing, adults and little kids alike.  Everyone had a great time. 

Dalton and Robi in the waterfront with the Riel Bridge in the background

This will be the Human Rights Museum when it is finished sometime in 2014

The back side of the Legislature, there is a 23 ct. gold plated statue of The Golden Boy on top

The Riel Bridge taken from our boat

Downtown Winnipeg from our boat

During the winter when the river freezes, this is a slide and it will send you right across the river

A Viking couple at the Scandinavian Pavilion

They were dancing so fast it is blurry, but you get the idea.  It was great fun to watch

August 9 - to Saskatoon
We had a fairly long trip to Saskatoon because we took the secondary roads, which were in good shape.  We were heading to Louie and Carol's place, south of Saskatoon.  They live near Blackstrap Provincial Park.  The day was beautiful, hot and sunny.  We arrived at dinnertime, trust the Hagells to make it for meals. 

Dalton worked for Louie when he was in Prince George.  They also have a new baby girl which was one week old the day after we arrived.  Louie thinks we came to see him, but we actually came to see the new addition to the family.  I had never met the other children before so that was an additional treat. 

After dinner Dalton and Louie took the Matthew and Ericka out to pose on a hay bale in their yard.

Ericka, Matthew and Louie

The next day, Dalton and I drove into Saskatoon, took a stroll around the park, didn't take any pictures.  We went to Costco and to the Casino.  I contributed to the native fund but Dalton bailed me out again as well as bringing home enough for a couple of dinners out.

When we got home Matthew and Ericka came to the RV for a visit, I put them on the vibration machine, they liked it.  I also got some pictures of the baby and her parents.

Matthew and Ericka getting their exercise

Isabel doesn't have her eyes open much, she sleeps quite a lot

Isn't she darling!!!

Mom and Dad are OK too!!

Great sunset!

Erick and Dad on the ATV, looks like they are enjoying themselves

CrossIron Mills and Drumheller
August 6 - To CrossIron Mills (large shopping centre North of Calgary)
We left the reunion Monday morning and had a slow leisurely drive, bypassing Calgary and all the traffic.  We arrived at CrossIron Mills at 4:00, Pat and Lloyd were meeting us there at 6:00, so we had some time to look around.  Sherry and Albin (my cousins) arrived around 5:30 for a visit.  The Mall is really nice, the Bass Outlet was really different from anything we had ever seen before, and the place was really busy.

Sherry Robi and Albin

Robi and Friend at the Bass Outlet

You just don't expect to see this in a store

Pat and Lloyd took us to dinner at a really neat place north of Calgary, can't remember the name, but the food was really good, it was really nice to be able to spend more time with them.

August 7 - to Drumheller
We left Calgary fairly early and headed to Drumheller, it was quite shocking to see what the area looks like if you haven't been there before.  We got all set up at the Dinosaur Trail RV Park then drove to town to look around.  On the way back we found "The Long Branch Saloon"

Dalton waiving a greeting to all

The people inside were really friendly so we stayed for awhile, it was noon, thought we could have lunch but they don't serve food.  As we were starving we moved on to the Golf Course to check it out and have a bite to eat.  The food was good, the course looked really nice and the man in the Pro Shop talked us into getting the clubs and coming back for 9 holes.  There was a tournament on but Dalton was able to do the back nine.  You would have to see for yourself what the terrain was like, true target golf, the Scotsman who invented the game would be proud.  The game was going fairly slow so after the second hole we met up with a couple from Regina, it was more fun but it took as long to play 9 holes as it normally would to play 18, some drunk females were holding up the works.

Scenery was lovely, but glad I wasn't playing

Dalton getting ready

Look at all the Hoo Doos!

I was glad I didn't have to drive the cart, I thought we were going to tip a couple of times.  They didn't need signs to keep you on the path

We went back to the Long Branch after the game, didn't want to stay at the club house as everyone was pissed at the women holding us up, they were too plastered to notice.  One of the husbands came up to us on about the 4th hole and asked us to back off as the shots were getting too close to their ladies...we should have told them to pick up the pace.  Slowing down was really interfering with the golf game, however, I think it was the course that was interfering more than anything. 

The next morning we got up early to go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  That is an experience everyone should have.  It should be mandatory for school kids.  What an awesome place.

Dalton and friend on the way in

It would be interesting to see how they got this in the museum

A giant mammoth, I did get a few more pictures but they were too dark to really be useful

Even the building is impressive

We took a little ferry ride

I did say little

We found a neat little pub

Went in for a beer, got served in Mason Jars

look what was on the ceiling, I don't think my Dad ever say those kind of snowshoes

July 30 and 31
We left Vernon and had a very pleasant trip to Golden where we stayed at the Golf Course so Dalton could get a game in.  The spot was one that we had stayed at before, now they have about 20 spots with only a few in use.  Weather was great so there should have been no complaining, however, there are always mosquitoes.

We did stop along the way to take a few pictures:

Mt. Norquay

What a nice looking RV

Wonder who the guy is in the middle of my scenery shot

We rushed to get to Lethbridge before everyone left, our delay in getting started threw a monkey wrench in the works.  We made it around late afternoon, pulled into the Campground in the River valley.  We had 2 free nights courtesy of Arbutus RV Sales.  Our spot was 4 spaces away from Bill and Carol-Leah.   They had tickets to Cirque d' Solet (sp) so Barry Fritz offered to babysit us for the evening.  It was a good thing he offered as we wouldn't have seen them this trip as they were heading to Edmonton to see their grandchildren.

Karen and Barry Fritz

I had never seen black petunias and Karen's gardens are so lovely

August 3 - 6
We were invited to join the Ell Family Reunion...Carol-Leah's mother's family.  Everyone was camping at Enchant Park and as I know most of them we decided to take them up on their offer.  We had a blast.  All the RVs parked in a circle, there were picnic table in the middle.  There were swimming pools blown up for the kids to play in.  There was no water really close by so everyone donated a hose which Bill joined together so they didn't have to haul it in buckets.  Each night we had a campfire with marshmallow and hot dog roasting as well as guitar playing and we were serenaded by Lori's husband Darrel and Tracy's husband Allan.  Much fun was had by all.

They put up tents to shade to pools but it was still 34 degrees

Even the neighbours lent hoses

Bill and Carol-Leah enjoying the shade

Carol(Carol-Leah's Mom) and Aunty Kay also enjoying the shade and the conversation

Pat and Lloyd came out for one evening, they stayed with us, wish they could have stayed longer

Tracy in her infinite wisdom, purchased a whole bunch of water guns, the fight was on, some of us adults were able to stay away from the fracus, however, many did not.  She also purchased a slip and slid along with numerous cans of shaving cream...this is the result...

They seemed to have a lot of fun.  Dalton thought the slide should have been longer

Lucky there was still water in the pool to clean them off.

I guess I didn't get any pictures of the water fight, I know I was trying to stay under the radar.

We really had a wonderful time, we must have behaved ourselves as Janie invited us to the one next year.  Don't know if we have the stamina for that. We were really sad to leave but new adventures are on the horizon.