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July 1 to 15, 2010 July 16 to 31, 2013

Thursday July 1, 2010

Very nice campground. Lots of trees, but the sites are on the small side. Not designed for 40 foot motorhome/5th wheel.
The sites are a little close to each other, but still private. We are on site number 75 with water and power (30 Amp) for 2 days.
Real nice!

Got to wash the windshield.

A view of the campground.

This one is for my brother Rolland.

Today we went downtown Saskatoon to walk the parks and see the Jazz Festival.

We are lucky because a free show starts as we get there.

This young man just started walking on a cargo strap 5 days ago, he was pretty good!

A view of the South Saskatchewan River that goes thrue Saskatoon.
Both sides of the river are covered with park, very well laid out.
Somme of the bridges that cross the river.

Somme pictures of the park, don't forget we are right downtown.

There are even fire pit in the park !!!

We found Saskatoon to be a very relaxed town. Very green with all the trees and parks.
We will come back for a longer stay.
See you tomorrow!

Friday July 2, 2010

Well!
We are visiting the second "Saskatchewan Western Development Museum" in Saskatoon.

This museum is all inside, pretty nice!
At the beginning you watch a movie showing you how it was when the early settlers came to western Canada.
Very well done!

A view of the street.

As you know, I love general stores!

Very nice, but my pictures did not turn out good.

Michèle at the train station.

Big steam engine!
The best part was a farmer's tractor was the same size as the locomotive!
Sorry, but the tractor picture did not turn out!

Early skates!

Most of the first houses build in the prairies were made of dirt like this one!

Later on, lots of houses we ordered from Sears or Eaton.
Yes, you could order your house from a catalog.

Another chair with horns!! This one at the Barber shop.

Roller blades?

When we got out of the museum, it started to rain, it got worse, to the point of not seeing too much.

We found this pretty special, a geyser from a man hole cover!
The storm system got overtaxed...

Of course lot a strong winds.

Some more pictures of the campground.

There were lots of those hanging baskets in the entrance of the campground, very nice!

As I have told you earlier, Saskatoon and most of Saskatchewan got lots of rain.
Here are the results.

Since we only had the site for 2 days, we had to move to the overflow for one night and hopefully get back in for a few more days.

Tomorrow we return to the main campground...

Thursday July 3, 2010

Another sign at the entrance of the campground.
I would recommend this campground without hesitation, but make sure you make reservation first.

Site 78, our new home.

From this site we can get satellite TV.

Easy day today. Just a visit to the Saskatoon farmer's market.
We were very surprised at the high cost of everything.

Some trees that I found pretty close to the campground.

A good day!

Sunday July 4, 2010

Big day ahead of us!

I have read lots material about the Metis Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont and the Rebellion of 1885.
I had to go at Batoche National Historical Site. This is where Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont lived and fought the Canadian military.

The flag next to the Canadian Flag is the Metis flag.

Here is some information about Batoche.

Batoche was deserted after the rebellion because the railroad went to the north of Batoche.
The only buildings that are left are the Church and the Rectory.

The church is still used today, mostly for wedding and funerals.
Nice little church.

The rectory also served as a post office, a school and many other things.

A nice kitchen in the rectory.

As I mentioned before, the rectory was also the post office. Most of the farmers did not know how to read and write, many times it was the priest who read and wrote the replies for the farmers.

I found this door hinge very interesting. It was the first time I saw one like this one.

Where Gabriel Dumont is buried.

A small lunch before we continue.

On our way from Batoche to Fort Carlton, Michèle was nice enough to me to offer me a cruise on the Saskatchewan south.

She did not spare the expenses, free!

Michèle taking a picture of me...

... and me of her!

Barely 5 minutes later the cruise was over!
We are on some back road on our way to Fort Carlton.

At the entrance.

This fort was not a military fort, but one that belonged to the Hudson Bay Company.

Inside the fort, the building behind the flag pole is the warehouse for the furs.

In each building there was a guide.
Lots of furs and the guide was very knowledgeable and interesting.

For about 200 years, the demand for fur in England was what drove the economy of Canada, or Ruppert's land as it was known back then.
As I mentioned earlier, the stoves really fascinates me.
This one was from Scotland and used peat moss for fuel, but when it was used in Canada, with wood as fuel, the fire was much hotter and the stove had a tendency to crack.
The good thing about this stove was that when dis-assemble, it was all in plates, easy to transport.

General store.

Again, the guide was excellent. In the store, price were based on a beaver fur. A gun cost 5 beaver furs.
Most of the goods transported to the fort came in wooden barrel, easy to move, waterproof and very strong.

Toward the end of our visit, we could see some bad weather coming our way.

Of course, a little walk around the walls.

Back in the motorhome, a good meal, a raclette...

A few days ago we purchased a small raclette for two. Time to try it!

I was spoiled today. A nice lunch, a cruise and a great meal... Hummm!
Yes, now I know why, today is our 29 th wedding anniversary.

And still in love!

It was a big day today...

Thursday July 5, 2010

Today, we are going to Manitou Beach. A small village with a thermal source and a spa.

On our way out of the campground, we noticed those big garbage cans. Humm!
Those giant garbage can are located at the end of the street. The people living on that street take their garbage to this big garbage can. The garbage truck comes and it has a kind of big clamp that grabs the garbage can and dumps it in the truck.
Pretty neat idea.

On our way to Manitou Beach there is this big mine with lots of tailings.
I think this is a potash mine.

Close to the mine, we can see over one hundred cars waiting (more than 10 km long).

As you may or may not know, each provinces have a road designated as a "Veterans Memorial Highway".
A very good idea and a good way of recognizing our veterans.

After about an hour's drive we got to Manitou Beach.
The lake is supposed to have a salt density that allows you to float.

I know I mentioned this before, but with all the rain we got this year in the prairies.
Well here are the results!

A marina?

Everything that is close to the water is flooded.

A pretty small beach at this time with such a high water level.
The weather is not nice, so I decided not to go for a swim.

We went out of the village from the west end.
The road is almost flooded.

Right after we left Manitou Beach, we looked behind us to see this big stormy cloud over Manitou Beach.

It has rained so much in the past weeks, some of the roads are closed.

Pretty easy day.

Tuesday July 6, 2010

On our way to Moose Jaw!

We have decided to take the back roads.
Hummm, Real small back roads.

Some part of the back roads were in pretty bad shape.
Our first construction encounter.

For dust control, they use a water truck, great, but it makes a mess of the motorhome and the car.

I love this cloud.
Does it look like cartoon character with his fist raised?

You get to see all kinds of town names... Eyebrow?

We had to stop for lunch there.

Our campground in Moose Jaw, Prairie Oasis.

Our choice to travel on the back roads is a sound one, but not in the prairies.
A field is a field is a field!

Wednesday July 7, 2010

Another relax day.
We even got a good thunder storm this afternoon.

After the rain...

Site 77.
We are pretty well stacked up, but since we are next to the TransCanada highway, we can expect that, mostly overnighter campers.
Still is very quiet, the staff are very good for looking after you.

We are located just on the other side of the information center.

I love to go out and take pictures just for fun.
In the evening, I went out and took a few pictures of the evening prairie sky.

Good night.

Thursday July 8, 2010

Visit of Moose Jaw's tunnels.
We were not too sure on what to expect.

The reception area is very nice looking.
There are two tours of the tunnels. One on the Chinese' life in the late 1800 early 1900's.
The other tour is about Al Capone.

The first one we did was the Chinese one. Sorry to tell you, but no pictures were allowed.
Here is the entrance on the Chinese tour. Let me give you some explanation on the tours.

The Chinese tunnels was very surprising. The visitors were playing the role of the emigrant Chinese who just arrived and our "employer greets" us. The guide also plays the role of the wife or our employer. She is good, she makes us feel lower the human being, just like it was back then.
So interesting, if you drive by Moose Jaw, you must stop and do this tour.

The second tour takes us to the time of the prohibition in the United States. Yes, Al Capone, the famous gangster from Chicago did come to Moose Jaw every now and then. Mostly when thing got to hot in Chicago for him. Moose Jaw was his "brewery" for the Chicago underground. We were even surprised by an attack in the tunnels, boy those gun sounds loud!

Each tours takes about 45 minutes and they are worth it.

After the tours, we took a walk around town to see the murals. Here are some of them.

Back to the campground and a relaxed evening...

Friday July 9, 2010

Direction... Corner gas... I love that show, so I had to go and see this place.
Corner Gas is actually in Rouleau, Saskatchewan, close to Moose Jaw.

The only reason we took this picture is for Benoit, our son. He spent 3 months in Weyburn when he was in Katimavik.
We did not go to Weyburn...

You see all kinds of surprising things in the prairies.
A train of... locomotives!

Here we are in Rouleau, a very very small village.

Here is where Corner Gas took place.

The name of the town in Corner Gas is Dog River.
Here is the hotel.

This house is not part of Corner Gas, but it is so crooked I had to take a picture of it.

An hour and a half later we are back in Moose Jaw. Michèle does a little shopping and I just watch cars go by...
Here is the bus that takes you around town on a tour.

Michèle found this painting funny...

Lunch in the park.

Took a stroll around the park and the most interesting thing was the little ducks.

One of the murals, the 30's.

Back at the campground, I decide to visit the 3rd Saskatchewan Development Museum.
Michèle stayed at the campground. This museum is about transportation.

Tell you right now, no pictures of airplanes or tractors. Seen enough.
Just some of the stuff that took interest for me...

Like this travel trailer, built between 1946 a 1948 in the backyard of an aircraft mechanic.
In 1953 the family decided to move to Canada and they used the trailer has a container to move stuff to Canada.
It was used until 1979. Since then it has been the museum.

I know, here is an aircraft. The scene represents an aircraft landing and a boat with fishermen getting ready for a trip, just like northern Saskatchewan.

A good day today.

Saturday July 10, 2010

A day of cleaning and re-arranging stuff, inside/outside.

I noticed the little baby Robbyn. Had to take a few pictures. Here are a few of the best.

That was a big day!

Sunday July 11, 2010

Our time is done in Moose Jaw. Time to move on, Brandon, Manitoba, here we come!
On the way out of the campground.

Saskatchewan is very flat.

We go by Regina.

Every now and then, we see a house in the middle of nowhere and wonder what stories it must have to tell.

Had to take a picture of the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border. Denis getting ready for the picture...

Manitoba, here we come!

Looking west, Saskatchewan is now behind us.

Michèle decide to drive the motorhome. She is better than me!

South West Manitoba is as flat as Saskatchewan!

We spent the night at a Wamart in Brandon, Manitoba.
We are not alone, 5 or 6 other "campers" are with us.

Tomorrow we will be in Winnipeg!

Monday July 12, 2010

Our Walmart campsite.

Going East.
Very nice roads with very little construction so far.

We are sitting as high as the truck driver. We get to see some interesting stuff, like this co-driver.

We stopped for lunch at this little rest area in the middle of nowhere, the dust!

In just 30 seconds, the car was covered. However, as soon as we get on the highway it blows off, almost all of it.

When we got to Winnipeg, we took the highway that goes around Winnipeg.
This way no driving of the motorhome in the city.

Our campground!

The campground does not have internet.
No problems, I installed our satellite dish and we got.... nothing!

Even if I have installed this internet dish two or three times, I must have got lucky because this time I followed the instructions and got nowhere. After a while, I stop following instruction and did what made senses and it all worked out.
We got internet.

Yes! Life is good!

An easy day driving.

Tuesday July 13, 2010

Humm! No pictures today, what has happened?
Just a day to catch up on stuff and plain relaxation.

Wednesday July 14, 2010

Our site is the 203.
Nice and level, but as you can see, this is for the travelers.

Last night we had some wicked rain. Here are the results.

After breakfast, we visited the Royal Canadian Mint.

A real neat little road...

Winnipeg mint does not print paper money, just coins, but also coins for lots of others countries.

The guide told us that the Royal Canadian Mint is in the top three mints in the world for quality.

They also made the medals for the Vancouver's Olympics.
Each medal is unique and is part of a big puzzle.

Nothing to add to that!

The Royal Canadian Mint has done a lot of "first" with coins, like our 25 cent.

New coins coming soon?

A gold bar weights 28 pounds (12.7 KG) and was worth about $450,00 in 2009.
Imagine now!

No pictures were allowed during the tour. Security reasons.
Now think about this one, who would want to steal a pallet of $1 coins?

After lunch we went to "The Fork". This is where things happen and a nice park.
Winnipeg is a very nice city. I am always surprised at how much "green" there is in the prairies cities.

One part of the city is called St-Vital, we can see how they take pride in their neighborhood.

Lots of small business have painting on their building walls...

The city has many parking lots available for tourists for free, up to 3 hours. What a very good idea!
To top it off, they also have 4 city bus route free. What a nice way of reducing traffic and allowing visitors to view the city.
I think it is very forward thinking from the city.

I know I mentioned it before, but with all the rain we had in the prairies, well this is the fourth time they closed the riverbank trails this summer. A very rare occurrence and the water has dropped.
"The Fork" is where the Assiniboine and the Red rivers meet. A very important trading post was here in the 1800's.

We have done a tour of the city with the free bus just to get ourselves oriented. The information center in Winnipeg is excellent. Almost too good, they give you so much information it is unreal.
A little walk and back to the motorhome.

Tuesday July 15, 2010

Lower Fort Garry. Let's visit!

Some information about the latest history of this fort...

We even got a guided tour in French. Our guide is Metis, she spokes French, but had not done a French tour for the passe few weeks. She was a little rusty, but still very good. Her accent resembles a little like the Acadian accent.
There was just the guide and us two.

The Lower Fort Garry is actually a Hudson's Bay company Fort.
It was built in a military fashion because the plans already existed.

Even if this was not a military fort, it was used by military soldiers during the unrest and the Rebellion of 1885. No battle took place here, so the soldiers had it very good. They actually got bored and engraved their name in the limestone blocks at the entrance of the fort.

The general store, trading post, employment center and many other title at different times.

With the actors that were present in each building, it was very interesting because they were telling us who they were and what was life all about during that time. I strongly recommend a visit at Lower Fort Garry.

You may remember, I was telling you about a stove that was easy to assemble and dis-assemble for travel?
Well here it is, dis-assembled.

You have to know that nothing was manufactured in Canada in those days. Everything came from Europe. They actually were not allowed to manufacture anythings in Canada in those years. That way the jobs stayed in Europe.

Winter was the slow time in Canada in the 1800's. Therefore, to pass the time, you did things just for the fun of it.

A nice view inside the walls of the fort.

I have to explain the picture below. You notice that the glasses and the bars are not lining up. This building started as a warehouse, then became a jail. They even had cells under the building, right in the dirt, but the building started to sink in one corner and the walls started to droop. They fixed the window, but not the bars.
Also this building was used as a Psychiatric asylum for a few years.

Since this fort was built in the military fashion, it had an Arrow slit.
During an attack, if no archer was using the arrow slit they would place a rock to block the slit and slide the piece of wood to hold the rock in place.

Of course the "Big Guy" who ran the fort had the nicest, biggest house in the fort.
Just like the military, ranks has its privileges.

I know, I know, I love old stoves, but I cannot have a picture of all of them, but a few is OK.
A stove that heats two rooms at the same time!

Very pretty stove, but nobody could tell me anythings about the purpose of the stove, other than heat.
Anybody out there knows anything about this stove (or any of the stoves on the pages)?