Sunday July 19th Winnipeg MB

Appreciated waking to a clear blue sky. Relaxed on the deck over a lazy breakfast before deciding to drive north to Gimli, a beach town on Lake Winnipeg. As Barb doesn’t have a car, we all loaded in Ruakiwi, including the dog, who we dropped off at a friends place for the day.

Great drive, especially having a “Guide Barb” answering our questions. The fields of canola are a vivid yellow, and they just glowed in the sun, such a contrast against the clear blue sky. We really are in the prairies, the country is just so flat, you can see forever.

Lake Winnipeg, especially in this southern end appears quite dirty, but the large sandy beach was full of people enjoying the warm summers day, and a number were swimming.

There is a breakwater with a promenade and a large marina. The inside wall of the breakwater is covered with murals depicting the area around Gimli and are all drawn by locals. It is a continual job restoring them in this harsh environment as the waves pour over during storms and the ice of winter plays havoc. A number of artists were working as we walked along and chatted with a number of them. Ian checked out the boats and Barb and I visited the local art gallery.

Late lunch in a café, and we had a juicy pickerel burger, the local lake fish…delicious.

Headed back into town to McNally Robinson, a huge bookstore that is one of Barb’s favourite places, but only had 10 minutes before the store shut at 6. Really was a great store.

In the nearby carpark we checked out the gathering of classic and vintage cars, which happens every Sunday afternoon in the summer. Owners polish their prized possessions and assemble together, proudly open up boots and bonnets and leave them on display for people to enjoy. They seem to gather in the nearby restaurant over a beer and share stories and later on they all cruise the streets, just wonderful.

Home to a welcome beer on the deck until the mosquitoes drove us inside as the sun went down.