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In Part One, we made it from our Ontario home to Winnipeg, Manitoba, to visit family prior to heading further west for the family reunion in Regina.
Our first destination west of Winnipeg was Spruce Woods Provincial Park. Still, along the way we had to stop to see several tourist sites in the small Manitoba towns, including: the world’s largest fire hydrant, the world’s largest smoking pipe, the glass bottle houses (made from thousands of whiskey, rye, wine, rum, and gin bottles), and Sara the camel. We love visiting these quirky attractions in small towns as we travel.
After we checked into Spruce Woods Provincial Park, we set up in our campsite (which was surrounded by Poison Ivy) and then went for a walk around the campground, the beach area, and then the Isputinaw Trail, which climbed from the marsh up 30 metres to a lookout and ridge.
The following day, we got an early start so we could do the Devil’s Punch Bowl hike in the Spirit Sands section of the park. The ranger had warned us to start early, which was a good thing as the daytime temperatures were climbing to 35 degrees Celsius! We completed the 10-kilometer hike through the forest and desert in the morning, and it was a good thing we brought lots of water with us, as one couple had run out, and we were able to share some of our water with them.
We saw lots of flowers along the trail and insects in the sand. The Devil’s Punch Bowl was formed by springs that were flowing towards the Assiniboine River, but after the sandbanks collapsed, they formed a bowl-shaped depression called a punch bowl. Over time, the bowl continues to move further away from the river. The colour of the water makes for a dramatic contrast with the surrounding dunes and forest. The bowl now has lots of water, plant life, and even some turtles. We had seen very few people on the trails, but there was a fair number congregating around the bowl.
After the Devil’s Punch Bowl, we detoured over to see the Assiniboine River, which had been a major trade route with birchbark canoes, river ferries, and even paddlewheel steamers late in the 1800s. We had done this same hike nine years ago, but that day we got very wet with rain, so even though we had lots of heat this time, it was still more enjoyable.
Our next destination was Crooked Lake Provincial Park in Saskatchewan, but on the way, we made several stops to see new things.
The first stop was the town of Wawanesa, as it was the location where our RV insurance company began its operations in 1896. The original building for the insurance company, built in 1901, is now a museum, but it wasn’t open on the day we arrived. We met a local town councillor, and he was very happy to let us know what to go and see in the town, including the tea house where we could buy freshly baked large cinnamon buns. We also saw the Anglican Church built in 1882, which is the second-oldest church in western Manitoba and was declared a provincial heritage building in 1991. It is the best example in Manitoba of an elaborate Gothic Revival church built of wood.
The Manitoba tourist guide recommended the town of Souris to see Canada’s Longest Swinging Suspension Bridge at 604-feet. The first suspension bridge was built in 1904, but it was swept away by floods on the Souris River in 1976. The second bridge was cut loose in 2011 to prevent shore damage from floodwaters. The current bridge was built 5 feet higher in 2013 and has incredibly strong cables, so it should last a long time. We crossed the bridge towards town and could see the remnants of the original bridge, which looked pretty dicey.
Next, we drove around Victoria Park and saw the Peacock statue. We could hear the live Peacocks they have in the town, but we didn’t see any of the actual birds. We also saw the Hillcrest Museum, the Railway Museum, and the Plum Souris Heritage Museum, but they weren’t open when we were there. We went out for lunch at the Whistling Donkey Family Restaurant & Lounge.
Our last stop in Manitoba was the Antique Automobile Museum in Elkhorn. Sharon’s dad had donated his 1955 Packard to the museum. It was supposed to have been driven in the Canada Day parade the day before, but the test driver felt the brakes weren’t working correctly, so it couldn’t be driven. We spent a couple of hours exploring the museum, taking in the cars, the schoolhouse, the 1912 Pioneer house, the 1905 Church, the old gas station, and the outside collection of still-to-be-restored cars.
We entered Saskatchewan and headed north off the Trans-Canada, having a dramatic descent into the Qu’Appelle Valley to reach Crooked Lake Provincial Park.
The Saskatchewan parks charge you for your campsite, but they also charge a daily parking permit fee of $11 per vehicle. Our campsite was quite pretty right on Crooked Lake, but we had to back through a lot of tree branches to get into the site. We took a couple of kilometers walk around the campground, down to the beach (the water was nice), and to see the boat launch area.
When we returned for happy hour, there was a baby crow in our campsite. He was crying because he couldn’t figure out how to fly back to the nest. His parents kept swooping down trying to tell him to fly, but he wasn’t able. When we left the next day, he was still hopping around. We hope he eventually figures out what to do. Crooked Lake Provincial Park was a new one for us, and one night was enough time, as they didn’t have any hiking trails to explore.
The next day, we were heading on to Regina. This time of year, it’s quite pretty to travel in the prairies as the canola crop is in full bloom. It was a very hot day at 37 degrees Celsius, so we were glad for the air conditioning in the RV.
Our first stop was to visit cousins, and we went out for a poutine lunch at the Coney Island Café. I had the Mexican poutine, and Sharon had the perogy poutine, and needless to say, we took away lots of leftovers. After lunch, we took a quick tour of Government House, located just down the street.
Government House was declared a National Historic Site in 1968. A complete restoration of the house started in 1978 and was completed by September 1980, when it reopened. In 1984, Saskatchewan’s 16th Lieutenant Governor was able to move back into the house. They do tours on the hour, but we didn’t have time for the full tour, so the guide gave us a very quick walk-through so we could take pictures. We should return the next time we’re in Regina for the full tour.
Our next stop was Moose Jaw for two nights. We had booked a campground site in the Wakamow Valley at Lorne Calvert Campground on the Moose Jaw River.
Family was joining us from Calgary and camping with us in their new tent. The rest of the family was staying in the Temple Gardens Hotel & Spa in the downtown area. After checking in, we went out for a deep-dish pizza dinner at Houston’s and then went to the spa pools at Temple Gardens. If you’re camping in Moose Jaw, you can purchase a day pass for the mineral pools to enjoy a relaxing soak.
The next day, we started off with a big breakfast at Veroba’s Family Restaurant.
As it turned out, Moose Jaw was also having its annual Kinsmen Sidewalk Days Festival, so we got to walk the main street to see all the vendors along the nine blocks that were closed off. It was a hot day again, so we took the opportunity to go inside the Grant Hall Hotel (opened in 1927), and in the basement was Prairie Bee Meadery. The salesperson had lots of history to tell us as we sampled 14 different products and, of course, purchased several of them.
Sharon had heard about a place called Déjà vu Café that had 80 flavours of milkshakes and had been featured on the TV show called “You Gotta Eat Here,” so we went to try them out. I had the habanero milkshake, and it was surprisingly good.
In the afternoon, we spent more time in the spa pools and tried out the steam room. That evening we tried out Nit’s Thai Food, and it was excellent for dinner. We had fun with the waitress as she acted like an elephant when we ordered the Chang Thai beer (which has 2 elephants with locked trunks on the label).
As I mentioned in part one of this trip, our primary motivation for this journey was to attend the Swenson family reunion in Regina. It was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Swenson family’s journey by ship from Sweden to Canada, where they sought to make a new life.
On Saturday morning, we drove back to Regina from Moose Jaw and were able to park our RV at the hotel where all the family members were staying. We had a day of visiting, meeting new relatives, family photos, enjoying meals together, including the famous Swedish thin bread. The organizers had done a phenomenal job putting together the whole day.
Sunday morning, several people had breakfast in the hotel before dispersing. We were heading with the RV to Moose Mountain Provincial Park in Saskatchewan, but again had to stop in several small towns along the way.
The first was Montmartre, which was named by settlers in 1892 who came from the Paris suburb of Montmartre. In 2009, to celebrate the community’s 100th anniversary, they constructed the 8.5-meter Eiffel Tower replica, which contains 3,600 kilograms of steel. We also visited the St. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church, and it appeared to have the same layout as one we had seen in Alaska in 2019.
Our next stop was Kipling, where you can see the World’s Largest Red Paperclip, which was made to celebrate the famous trade-up story. In 2005, Canadian Kyle MacDonald did 14 trades over the span of one year to work his way from 1 red paper clip up to a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan (you can read about it here.) The record red paperclip is 15 feet 2 inches long and is made of 3,043 pounds of steel. The actual house Kyle traded for is now a bakery, but it wasn’t open on Sunday.
We were planning to stay at Moose Mountain Provincial Park for two nights. It was the first Provincial Park in Saskatchewan, established in 1931, and contains 400 square kilometers of forested hills, lakes, and prairie grasslands. It reminded us of Falcon Lake, where Sharon’s parents used to have a cottage, as the campground is nestled amongst the cottage/home residences within the park.
The park seemed to be very crowded, as it was the first full week in July. After setting up, we took a short hike on the Peninsula trail, and we regretted not bringing our bug spray, as the mosquitoes were having a heyday feasting on our blood. We got lovely photos of a Northern Pearly-eye butterfly, a Hairy woodpecker, and a Baltimore Oriole.
The next morning, we experienced heavy rain (our first of the trip), which halted our plan to go mountain biking. Finally, in the afternoon, it cleared so we got the bikes out and rode to the Visitor centre. There were some artists in residence buildings, and we spent about 40 minutes with a bronze statue artist as he explained all the steps involved in making a bronze statue. It’s quite a fascinating and involved process. The artist Ken Frederickson has actually created some of the statues/trophies used for the contestants of the Calgary Stampede.
The visitor center was on the lower level of the stone chalet, with the park offices on the upper levels. The first chalet was completed in 1932, but just over 1.5 years later, it was destroyed by a fire, and then rebuilt 1 year later. There were several exhibits to explore, including the history of the stone chalet, the Treaty 4 land claim settlement, wildlife in the park, such as the Cougar, and the park’s ecology, which features thousands of lakes.
After the visitor center, we decided to try an MTB ride on the Beaver Lake Trail and the Youell Lake Trail. The conditions were muddy from the morning rain, but it was fun as there were a lot of up and down sections. Hard work on the climbs, but maximum speed on the descents. We brought our bug spray today, so we didn’t have any issues with the mosquitoes. We only saw three other people on the trails.
On the way back to the campground, we rode through some of the cottage streets, and there were some pretty impressive places. We had lots of mud to clean off the bikes before we could put them away. That evening we had a gorgeous sunset across Little Kenosee Lake from our campsite, what a perfect ending to a great stay.
Our final camping destination for this leg of our journey was Rivers Provincial Park in Manitoba. En route, we stopped in Maryfield, Saskatchewan, for lunch at the Arlington Hotel and to buy some groceries at the general store. Then we stopped in Virden, Manitoba, to see the old train station.
On the way to Rivers, we saw some typical Prairie grain silos/elevators, which are the symbols of rural heritage in western Canada.
Rivers Provincial Park turned out to be a bit of a bust. Our campsite was nice along the water, but unfortunately, due to the high temperatures we’ve been experiencing, the lakeshore was covered with blue-green algae, which really smelled bad, and you definitely couldn’t go swimming. We did go for a hike to the beach and down to the dam, but we were glad we had only booked one night.
The following day, we returned to Winnipeg, but we had some stops along the way again.
First, we were in Minnedosa to see the Lions Lookout Tower and the Swing bridge in the Heritage Village. We also saw the outside of the Octagon Agricultural Display building, which is one of only two left in Manitoba. Next was Farmery Brewery in Neepawa, where I tried a flight of beers, while Sharon tried some canned Caesar’s with different flavors.
We purchased many products here, as they are no longer available in Ontario. Further in the town, there was a restaurant called Brews Brothers Bistro, so I thought we should go for beer and lunch, but it turned out Brews was for coffee, not beer. Our lunch was delicious, with Sharon having the perogy pizza while I had the smoked brisket burger. We stopped in Gladstone to see Happy Rock, which seemed to have a fresh coat of paint. The last stop before Winnipeg was Portage La Prairie so that we could see the Windmill, the Canadair CT-133 Silver Star training plane, and the birdlife on the lake.
We spent a week back in Winnipeg, visiting family. Some of the highlights included attending the Rock of Ages theatre show at the Rainbow Stage in Kildonan Park, trying a new restaurant called Dave & Laverne’s with family, attending a family BBQ, and watching the new F1 movie.
That will conclude Part Two of our journey. In Part Three, we will cover the trip from Manitoba back to our home in Ontario, and it will include a complete map of this three-part journey.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://leisurevans.com/blog/ontario-to-saskatchewan-part-two/