Back from Friendly Manitoba

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There is a lot of long road that looks like this on the way to Manitoba from the West Coast

We hopped in the car and shot off to Manitoba during last week's Spring School Break. It was a wonderful trip! I had been back and forth across Canada a couple of times before, but always traveling in the summer. Winter is a different trip altogether. There are not many people in the summer, I have found, but even fewer in the winter. Of course, the biggest difference aside from the climate is that we could not camp (too cold, and sites closed). We got to see a lot of crummy motels. I didn't mind (much)-- that's all part of the adventure.

While I find pretty much all of Canada beautiful and interesting, one thing I that really stood out for me was that the slogan on the Manitoba license plate ('Friendly Manitoba') is true. Spending two nights and a full day in Stonewall Manitoba, where my oldest son is doing the second stage of his Katimavik volunteer program, I was blown away by just how friendly Manatobians are: total strangers waving cheerfully from their cars, as though you are a long lost family member. Nice.

Due to not camping, we ate all of our meals out. I'd say one of the things I like most about traveling like that is not having to cook or do dishes. Paradoxically, one of the things I least like is having to eat relatively unhealthy restaurant food all the time!