July 4, 2014 Weekend Adventures

The land where we parked the camper belongs to family.  It's a part of farm land in Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba.  The structure in the below picture is referred to as "the barn" and is used for family gatherings.  There's another barn where equipment is stored, a train caboose that Carol and Rhonda (Carol is Catherine's sister) have refurbished into a little cabin of sorts.  There's a very well made and clean "port-a-potty" with a hand-washing station.  Rhonda's parents own the land, their names are Mort and Alice, they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  They're probably two of the nicest people I've ever met.  Mort reminds me of my grandfather, with his stories and anecdotes.  Sunday a group of us sat and visited for awhile.  Alice brought her famous butter tarts and we had coffee and tea.  Rhonda had brought a couple friends up to explore the lake.  Kenny loves it there because he gets free run of the place, it's as though he has an entire dog park all to himself.  He ran himself ragged most days; even today he is tuckered out and has been napping the day away.

Saturday we went for a drive, exploring some of the provincial parks.  Most were very "woodsy" and small.  One that we had wanted to see the most was Whiteshell.  Very pretty, but quite the drive along windy roads.

Probably the strangest place I've ever seen a phone booth.....though most places out this way have zero cell phone service.  I can't imagine running to a phone booth if you were to be attacked by a bear though.  =)

Saturday afternoon was a day of relaxing, I'm sure Kenny enjoyed it far more than I did - being eaten by mosquito's which is a clear downfall. 

Sunday was supposed to be a "reading" and whatever day, but we ended up going to the old Pinawa dam.  Pinawa is a tiny little town a short drive from Lac Du Bonnet.  Pinnawa had been established as an atomic research town; there are still massive barrack like complexes that housed the scientists.  The Pinawa dam is referred to as "OP" for "Old Pinawa."  Much of the bedrock is exposed and there are lots of trails to walk and explore what are basically the ruins of the damn.  Here are some of my favorite pictures.

The below picture is my absolute favorite of all of them.

This sort of made me think of the ruins in Rome.  I have always wanted to visit the Coliseum, take a tour of the catacombs and see where gladiators fought.

The below is an Inuksuk, it's a cairn often built by the Inuit and used as a point of reference or a way to mark a path.  

There was all sorts of wildlife, bunnies, squirrels, fishies - here's what I captured while walking the trails.

Since we were adventuring we drove a little further and came to Manitoba Hydro dam in Seven Sisters Falls.  We walked the length of the dam which is almost two city blocks across the river.  I had to carry Kenny as he became scared, I think because of the vibrations on his feet from the massive power of the water gushing through the dam.  

After all that walking in the hot sun, an ice cream was in order and because I was missing you I thought rainbow ice cream would be the best way to slake my craving of both. ;-)