Manitoba bound!

We have decided to travel this year to Manitoba, fuel prices are still high but sticker shock has worn off and seems to be the new reality. The trip will be nearly a month with a combination of family visits, spaniel trials and retriever hunt tests. It’s an ambitious plan with 2 golden retrievers and 2 English cocker spaniels as our travel companions, we will not be bored!

May 25th; Revelstoke

We headed out in the evening to Nanaimo’s Duke Point ferry as we have done in the past, we pull in after the last ferry has departed and sleep in the parking lot which makes catching that 5:15 am ferry easier. This time though a semi truck pulled in behind us to do the same thing, he left this truck running the whole night, not much sleep for us with our bed backing onto his engine!

Our destination was Revelstoke’s Lamplighter Campground. This is a very nice spot, so well taken care of with mature trees to give shade. It has a brand new shower/laundry/camp kitchen building. We had a relaxing evening and a much better night’s sleep.

Our morning began with a sad happening; in the camper next to us were a mother & daughter on their way to a family reunion, we got up to sirens, fire truck and 2 ambulance arriving, long story short the daughter had an apparent heart attack leaving her elderly mother alone, Peter sat with her while the EMT’s did their best for the daughter but she did not survive. The RCMP arrived shortly after, a victim assistance person came and at that time we felt we could leave the lady. A stark reminder to cherish every moment in our precious lives.

May 26th Hoodoo Campground, Drumheller

Our plan for the next stop was Hanna, we had booked a campsite at Hanna Paradise Corner Campground. The directions were ” give me a call, I’ll meet you in the Tim Horton’s gravel parking lot and you can follow me”, the more we thought about, the sketchier it felt, after the morning’s start we really didn’t need anymore drama, so change of plans and on to Hoodoo Campground at Drumheller. This is another great spot, especially for families. There is a large center green area with all the camping spots on the perimeter. Lots of playground equipment and soccer nets, after supper kids from all over the campground played a pickup game of soccer, kids from 14 to 4, racing around. This campground also had a 5 Acre! field dedicated to dogs, we took our 4 over for a much needed run and practiced some stays and recalls.

There is a section of this campground for permanent RV sites, each had quite elaborate additions on to the sides of their RV’s with lawns and gardens. No shanty town here!

The drive through the hoodoos was as always spectacular.

May 26,27 Saskatchewan

Not surprising the drive today was boring – flat straight highways that go on forever it seems. I amused myself by trying to capture the town’s signs, always either on a grain elevator or a water tower. Calli the spaniel was bored too 🙂

Our next stop is to Muenster to have a visit with Peter’s relatives. We had booked the Humboldt Heritage Campground as it was only a 15 min drive from Muenster. This is not a campground that I would recommend, it used to be run by the Town but recently was off loaded to the Heritage committee, it is not cared for and we will be glad to be busy with family and only sleeping there.

We will be going to see the family farm today, a place that Peter has many fond memories of growing up.

The dogs got to really stretch their legs and even got in a swim in one of the holding ponds! It’s a beautiful 6000 acre working farm that is clearly a labor of love.

After our visit to the farm, we went to the family’s church, I was so surprised to see this church appear up a farm road with farm fields around it. I learned that Peter and his brother had served as alter boys at this church for a family wedding! The family is proud to share their church and have contributed to it’s maintenance and art work.

It was a wonderful couple of days filled with family and outstanding prairie hospitality!

May 29th Manitoba

Back on the road as we make the final travel leg to Manitoba, as expected it was a long straight highway drive, I continue to amuse my self with grain elevator town signage. I had forgotten what heavy pockets of rain Manitoba has, we were reminded a few times on this travel day, the windshield wipers had no chance of keeping up!

May 29, 30,31

We arrived at Peter’s brother and wife’s home in Grande Pointe, it was wonderful to reconnect. It is an acreage so again the dogs lucked out with big spaces to run after a long drive.

We went to see a heritage site in Grande Pointe the Riel House. The Riel Historic Site commemorates the life of the Metis politician and activist Louis Riel and the daily life of Metis families in the Red River settlement. Peter’s family are descendants of Louis Riel through his Lavallee side which made seeing this site quite personal.

June 1,2,3

We carried on to Portage La Prairie to visit my Enns family. My cousin Jocelyn has a permanent RV campsite along the Assiniboine River and booked us into a guest RV spot. While visiting with cousins and their families I wanted to go to Gretna where our parents grew up to visit my Enns grandparent’s graves and to find the family home in Gretna. We visited the grave yard and found my grandparents as well as an aunt and uncle.

Before going to the graveyard we stopped in Altona to have my other wish of some authentic Mennonite food. I got my wish! At least 1000 calories but I did not care! My Altona cousin found for me packages of the Mennonite farmers sausage to take home!

Visiting the Enns family home will become a funny story for the next family reunion. We drove into Greta from the grave yard and quickly found the family home. It was beautiful, we met the current owner who told us that is now deemed a heritage home so protected for generations to come. She invited us in to look around, pictures were taken. That evening when we got back to the RV I sent photos to my mother, she replied to be “why are you taking pictures of the Smith house”? We had the wrong house! Another cousin sent me a photo of the right house and Mom gave directions, all things I would have done but I assumed my local cousins would know the house. While not as grand as the heritage house it is a lovely solid family home and I know now where my mother grew up.

Our family time was finished off with a cousins gathering at the campground, thanks Joc for making this happen!

June 5-8

Moving away from family visits and into the dog training world. We travelled to stay with Manitoba spaniel friends that we have met at the Alberta trials. They have a 1/4 section of amazing land and have built a home there aptly named “The Lodge”. We had a wonderful time of visits filled with dog talk. Training was morning retriever work for the goldens and late afternoon into the evening spaniel training. It was darned hot so laid low in the mid day. So much fun and so much learning for us!

One hot afternoon we made a trip into Gimli, Peter had a pickerel burger which was outstanding, on our way back we found the mosquito statue, the area’s claim to fame is the mosquito capital of the world. We lucked in as we were a bit early for the first hatch so no bites for us! But, ticks oh my, were glad to have treated the dogs with tick medication ahead of time.

June 9-12

We now turned our truck and trailer west, crossing Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the Spaniel Trials in Picture Butte Alberta. The Country Side RV park was just as good as ever, this is our 3rd time camping here. Our friends Dave and Brenda and Brant and Linda camped for the weekend here as well. Lots of shared dinners and conversation.

The ESSA Trials at the McVinnie Reservoir were great. Calli made it through to the 3rd series in the Open trial, competing with the pros, so big achievement and progress for us. The 3rd series was very challenging ground with 5 long rows of thick cover for the dogs to work. I think I could have handled her better, I have more to learn! Peter and 9 month old Ricochet placed 4th in the puppy trial, so proud of them as puppy can be up to 2 years of age, he was the youngest pup there.