From Yorkton Hwy 10 turns into #5 in Manitoba. We arrived in MB at 9:40 am and as we crested a hill we drove down into a scenic valley with Lake of the Prairies at the bottom. We were in awe of the view, but it happened so fast I could not get a picture until we could pull over on the other side of the bridge. The lake was beautiful, set in a lush valley with Vicker's Campsite overlooking the lake. A lot of fishermen in boats of various size and stature fishing in the lake today. Too bad it was so early in the day or we could have camped there for the night. But as usual the wind has not stopped.
Our trek continues and it is very pretty through here, green fields, lots of poplar trees line the road. This is called the Parkland area of Manitoba. The Shell River is running along beside us on and off - reminds us of the Cariboo in a way. We even see some evergreen trees in the groves - this is quite a change from the flatness of the prairies and the brown fields of grain. The wind has calmed and at Grandview the landscape changes again to more grain fields. We stopped to find the museum but the road was closed due to construction and no coffee shop we could see - so off down the road to the next town. Too bad to as the town was very cute with most of the houses being older and white. Okay here comes a little town - Gilbert Plains and a coffee shop, yeah! We ordered coffee and looked around. All men in here - a table of 4 from the men's coffee club I presume, another table with two highways workers, another table of two workers from the school board and a table of 4 Natural resource Officers, three with flapjackets on and all the firearms to go with it. We talked to them and found out they are the same as our Conservation Officers in BC. They told us of the narrows where there is good fishing right from shore - it is north though and we are headed south soon so we will see if we make it there.
We carried on our journey heading to Dauphin. Here is Dauphin and we are looking for the Fort Dauphin museum which we find easily. Interesting this was an actual fort in the day and the buildings are original. The outdoor oven, the laundry tubs, the garden are all in good shape. The blacksmith shop at the Hudson's Bay trading post are in one old building and the Trappers cabin is a very small building with a very small doorway - Dan had to bend to enter the cabin, but I had no problem. Peter Fiedler was an unsung hero - he came from England and surveyed and mapped much of Western Canada. He died at the age of 53 in 1822 at Ft. Dauphin. He left behind 10 children. Dauphin was also near the German POW camp at Riding Mountain. Interesting museum.
As we left Dauphin we passed a very large factory - Norwex Industries. We then headed east on Hwy 50 towards Lake Manitoba. We wanted to drive to a campsite on the lake but are not finding any. Lots of First Nations reserves along the lake but no camping. So off we go headed to Portage La Prairie. Somewhere there was a time change but we never saw a sign. We camped at a real nice campground 9 Kms out towards Winnipeg - Millers Campground Resort. There is a laundry facility there so tomorrow I think will be laundry day. Time for supper and a relaxing evening. Gidget is just happy, happy to be camping! Good night.
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