Manitoba Road Trip

On July 24th we went on a day trip with Arthur's Uncle and Aunt to see some more of the sights around Manitoba, the province where we live, and to be together telling stories.

This is a small store in St. Lupicin.

We left home not sure where we'd end up. We were thinking of maybe going to Neepawa for the Lily Festival but we didn't make it. The potential of crowds of people kept us away.

Where did we go instead of Neepawa? We drove through a valley near Rosielle enjoying some actual hills in Manitoba. We spent a lot of time at the Austin Agricultural Museum. The Annual Thresherman's Reunion will be there next weekend so the place was looking pretty good in preparation for that. There were volunteers working all over the place but we toured most of the buildings without meeting a single soul.

This house was the original farmstead on the property. It housed a family with 11 kids. On the sign outside, there was a list of everyone's name.

We visited at least 4 old churches which have turned into museums. Three of them have been moved to the Austin museum. The one in the photos here is still on the site where it was built, in Cardinal, Manitoba.

We also went further up north to see the very conservative group of Mennonites who moved from Ontario to some farms north of Gladstone. They don't use electricity or motors for most things. Here is a small photo of them haying with horses and a wagon.

We stopped at a Mennonite house that was advertising potatoes and we bought $7 of new potatoes (dirt included). It was a bit sobering because the family was living in what looked to be complete poverty in an old house which I think should have been condemned. I didn't take any pictures because it seemed disrespectful. We also stopped at a workshop and met some men making furniture. They were using a gas powered motor to turn their saws and sanders.

We had supper in Portage La Prairie at Dick's Cafe, a Chinese restaurant recommended to us by my sister. The dinner for four was fantastic.