Nine days in Canada

Manitoba Legislative Building -
Winnipeg

We crossed from Minnesota into Canada just north of Grand Portage. We drove north and worked our way to the Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 17 in Ontario). We continued westerly until we got to Winnipeg, MB with a night stop over at Wabigoon Lake, ON. The Trans-Canada Highway is Highway 1 in Manitoba and west. Our drive across Ontario was wooded, rather hilly and around lots of lakes. Once we got to Manitoba we were in the great plains farmland and the land was flatter and more open.

Bridge, with restaurant, across Red
River in Winnipeg, MB

We went into Winnipeg for a day and, of course, toured the Manitoba Legislative Building (Capitol). It is a nice building but most of it gives a feel of a big, old office building. There is very little attempt at grandeur as we’ve found in many Capitols. They don’t have multiple branches of government so there is just one assembly room. 

Saskatchewan Legislative Building -
Regina

We then found a place to park near an area called “TheForks”. This is an historic area at the meeting of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers where trade has taken place for centuries. There are two large buildings that used to be used for warehousing that have been renovated into modern shops and eateries. There is also a nice park and walking/biking path along the rivers. We walked around including taking the path across the Red River, on the only bridge in the world that has a restaurant on it, over to the French Quarter of Old St. Boniface.

Queen Elizabeth II statue

We then spent a day driving to Regina, Saskatchewan where we spent a night before going into town to tour the Saskatchewan Legislative Building(Capitol). This building was very similar to the building in Winnipeg but it had marble in the main staircase and rotunda so it looked a little grander. Otherwise, it too was mainly a big office building. From there we went to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Heritage Center which is a museum providing the entire history of the group. It was a nice building and the displays were well done so we learned a lot.

RCMP Heritage Center

The same day, we made the relatively short drive to Moose Jaw to take one of the tours in the Tunnels of Moose Jaw. We did the prohibition tour which was done in a theatrical style with a couple people pretending we, the tour group, were interested in buying some of Al Capones hidden stash. It was cheesy, not particularly well done and there was no true explanation of the tunnels themselves. Therefore, it was pretty much disappointing.

Lunch stop on Middle Waterton Lake
Waterton National Park, Canada

After spending the night in Moose Jaw we drove to Medicine Hat Alberta where we spent the night before going on to our grand finale for this trip into Canada – Waterton Lakes National Park which is on the Canadian side of Glacier National Park. The two parks together comprise the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park World Heritage Site. We had a beautiful day for our drive from Medicine Hat so we started seeing mountains on the horizon 60 miles away. As we got closer we recalled why we say “the west is best” – the Rocky Mountains are awesome.

Upper Waterton Lake on Boat Tour

As we entered the park we drove by the smallest of the Waterton Lakes and stopped for lunch in a parking area with a beautiful view on Middle Waterton Lake. After hanging out there for a while we drove on to the campground in the little town of Waterton Park which is on Upper Waterton Lake. The setting is gorgeous, nestled in the mountains on the lake.

Over 70 percent of the park was burnt in 2017 and all of that is closed which includes most trails and side drives, so, over the next two days we walked around town, walked along the shore, walked over to a waterfall that isn’t very far, walked up to the Prince of Wales Lodge and did a boat tour of the lake which was fantastic. The boat tour goes the entire length of the Upper Waterton Lake so it crosses the international boundary into Glacier National Park. Our tour narrator was great and we were blessed with perfect weather. It was worth every cent.

USA / Canada Border on boat tour

Upper Waterton Lake from Prince
of Wales lodge