Celebrating Canada

We were in Canada for Canada Day, and we couldn’t be more excited! The opportunity to celebrate this day in Winnipeg was awesome, and we had lots of plans. We started off the day with a local neighborhood breakfast our hosts, who were allowing us to boondock on their property, had invited us to. It was fun feeling like one of the locals meeting together at the community center for breakfast. It was a tasty breakfast of pancakes and sausage and then we headed out to stroll through the old cars parked out for display in the grass. There were so many unique ones and Corbin and I tried to imagine going on our cross-country adventure in one of those old cars. Not sure we could do it.

After breakfast, next stop was The Forks- a green space and meeting center in downtown Winnipeg. Knowing traffic and parking would be horrific, Corbin and I rode the few miles to downtown on our scooter with little Paris in the dog carrier between us. We still had to pay to park at the center, but we didn’t have any trouble finding a spot and we knew leaving would be so much easier with our little scooter.

The Forks was really a cool place. As we first walked in, we saw a canvas topped small performing area where there was some great local music playing. There were restaurants all around and buildings that offered more food and tons of cute shops, creating a kind of unique mall experience. Also, it was all right by the river and there were historic features and lots of walking paths and grassy areas to sit down and relax in the shade.

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We started off the afternoon at the powwow celebrating indigenous people. There was drumming, dancing, chanting, stories shared and prayers said. It was a powerful experience and the perfect way to begin our time at The Forks. Next, we headed to the food trucks which were all serving food that made our mouths water. We chose to go with the poutine truck since it was Canada Day and we love poutine. I ordered the poutine with italian sausage, gravy and cheese and Corbin ordered poutine with pulled pork on top. They were both delicious!

We took a little snooze in the shade with full bellies afterwards, but then went back to walk through the little shops. These shopping places were so unique, with stores from all different kinds of cultures as well as the usual boutique-like shops. We browsed along for a while, picking up a Canada sticker to add to our bumper collection.

Finally, it was time to enjoy the music. We headed to the main stage area and found a comfy spot on the grassy hill. We soaked up the sun and bought snow cones to try and stay cool as we listened and grooved along. It was a fun afternoon, and we thought a pretty successful Canada Day experience. But, the heat was getting to us and we started to feel drowsy again. So, we headed back to our little scooter and made our way home to our van.

We didn’t have any fireworks to set off, but there were plenty of neighbors who did. It was fun to watch the bright colors through our skylight windows, although Paris didn’t appreciate the loud noises much. Winnipeg had been great, and we had loved meeting and staying with our boondocker hosts, but tomorrow we were heading back out of the city and into the woods again.