Spring Break Adventures on a Budget in Manitoba
I love a good guide book. Whether it’s going on Safari in East Africa with the Lonely Planet or neighbourhood adventures with a local guidebook, we are here for it. I recently purchased: A Daytripper’s Guide to Manitoba by Bartley Kives to explore Manitoba and learn a few new things along the way.
We decided to explore North along the Red River. There are a few destinations that we knew would be fun to explore with the kids. We started from Winnipeg and drove Northeast to the furthest point first, and then meandered our way down, stopping along the way. Why did we do this? We knew that we would all be gungho at the beginning of the trip and less so at the end- so a shorter ride home felt good.
Places we went:
St. Peter’s Dynevor Anglican Church
“… formerly all-Indigenous parish and the final resting place of Saulteaux Chief Peguis.” Daytrippers Guide page 105. The history around this church is quite sad. Chief Peguis shared his land with the settlers and then was betrayed and his land was taken away from him and his people and they were displaced. Canada was built on this. We need to keep learning about our history even when it’s uncomfortable.
Chuck the Channel Cat (in Selkirk)
Want to see an oversized statue? Look no further! The fibreglass catfish statue in Selkirk will dazzle the eyes… or not cuz it’s a big ugly fish. Question from the kids “was it ever real?” I love their questions.
Marine Museum (in Selkirk)
Retired ships sitting on land, near the river. Fun exploration for kids. It’s not open in winter so you can’t go into the ships and explore. But since it’s not open- it’s free! We walked around the ships and walked under them. It’s right beside a park with nice paths. We walked along a path, climbed a tree and ran down a hill.
Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site
Old Stone fort that served York boats. Lower Fort Garry is closed in the winter but they keep the gates open so you can still go into the fort but not inside the buildings. Since it was closed, they provided a self-guiding tour brochure that we followed.
Lockport
Raises the water levels and looks cool. We took some time at the Lockport Provincial Heritage Park to eat a snack and then walked down to the river. The river is still mostly frozen- we saw cars on the river. But by the locks, the water is open. It was fun to hear and see the river water rushing down the locks. In summer we like to come down here and throw rocks and sticks in the water.
River Road
Twisty road along the red river, beautiful views of the river and old stone settler houses.
For those that love details and time orientation, here’s our breakdown of the day in more detail:
7:00- 7:30 am woke up and ate breakfast
7:30- 8:30 am rushed around the house getting ready for the day of adventuring- packed a bag lunch, packed all the snacks, everyone got dressed, packed extra clothes in case of puddles, packed more snacks and we were out the door by 8:30 am.
8:30- 9:00 am- drove North (from Winnipeg to St. Peter’s Dynevor Anglican Church)
9:00- 9:30 am- St. Peter’s: explored the outside of the church and cemetery. We read the plaque and other signs around the grounds.
9:30 am- drove South 10 minutes to Selkirk
9:40- 10:15 am- Selkirk Marine Museum: we walked around and under the big ships, climbed a tree, ran down a hill and took pictures by the light house.
10:15 am - drove 5 minutes to see an oversized catfish statue.
10:20 am- stopped for about 5 minutes to see the biggest catfish ever. The boys needed to touch it to make sure it wasn’t real.
10:30 am- drove South for 10 minutes to Lower Fort Garry.
10:40- 11:15 am- Lower Fort Garry: We explored the large grounds here. Exploring meant: the kids ran around to all the buildings, tried to open all the locked doors and peeked into the windows and then ran off again to the next building. Chris and I tried to follow the Self-guided walk and learn a little history while we walked and looked at the buildings.
11:15 am drove South 10 minutes to Lockport.
11:30 am- 12:15pm- Lockport: we parked near the A&W, and walked down through the Lockport Provincial Heritage Park. We sat in the park for a few minutes to eat a snack and then walked down to the river and the locks. We walked up and down the steps where the fish ladder is and enjoyed the views of the lockport. Not sure if the kids enjoyed the steps or the views best. Doesn’t matter, kept them entertained while we watched the water run down the locks.
12:15 pm- 1:00 pm- drove South along the River road and we were back home by 1pm.
We thought we had tuckered out the kids. Apparently we just tuckered ourselves out. It was a great day of exploring, learning new things, and being together as a family.