After our eventful day at the stampede we finally arrived absolutely worn out at our campsite in Winnipeg. With the last few days being a real rush about we decided to stay for a couple of days and wander around Winnipegs amazing parks.
I jumped out of the van at the reception building, pointed out the lake to Alex and skipped inside happy that we were going to stay in one place for more than one day and tried to book us in.
In turned out that the ‘lake’ was actually the campsite. It was completely flooded and therefore closed and the nearest site was miles in the wrong direction so having written off our relaxing break we headed into town to look for a Walmart!
We found the Walmart and several other campers were already there which was a first and a really nice feeling that it wasn’t just us that had failed to find somewhere to stay!

The next morning we drove into Winnipeg and wandered around the Assiniboine Park which boasts an amazing English Garden and the excellent Leo Mol Sculpture Garden where dozens of Mols graceful sculptures, including deer, bears, nude bathers and other whimsical figures are dotted around spotless gardens, lawns and ponds filled with flowering water lillies.

It was a lovely morning and we were tempted by the zoo (in which lives a statue of Winnie-the-pooh to remind you that the fictitious bear was named after a real bear called Winnipeg) but talked ourselves out of it due to the 250 mile trip ahead of us to reach the Saskatchewan border before nightfall.
250 miles later we arrived at Assessipi beach campsite just in time to dip our toes in the water and watch the sun set over the lake with a beer. It had been worth the drive off the beaten track to reach it for the sunset alone.

Again the next morning we had a schedule to keep, we had decided we wanted to get to Saskatoon by the evening and had a detour to Manitou lake planned. Manitou Lake was one of my ‘its kind of on the way and it’d be a shame to drive by it’ ideas. It’s saline content is 3 times that of the oceans water and denser than Jordan and Isreal’s Dead Sea and has also been known for its healing powers. The aboriginals camped on the shores and called it ‘lake of the healing waters’…so we had to go!
We found the turn off onto the one lane gravel road and started the journey to the lake. Of course on the map (I was directing) it is practically NEXT to the highway but in real life it is about 30 miles…on a gravel track…in a storm that appeared from nowhere…through flooded fields and green swamp…and that was BEFORE we found the ‘ROAD CLOSED’ sign! The thunder and lightening got closer and closer as we followed the detour signs another 15 miles to finally find the most depressing tiny little ramshackle resort of Manitou Beach.

Every house was for sale, the rain had made little rivers down the sides of the gravel roads and the lake looked as black as the thunderous skies above it! I was in real trouble. We had driven a long way off track, there was no internet connection to find somewhere to stay that night and we were both hungry…a bad combination!
We ate our noodles in silence and then looked at each other in the hope one of us would make it all go away and that we could snap our fingers and be back on the highway in the right direction.
We finally made an executive decision to sod it all and go in the lake anyway! (I think we were out of our minds at this point) So we got into our swim suits and walked bravely (or stupidly by the looks of the faces of the people walking around in thermals and raincoats) in the rain towards the lake. We looked at it and dipped our toes in it and looked at each other questioningly, each waiting for the other to chicken out. Neither of us did so we waded in, holding hands, goosebumps from head to toe, getting colder and colder, the weather getting more and more miserable until we got to THAT point. You know the point; the point where you’re going to have to get more than your legs wet, when your vital organs are going to be submerged in what feels like minus 15 water and in reality, they could fail! I was the bravest I have been in my life and bobbed under the water, the intial shock took my breath away but I had to put a brave face on or Alex would never get in, I was amazed he had made it this far as he despises the cold! He counted to 3 and jumped off his feet and plunged into the icy waters splashing me in the face in the process…he came up as fast as he had gone down panting and splashing his arms around looking for all his life that he was going to pass out with the shock. He eventually calmed down when he realised I was calmly floating along on the top of the water, toes peeping and effortless.

He laid back down and took some coaxing to believe that he would float and eventually he did. We floated around for a while and took some pictures and then as the rain came back we called it a day and got dressed and got back on the road. Although completely insane we had a real sense of freedom and acheivement after our ‘just do it’ experience and it is a memory I will keep forever. Splasing about in the miserable weather in a freezing cold lake having the time of our lives! Even the sun came out as we left painting a rainbow on our crazy afternoon!

We finally hit Saskatoon and having not planned anywhere to stay we decided to listen to the guide book and go for Saskatoon berry pie! The guide book suggested trying ‘The Berry Barn’…located 11km in the wrong direction…again, before we saw the road closed and the diversion sign…so 20 km off track we find the Berry Barn and order ‘Perogies and Pie’!

No, we didnt know what it was either but still in the spirit of the ‘just do it’ day we ordered it anyway. Porgies sound like they are as made for me as the poutine, they are small pastries filled with a mixture of either cheese and potato or cottage cheese. We (thankfully) opted for the cheese and potato option which comes topped with crispy bacon, fried onions and more cheese and vegetables and a homemade sausage (dont ask!) on the side…sounds great…until you realise that these pastries are BOILED!!! Boiled pastry filled with potato and cheese! (hence us been thankful we didnt get boiled cottage cheese!) What are they thinking! The porgies were bad enough but the sausage?!?!?!!? I cant even comprehend…anyway, we ate it and acted like we enjoyed it and hoped for the Saskatoon Pie to be heavenly!

It wasn’t far off, gooey berries in a thick syrupy sauce served with homemade vanilla icecream…it was very good and wiped all memory of the perogies. The Berry barn was a lovely place where you could pick your own berries and walk around the gardens but could not camp so we carried on another 20 km off track rapidly running out of fuel to the Pike Lake campsite.

All in all a very eventful day and one we wont forget in a hurry. Just another 500 miles to travel in the next few days and we are in the Rockies where we plan to relax, hike and sightsee to our hearts content!

See what happens next in our wedding travel adventure!