We all spent the day catching up on domestic chores. Mike and Al worked on the RVs and Symphony and I went to the laundromat and did laundry. After lunch Mike and I drove into town to find a car wash and then did some shopping at Canadian Tire.
We also stopped in at the Flin Flon Chamber of Commerce to pick up some visitor information. We had a pleasant visit with the young lady working there and learned that she and her family had moved to Flin Flon from South Africa. Her husband was working at the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co.'s #777 mine here in Flin Flon where they mine zinc, copper and gold.
We bought a Delissio frozen pizza at the Extra Foods grocery store to have for dinner tonight. Delissio is the Canadian Kraft brand version of Digiorno pizzas. Generally when I'm grocery shopping in Canada, I look for food labels that are similar to the ones in the US for food that we eat. The names may be somewhat different than the US brands, but are made by the same companies - Kraft, Pillsbury, etc.
While we were running our errands, Al and Symphony went to the Flin Flon Station Museum here a the campground. When we got back to the campground, they told us how nice the museum was and how much they enjoyed it. We'll be going there in the morning to the museum before we all go sightseeing in Flin Flon.
Al and Symphony went for a bike ride after dinner and I took a photo of them with their bikes on top of a large outcrop near our RV. While they were out bike riding, Mike and I read through the brochures we picked up at the Chamber of Commerce to see where we can go sightseeing.
Flin Flon is a unique city built on top of the Precambrian Shield which is part of the Amisk Volcanic Belt that was formed 1.9 billion years ago by underwater volcanic eruptions. This volcanic belt is the source of the minerals found here - zinc, copper, silver and gold. Flin Flon has a population of about 6200 people and is Manitoba's 9th largest community. The Hudson Bay Mining Co. is the largest employer here and tourism is second.
It was 49° F (9°C) this morning when we got up. We left Green Acres about 9:30 and drove north on Hwy 10. Once out of Swan River there were fewer and fewer houses - we would go miles before seeing a house. I started noticing the road signs and instead of names, most of them were numbered. The one below is named 247 N.
We crossed the 53rd Parallel about 60 miles north of Swan River.
A little before noon we found a place where we could pull off of the highway and have lunch. We were 116 miles north of Swan River and 20 miles south of The Pas. As you can see by the photo below, there isn't even much traffic on Hwy 10.
We drove through the town of The Pas, known as "The Gateway to the North" and one of the oldest settlements in northern Manitoba. In February they have the Trapper's Festival celebrating the town's heritage as a meeting center for fur traders.
We crossed the 54th Parallel about 15 miles north of The Pas.
We got into Flin Flon at 2:40. We're staying at the Tourist Park & Campground. The campground is operated by the City of Flin Flon.
We had some rain along the way here and it has really began to feel like summer - our high was 79° (26°C).
We traveled 228 miles today. We normally drive about 55 mph, but we averaged around 45 mph because Hwy 10 was so rough.
After settling in at our campsite (#4), Mike and I drove into downtown Flin Flon. Symphony and Al wanted to ride their bikes around the campground, so they didn't go with us. We found a Subway in town and decided to stop there to get subs to take back to the RV.
I finally got a photo of the loon that's been here at the lake.
We've decided that Symphony and I will follow our RVs in our cars instead of towing them behind the RVs. This is what the Vue looks like from just driving out here.
We left Lake Audy this morning at 9:30 and drove through the Bison Enclosure to the eastern entrance of Riding Mountain National Park. A deer ran out of the woods in front of the Adventurer and I managed to get a photo of it running on the road ahead of the RV (still wish I had a stronger telephoto on the camera).
We drove north on Hwy 10 to Dauphin. We stopped at a Shell station to get gas - 172.172 ltr for $0.999 a liter (45.496 gallons at $3.582 a gallon) and we bought groceries at the WalMart. Since we were parked at WalMart, we decided to have lunch before heading on to Swan River.
We arrived at Green Acres Campground in Swan River about 3:45 after driving 157 miles from Lake Audy.
We are on site #47 and Al and Symphony are next to us. We have full hookups with 30 amp electric. As you can see by the photo below, the campsites are covered with grass. We are able to get satellite TV reception and we can pick up some local Canadian TV stations. We'll just be here for 1 night before heading north to Flin Flon. Our 1 night stay cost $23.63 CAD ($21.41 US).
It looks like the rain has cleared out for a while. We spent the day just relaxing and preparing for our departure tomorrow.
This morning I did manage to get a photo of a couple of white pelicans that are staying here at Lake Audy. If you look real hard, you can see 2 white specks out on the lake.
I took the photo using the telephoto setting on our camera. This is one of those times I wish we had a more powerful telephoto setting on it.
I'm still trying to get a photo of the loon that has been hanging around here - maybe tomorrow.
