Flin Flon

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.

From Flin Flon, Manitoba

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.

Swan River to Flin Flon

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.

From Flin Flon, Manitoba

We crossed the 53rd Parallel about 60 miles north of Swan River.

From Flin Flon, Manitoba

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.

From Flin Flon, Manitoba

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.

From Flin Flon, Manitoba

We crossed the 54th Parallel about 15 miles north of The Pas.

From Flin Flon, Manitoba

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.

From Flin Flon, Manitoba

Lake Audy to Swan River, MB

I finally got a photo of the loon that's been here at the lake.

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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.

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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).

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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).

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Last Day at Lake Audy

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.

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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.

July 31

We were supposed to leave today, but we've decided to stay an extra day. So we filled out another envelope and paid $15.70 CAD ($14.22 US). We spent our day just hanging around the campsite.

Even though our temps have been in the mid-40's in the mornings and up to the low 60's in the afternoon, Tinker thinks it is WAY too COLD for July.

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Symphony did give Al a haircut this afternoon -

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and we had another great sunset over Lake Audy.

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Lake Audy & BIson Range

It was still cloudy and overcast this morning when we got up. We said goodbye to Jack & Bonnie this morning before they left.

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In 1937 this area was designated as a national park now known as Riding Mountain National Park. This area was once home to bison, but were hunted to near extinction by 1875. In 1931 16 bison were re-introduced to the Park and now the herd numbers around 40 bison. The Bison Enclosure is just down the road from the campground and we drove through it today.

We followed the signs off the main road in the hopes of seeing some bison. Well, we weren't disappointed. As a matter of fact, we came across a fellow who wanted to impress upon us that this was HIS territory. He started out at the side of the road, but moved into the road and we sat in the car for about 10 minutes before this fellow moved over to the other side of the road.

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Once we were back on the road we came across the maid herd of bison which included some calves.

After leaving the Bison Enclosure we drove over to the Horse Corral Campground to see it. Here Mike & Al had another opportunity to add to their collection of outhouses.

From Mike and Al's Outhouse Tour

We then headed back to the RVs. Tinker took a nap-

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we had dinner outside (the rain had stopped) -

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and we had a great sunset!

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Wasagaming to Lake Audy

We were up early this morning to head over to Lake Audy Campground.

While Mike & Al stopped at the dump station to empty the RV tanks, Symphony & I drove our cars out to Lake Audy. I used our Garmin gps for the trip and Mike used our laptop to follow the route out to the campground. We took Hwy 10 south from Wasagaming & then followed Hwy 354 to the entrance to Riding Mountain National Park - no wrong turns this time.

We arrived at Lake Audy about 8 a.m. and was relieved to see that no one had taken the 2 campsites that we wanted. Mike had seen a photo of these 2 campsites in a brochure and thought they were perfect. Symphony & I sat in her car while we waited for Mike & Al to come in the RVs.

Mike & Al arrived a little before 9 a.m. We are on site #14 with no hookups, but the best view of Lake Audy. We parked the RVs facing each other so each of us would have the best view from the windows.

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Lake Audy Campground is a self-registration campground. We filled out an envelope with our information & site # and paid $47.10 CAD ($42.67 US) for 3 days.

The weather was nice when we arrived this morning - sunny and blue skies. After setting up our RVs, we all went for a walk around the campground. Since it's still early in the camping season, there are only a few people here.

From Mike and Al's Outhouse Tour

Our biggest problem was how to get a photo of our campsites as viewed from the lake. Imagine our good luck to see 2 kayakers out on the lake! Mike explained to them  that we had been trying to figure out how to get some photos of our campsite viewed from the lake and they said they would be happy to take some photos for us. Jack & Bonnie are from Calgary and are staying just a few campsites over from us.

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Jack & Bonnie each had a camera and they both took photos of us from their kayaks. Later on this afternoon they came over to the RV and we downloaded their photos and movies to our computer. They stayed a while and we all had a nice visit - a great couple. We would have liked to visit with them longer, but Jack & Bonnie are leaving tomorrow.

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This afternoon the dark clouds and rain moved in and we had rain off and on, but we have one of the best campsites ever!!