| Some of the campsites we have stayed in have been in quite
beautiful locations. This was just outside Kenora in Ontario. It was very
calm in the morning which explains how you get the reflections. |  |
 | This was a site
which was almost full of campers but almost empty of people. It was
obviously a popular place with the fishing and boating community. Many of
the sites had boat trailers and there were a number of boats still in the
marina. |
| This is lake country with a lake every few miles. Many are
completely uninhabited but some have cottages on the lakeside. Most of
these will be holiday accommodation because there is little industry or work
here to support houses like these. |  |
 | We just admire the
scenery as we leave Ontario finally and enter Manitoba on our way to
Winnipeg. Eventually the trees and lakes do thin out and we start to travel
the flatter lands of the prairies. |
| One of the major units of the Canadian Mint is at Winnipeg. The
joke was that they wanted to hide the facility so they planted trees around
it as camouflage. But the prairies don't have many trees. We didn't find the
prairies that treeless. The mint though was a modern attractive building. |  |
 | We had tried to
visit the Denver Mint but the security there now prevents this. Perhaps the
building doesn't facilitate this either as it is somewhat older. In contrast
the Canadian Mint offers self guided tours. They do say no photos but I took
this one of the coin mould manufacturing area before I realised. |
It was a fascinating plant and we were able to see the blanks being made,
cleaned and stamped. The quantities of coins made were absolutely staggering.
Since 1976 they have produced over 51 BILLION coins for over 60 countries
generating $500 million in export revenue. This means that 40% of the world's
population have used coins made here. The displays below show some of the coins
made.
 | One unique feature
was this gold bar worth $200k which was on open display and you were invited
to lift it up. I didn't think until afterwards but we could have had our
photo taken with it. The only obvious security was a single security guard.
One nice touch was that all change given in the shop was brand new. |
| Winnipeg is like many large cities with skyscrapers and rivers.
In this case the Assiniboine and the Red Rivers join at a place called The
Forks. Just upriver from there was a fairly spectacular pedestrian bridge
with a cafe in the middle. Water buses traverse the river below. |  |
 | Crossing the river
from the railway station led us to this arch which led to Notre Dame
Cathedral. It was quite eye-catching. |
| Another shot of the bridge with the skyscraper skyline behind. We
didn't spend long in Winnipeg, just as with other large cities. It is usually
very difficult to park the camper anywhere near the city centre.. |  |
 | But I still like to
photograph the skylines because they often portray the city in quite a
unique way. Not that many cities have real skyscrapers as opposed to large
office blocks, even in America. We may be
able to recognise them just from their skylines. |
|