It was a warm day when we took the tour bus from Minnesota to Manitoba, Canada. We heard it was a good place to visit, so we decided to see for ourselves.

The tour bus went to Winnipeg first, the province's capital. Winnipeg is not only the province's capital; it also has the largest population in Manitoba. There are 620,100 people living in Winnipeg. As we drove into town, we saw the Legislative Building. It was wonderful and it had a statue of Golden Boy on the fountain. After that, we went to the Museum of Man and Nature. It was so amazing! There are so many things to see that we only had the chance to see a little part of it. The museum had cavemen, stones used by early mankind, tools, and barks from the most ancient trees. Next, we went to the Fun Mountain Waterslide Park. We got so wet! It was a lot of fun! Then we visited Assiniboine Park Zoo. There were many animals. There were monkeys, mountain lions, Siberian Tigers, Polar Bears, Red Pandas, White Tigers, Black Panthers, and otters. Samantha visited the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and entered a special contest to name the Nutcracker Bear. We also got tickets to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. It was wonderful! We discovered that the provincial flower is the Prairie Crocus and the provincial bird is the Great Grey Owl. We saw both of them.

It was so much fun in Winnipeg that we decided to drive west, to visit Brandon, the province's second most populated city. Along the way we saw farms, horses, and oxen. As we reached the outskirts of Brandon, we saw factories taking the place of farms. We found out that Brandon has 39,200 people living in it. In Brandon, we went to see Thunder Mountain Water Slide. It was very similar to Fun Mountain Waterslide Park! We found out that Brandon hosted the 1997 Canada Summer Games and the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. Curling is very popular in Canada.

After Brandon, the tour bus went to Thompson, Manitoba's third most populated city. As we were driving to Thompson, we saw Lakes Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, and Manitoba. We took the long route to Thompson because we wanted to go see Wintering Lake, about 25 miles south of Thompson. Thompson looked amazing! We found out that its population is 14,400. The first place we visited was Kwasitchewan Falls. It is the highest waterfall in Manitoba! Next, we went to Pisew Falls, the second highest waterfall in Manitoba. Manitoba was so much fun!

Saskatchewan, here we come!

See a map of Manitoba courtesy of www.maps101.com 

Manitoba Word Search
Manitoba Seal 
Manitoba Fact Card

For more information:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/index.html 
http://www.travelmanitoba.com/contents.html 
http://www.manitobavirtualtours.com/manitoba-virtual-tours.htm