 |
| Click image for more ... |
Alison (aka Sam), Kate's BFF since grade school, has a birthday while we're visiting and we want visit with her at least once a year — sometimes here, sometimes there, sometimes where we're traveling. Last year we got together in New Brunswick where she and Barry married at the sea side condo where we were staying. See their Wedding Day 2024/09.
We haven't been back to Winnipeg in quite a while. Kate was born there and grew up in Norwood near the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Alison and Barry still live there in a nice neighborhood with shared green space at front and a road behind the house. Kate moved to Belleville when she was in grade 9 (and was put up to grade 10!) but has maintained a very close relationship with Alison. Alison was Kate's maid of honor at Our Wedding 1980/08.
I'd like to drive out again, when the weather is warmer, but the preferred route, through Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota is barred to us so long as the Orange Metamucillini is in power (I'm writing this shortly after the ICE killing of Renee Good, January 7, in Minneapolis). We have decided to fly out.
There used to be a regular direct flight from London on Westjet but that is no more. Instead we drive to Toronto and fly from Pearson on Porter Airlines out of Terminal 3 on Thursday afternoon. We return Monday morning. The flight is uneventful; this is our first time on Porter and we'd happily do it again. We had arranged for some assistance to get Kate to the gates and had booked better seats — near the front with a bit more leg room. As a smaller airline they don't really have a "first class" cabin but for a short flight this worked well enough. At the Winnipeg airport we picked up our rental car.
We rented a 2 bedroom 2 story AirBnB a block from Osborne Village (near the corner of River Ave and Osborne St). There's a big Safeway and a Manitoba Liquor Store at the corner.
The first night we took an Uber and met up with Sam and Barry for a quick bite and a drink downtown at Hy's Steakhouse and Cocktail Bar in the Exchange District at Happy Hour. This is one of their favorite hang outs and they seem to be well acquainted with the staff and menu — I don't know why but "Hy's Famous Cheese Toast" is actually pretty tasty. I don't know how widespread the fame is ... oh gosh, there's a Hy's in Toronto, Whistler, Calgary and Vancouver! I've never been; but then it's a steakhouse and living with a pescetarian means we don't often go out for steak.
Anyways, afterwards we took another Uber (a very good mode for travel when you're out drinking and carrying on) to the Winnipeg Art Gallery (Portage & Osborne) for a live recorded concert by Nolan Scott. Barry and Sam had arranged tickets; we wanted to avoid "standing room only" "late night" bars. This was a perfect setting for us. I wasn't aware of this folk singer but he's been around for quite a while. We enjoyed the music and stories, the sound was very good (well worth recording). Unfortunately, the concert wasn't well attended and we had to cut out early and to head off to bed.
On Friday we picked up Sam and Barry (they live in the Norwood commuity across the river from us — Kate's old stomping grounds) to have lunch and visit The Leaf in Assiniboine Park. We follow Wellington Crescent along the river looking for the home of Kate's Graham grandparents — we have a picture and the number but don't find it until later the next day. The Ritchie grandparents were from Portage La Prairie.
Assiniboine Park is a large green space on the south side of the Assiniboine River to the west of the city center. The airport is on the other side of the river. On a warm summer day one would explore more of the park, but it's a cool fall day and we're here for the Leaf. It's a modern impressive bit of architecture that opened in late 2022 that forms a multi-story green house with a waterfall and contains the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden — 6 floors up! They actually raise butterflies here. The green house display is impressive; the architecture is stunning; there's an outdoor "Diversity Gardens" as well, but the weather is against us.
We have our lunch at the Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar within the Leaf. During the summer months much of the fresh vegetables, herbs, etc. come from the Diversity Gardens on one side of this complex. We enjoyed our lunch.
After dropping Sam and Barry back in Norwood, Kate and I go searching for her childhood home on St Vital Road. It's much further south off of St Marys Road and would have been at the city edge when Kate was a child. The home remains much as it was when Kate was little (the picture above shows Kate at the house). She tells me about walking to school (and back and forth for lunch) at a not so nearby school — Norbery (grades 1-2) was 1 mile away! She went to Hastings for grade 3, Nordale for grades 3-8, and Nelson Mac for grade 9 (all in Winnipeg) before finishing high school at Moira in Belleville, Ontario.
The area around the home on St. Vital, wooded when Kate was little, is now built up with lots of houses. The large lot where Kate's home sits is now divided into multiple lots with more modern homes. We meet a lady with her children returning from a Halloween party. She lives across the street and she tells us that they've had to cut down some of the trees which have grown quite large. Kate moved from here to the home on Claremont in Norwood in grade 3.
That evening we're at Sam and Barry's for Halloween. We meet Lennon, their very old dog, a White Siberian Husky, who they both dote on. It's one reason they're not taveling any more — there have been some recent scares. Barry has a great time teasing the kids who are "Trick or Treating". He's quite the kidder — "Can I pet the dog?" "Sure, she's not hungry now. She bit the arm off the last kid." Lennon is a gentle quiet sleepy old dog who couldn't/wouldn't bite anyone!
The next morning, Saturday, we continue our search for the Grandparent Graham's home on Wellington Crescent and this time we're in luck. It's actually on a little diversion — Wellington Crescent South is a separate street that takes you off of Wellington Crescent and out to Academy. The house is exactly like the photo we have. It's a well maintained craftsman styled stucco home with two planters at the steps just like the picture. Next door someone has replaced what would have been something similar with a California modern white box concrete and glass home. I wonder how these flat gravel roofs work in the Winnipeg cold and snow?
We meet up with Kate's Graham cousins for an early lunch/late breakfast at a Salisbury House (Pembina & Stafford). Moira is our strong connection to this group. Cousin Cam we've met before, I don't recall meeting his wife Jan before but apparently I have. Cousin Bob, who reminds Kate as a spitting image of her dad, and his wife Audrey I've never met, and Kate has not seen "Bobbie" since he was a child. There's a lot to catch up on.
These Graham cousins are quite close and meet regularly for lunch. Kate is pleased to see everyone again. We have a long leisurely lunch, the "Sal" doesn't mind our lingering, and afterwards we go to Moira's home, across the river, to meet up with her little dog (Charlie??) and her close friends Dave and Peggy (of Morris Dancing fame) who we've met before here in Ontario — they've come for Stratford Theatre and we encourage them to do so again.
Saturday evening we Uber to meet up with Sam and Barry for dinner at the Resto Gare And Train Bar Bistro, a St Boniface institution in an old Train Station (Gare) with a French inspired menu. There's an outdoor brick courtyard which would be lovely on a warm summer evening; instead we sit in an old train car. It's cosy and quaint; we enjoy our dinner and have a few laughs.
That evening, back in Osborne village, we catch the last game of the World Series on our laptop — LA Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. It was a squeaker with the Jays losing the series in this final game in extra innings. Dang!
Our last day, Sunday, starts with a tour of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at the Forks. The museum, with initial plans in 2003 through to grand opening in 2014, is another impressive modern structure. A stunning building with an important message. We have some mobility assistance and I take Kate through the many exhibits starting with a birds eye view of the forks and city from the very top.
That afternoon we find Kate's childhood home on Claremont Ave in Norwood. This was the home she lived in after St Vital and would have been where she met Sam and where they went to grade school together. This house has seen some drastic renovations. Several years ago we had been here and the lady who lived there invited us in to see the renovations at that time.
That final Sunday evening we met up with Sam and Barry, Barry's son Sean with his wife Kim for dinner at BabyBaby on Osborne at Stradbrook around the corner from our River Ave AirBnB. Sean and Kim are a lovely couple, quite funny, and very good support for Sam and Barry. We had several interesting dishes to share.
On our flight home I got some pictures of the meandering Red River.
It was good to be back to Winnipeg. I'd still much prefer to be there in the summer weather (cf. the Winterpeg fridge magnets in the photo album) and it would be fun to drive out. There's much of Ontario that we have not seen in many years.
No comments:
Post a Comment