Winnipeg... art and culture

Im confessing right here and now that Winnipeg surprised me. WAY more art and culture than I was expecting. What was I expecting? I dunno... something like an amplified northern version of the mid west? Agriculture, even-tempered, hard working folk who eat fried things for dinner?

But I guess if you scratch the surface of any area, you find a deeper and more memorable big picture. 

Day one was the "hairbrush tour of Winnipeg" since for the upteenth time, I forgot to bring a hairbrush on vacation with us. I know, I know. I'm a special broken kind of gal... missing the gene that controls 'looking nice' motivation! But it gave us the chance to get feet on the ground and find our way around the city, railway station, The Forks park along the Red River and Assiniboine River junction. 

Winnipeg is historically significant, blending indigenous trading routes and meeting places with sacred spaces giving free voice to generational trauma and lessons learned the hard way. Winnipeg's Human Rights Museum is a safe and architecturally astounding home to exhibits about our difficult, painful history with our fellow humans and it ignites serious conversations that need to be had in order to move forward in a positive fashion. We desperately need to be better humans!

We spent most of the day here. By early afternoon, having held back tears for a good deal of the time, I was ready to rest and renew, and get ready for our Welcome Dinner and to meet our 14 new Natural Habitat friends.

Did I mention we were staying at the Fort Garry Hotel - which is gorgeous. A step up for us!

It was also where NatHab sets up its base for the season and we borrowed parkas and boots. I lined mine with sheepskin inserts...  hoping for non-fatal temps but making ample preparations to survive the subarctic environment with a smile and all my toes intact.

Tomorrow held the promise of a fancy breakfast and a quick departure to the airport for our Calm Air flight to Churchill. 

Eeee!!! So excited.