I found that I actually liked Manitoba better than Saskatchewan. It was overall flatter, I think, and greener, with more of those prarie fields that I was expecting. We tried to hightail it past Winnipeg and down to Altona (more about that later), but it got dark and the drive was long and we gave up, limping back into Winnipeg for McDonald's and a hotel room.
The next morning we checked out the Royal Canadian Mint, and then in the afternoon Heidi and I explored Winnipeg while Lisa met up with a friend. We mostly explored the market and park at the Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet. At The Forks is a market, which we explored, plus a number of Native American artifacts, or displays. There is also the history of the great floods of the rivers marked along the bank as you walk down from the highest point to the current level of the water. The water is now cutting through sediments that it deposited hundreds of years below, exposing artifacts and other finds.
Several years ago Lisa participated in a World Canada Youth exchange, and for her time in Canada she lived with a family in a little town called Altona which is located about two hours south of Winnipeg. This town is largely populated by Mennonites. It's a small farming town, where people are born, marry their neighbors after highschool graduation and build a little house with a white picket fence less than two blocks from where their parents live. However, the people are very kind and hospitable, and we passed an enjoyable evening chatting with Lisa's former host-family.
Heidi, as it turns out, has dubbed herself a "closet hick", and finally admitted to her desire to check out the farm equipment. Our hosts graciously took us down the road to check out some large mechanical toys... Heidi, like a little kid, climbed in the cabin of every tractor and columbine she could find, asking questions as to their uses and operation. I think I might have heard her making "vrrrrr" noises from the cockpit of this one, but I can't be sure.
The next day it was time for Heidi to leave us. We drove her to the airport in Winnipeg and put her on an airplane home, with visions of tractors still dancing in her head. Lisa and I took the roof rack off the jeep (causing our fuel mileage to improve by fifty percent), loaded up on groceries, and booted it for Ontario.