"When you reach Winnipeg, take the north perimeter highway to Highway 7. When the road ends you'll see a bar. I'll meet you there."
Those were the exact instructions we received from our good friend Michael when we caught up with him by phone after leaving Manitoba's scenic Riding Mountain National Park. We'd been trying to get a hold of him for over month and now just a few hundred kilometres shy of driving past his place all together we'd finally managed to connect with him. In the eleventh hour so to speak. Of course, that was no problem at all.
"Come to Arborg for the day, or for two days! Better yet, come for the week!" Mike insisted when we mentioned we were hoping to see him while we were in his neck of the woods.
The licence plate motto for Manitoba, one of Canada's three prairie provinces, is "Friendly Manitoba". I suppose it's no coincidence that pretty much the friendliest guy we've ever met is from Manitoba. We stayed on Mike's family farm - located outside town in Poplar Field, MB for three fun filled days and two blissfully restful nights.
During those three days we feasted on a robust diet of local meats, baked goods and eggs purchased from local Hutterites, vegetables grown in their own garden and homemade pickles, jams and yes, moonshine. I learned to drive a quad, Baasje went for a ride in Mike's handmade canoe and we spent one afternoon at the impressive cabin Mike and his brother in-law had recently built on a wooded section of their property. The cabin was decorated with trophies of past hunting expeditions, antlers, pelts, and even a bear skin.
For my two cents, Manitoba certainly lives up to it's motto, and in a uniquely Canadian way! We had a blast and I can't wait to go back!
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