Xyla Fox

Hubby had geo arts on his list of reasons for coming to Manitoba. Today we completed the second one. (We did the Krispy Apple on Sunday after we arrived.) 

What kind of a morning would it be in Canada without a stop at Tim Hortons for a maple roll? 

Xyla Fox is complete

We worked on the 98 caches over two days, quitting early enough both days to do some other FUN geocaching and to enjoy the camping experience, our first of the summer. 

Red berries on the wild roses in the ditches and along the roadside

The morning sunshine on the cattails and grasses were a golden color this morning. 

The ears on the corn are dropping down. Ready for harvesting. 

Blogging on the phone is just too frustrating tonight. Short and sweet. Maybe more blogs after we get home and we once again have WiFi. It has been a very good trip but we’ve been gone a week. We are missing grand kid activities. Time to go home. 

Morden and Winkler

More country road driving today for the second geo art we will complete tomorrow. 

About half of the 60 caches we went after were in steep ditches. (Ditches are bitches in Manitoba, too!) sometimes it was just easier to lay on the ground and reach. 

We passed a field of what I thought were potato plants. 

It looks like a potato plant. 

Yup. White Yukon potatoes. 

We stopped at a Historical Site this morning. This spot is believed to be the first Mennonite Church in Manitoba. 

The hockey rink in Winkler. 

Xiphactinus

An ancient toothed predatory fish

Mosasaur

Bruce the Mosasaur is the largest mosasaur in the world. His original skeleton is housed in Morden at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Center. 

Archelon 

Giant sea turtle fossils also found in Manitoba and on display in the discovery center. I hope I have the time to get to the fossil center before we leave the area. 

And a couple of the cute traditional caches we found with names we remember from our younger days. The containers were hidden very cleverly. They put a smile on our faces. 

The flower photos are from Bethel Heritage Park in Winkler, site of the original Bethal Hospital. A new regional hospital was built west of Winkler. 

Morden Manitoba

 After leaving Jon and Sherry and the campground at the Grand Forks Airbase, Hubby and I headed north to the border. We stopped in Wahalla ND to fill the truck and empty the camper refrigerator if need be. I asked the attendant at the Cenex station if I needed to get rid of the fruits and vegetables. Her reply? Did you read that on the internet? Ah. Yes. She said no I didn’t have to do that. She was right. The border guard asked why and where and how long. Then asked if we had fire arms, fireworks, cannabis products and the amount of alcohol. And we drove through. The internet is WRONG. 

We chose not to stay at the campground where we had reservations and instead drove to Morden. 

We set up in a campground next to Lake Minnewasta and headed out to geocache. (The reason for crossing the border.)

Looking for pill bottles next to utility poles

One of the road sections we traveled

Krispy Apple geo art completed

We explored the town just a bit as we found

A few other geocaches

More caching adventures tomorrow 

ND Road Trip, Day 2

 The Day 2 ND Road Trip started in Minot and ended in Grand Forks ten hours later, with an unplanned side trip into Canada. The distance between the two cities is 210 miles or 3 hours and 21 minutes. No, we did not get lost. Here are some of the more interesting things we saw along the way.

created in 1982 the turtle is two stories tall

and the location of a geocache

The head alone on Dunseith's metal turtle weighs over a ton, and is mounted on a pivot so you can bob it up and down if you've been working out.

Dunseith's claim to fame

George Gottbreht welded and painted 2000 tire rims

its backside

While in Dunseith we realized we were 13 miles from The International Peace Garden. We had the time, so we headed north arriving at the IPG without having to enter through the Canadian Port of Entry. The IPG entrance is between the the US Port of Entry and that of our northern neighbor. Good as we did not have our passports, so no problem. Right?

some of the flowers at the entrance

Lake Stormmon on the Canadian side of the IPG

someone is confused

is he in Canada?

while I am in the US?

the 9/11 Memorial in the Peace Gardens

the Bell Tower

There are 14 bells in the tower ranging from 250 pounds to 200 pounds in weight. Two sons had the bells cast in England as a gift to their mother and given to her church in Brandon, Manitoba. When the church no longer wanted the bells they were donated to the IPG, but the church could not afford to move the bells.  North Dakota Veterans organizations raised the money to transfer the bells. The Tower is dedicated to War Veterans.

probably the most photographed item at IPG, the Flower Clock

We drove to the International Peace Gardens in August 1970. I am certain there have been some changes, like the 9/11 Memorial and the Carillon Bell Tower. I do remember the Flower Clock from the first trip. The Conservatory was closed to traffic and it was raining on this trip, so we did not visit that area.

The US Port of Entry officer wondered why we did not have our passports but allowed us back into the US with our drivers license. WHEW!

While Belle Fouche SD is the geographic center of the United States, Rugby ND is the geographic center of North America. 

tower for climbing in Rugby

metal sculpture also at the Prairie Museum in Rugby

and just for fun...

I read this two times before I got it

thankfully finding the geocache was quicker

And finally, this road trip to Gilby was all about finding geocaches in new/more North Dakota counties.

ND after last year's excursion to Gilby

the North Dakota map after this trip

we added 8 counties these two days

Caching in Canada

 There are 7 Minnesota counties bordering Canada. Our plan was to geocache in 6 of the border counties (we geocached in 1 last September) and since we were in the northern part of 3 of the border counties, we planned to cross into Canada to find geocaches in Ontario and Manitoba.

We had our passports and our vaccination cards. I thought we were set. I did not realize since Covid all non-residents must also have the ArriveCAN app on their phones with completed information. It is not a difficult form unless you are in the immigration office and they tell you it must be completed in 15 minutes or you will not be allowed in that day. Luckily my phone and I got the job done and we were allowed to enter Ontario.

(Last summer while visiting Glacier National Park, I tried to help two women complete the form so they could cross to see relatives they had not seen in over a year. The issue was old phones, not knowing their email address or password, how to scan or take photos of documents, intermittent cell service, etc. etc. I know I spent an hour trying to help them. We did get to the point where we thought we had everything completed, but I have no idea if they were able to cross that day or not.)

We were so flustered after our 15 minutes in the immigration office, I did not get a photo of entering Ontario and had to settle for one of their road signs.

There were 3 geocaches we hoped to find along Highway 11. They had all been found last fall, so we were hopeful. The first cache was in a city park. The park was closed due to flooding. BUMMER! So we headed west to the second cache. It was located next to the Rainy River. It was also under water. That was okay as we had one more possibility. It was a new geocache placed in February and no one had found it yet. It was on a train car, but had a very good hint. I was certain we would be the first-to-find. We looked for 20 minutes, crawling under the train car and kneeling in the mud but did not find it. We had traveled 23 miles and did not have a geocache! It was early in the afternoon so we decided the nearest possible successful geocache would be 37 miles north, but we had to backtrack to get there.

we did backtrack and we did find the cache

above water

another Finland in Ontario

so I have been to Finland twice this month!

geocaching proof we have found a geocache in Ontario

Willie Walleye

our 'home' Friday night

On Saturday we planned to cross into Manitoba to find some geocaches. The American border officer told us on Friday he thought I would have to update my information on the ArriveCAN app. Other than knowing the name of the border crossing and the day and time we would be crossing, everything else was saved and needed no changes. This time it took 30 seconds!

the American officer was right

This border crossing was less busy and the Canadian officer had time to chat and learn about geocaching. They always ask why you are coming and for how long. He was not satisfied with "We just want to drive along Highway 12 in Canada." This time he took our passports and not my phone with the QR scan. He said the info would be electronically connected to our passports. It was and we were cleared to enter and "Have fun. I hope you find them." (So did we after Friday's experience!)

We had 6 geocaches on our list. Three of them were similar to this one, placed by the Sunrise Corner Tourism. Easy to see. Log book was there. We found a total of 5 caches along the 17 miles we traveled in Manitoba.

and the proof

At both US crossings our border guards knew of geocaching. Saturday's guard was very surprised to learn we had found 5 geocaches in the short distance and in the 3 villages we traveled through. Friday's officer said his kids geocached. On both days we crossed back to Minnesota at smaller, less active checkpoints. Very different than our entry at International Falls.

We crossed at Rosseau and learned it is home to Polaris snowmobiles.

There was a geocache on this motorcycle. It was just plain old luck that Hubby found the micro container! 

After Saturday we have just two northern Minnesota counties without a geocache. Other than some less than perfect weather it has been a great road trip.