Monday Evening

The focus of the SD Retired Teachers' trip to Winnipeg is the Folkorama. When Winnipeg was 100 years old in 1969, the city wanted to celebrate and honor the cultures which had become a major part of the history of the city. There were four at that time. Thus Folklorama was born. For three evenings we will visit three different cultural pavilions, showcasing the culture and food (sometimes drink) of the people.

Our first pavilion visit tonight (6:00 PM) was the Scandinavian Culture center. First, we toured the displays of the 5 Scandinavian countries (includes Iceland) and then were entertained with native dances in native costumes and a group called Almost ABBA. The age of the dancers ranged from 2 1/2 to older than me.

We were served appetizers at this pavilion. We had a thin slice of a cold meat (reindeer??) on rye bread, a red cabbage slaw, a slice of cheese on bread and two meat filled "pasties". We also were served Viking Power Punch made with akavit as a native drink. All was very good. The entertainment was exceptional.

Then we were bussed to the Serbian Pavilion. The dinner and show began at 7:30.


We were served a stuffed yellow pepper, cabbage slaw, dinner roll, cookie and strawberry crepes.
One of our dinner drink choices was the Fort Garry Dark Ale. It was very good, as was the stuffed pepper and the cookie.


Young people dressed in native Serbian costumes entertained us with dances from the Serbian region (north of Greece). It was phenomenal! Outstanding! Amazing! Very Impressive Show!

I was captivated by the shoes that all the dancers wore. Every shoe had the turned up toe. This young lady was also wearing woolen stockings, hand-made, as were all the costumes. This Pavilion was putting on six shows each night. Our tour guide said the dancers wore a clean, dry white shirt for each performance as the shirt was soaked when they got done dancing. They will dance six times for seven nights. WOW!

A nearly full moon could be seen as we ventured to the Indian Pavilion at 9:00 for dessert and a show. The final cultural experience for the evening.

Mango ice cream was served for dessert. In the future, I probably would not order it if it were on the menu. (I think it may have been a "special" just for us.) By now we were quite tired.

We were introduced to "bollywood" (Bombay & Hollywood) dancing and music for the program. Although the costumes were traditional Indian dress and some of the movements were traditional Indian dance movements, the program was Indian hip-hop. Again, the dancers were young people, probably high school age and a few younger. But it was just very hard to exceed the performances of the Serbian dancers.

We arrived at the hotel at 11:00 PM. Three different cultural experiences tomorrow night.

Winnipeg, Monday Morning

This morning we visited the Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Center north of Winnipeg. This marsh habitat has been restored from farmland and "is dedicated to teaching people about wetlands and conservation." It is a joint effort of the Province of Manitoba and Ducks Unlimited Canada.
The marsh covers 19 square acres and is home to geese and other wildlife. I saw geese and huge mosquitoes. It was an overcast dreary morning. We were glad to have our rain coats.

After a breakfast of wild rice pancakes, bacon & sausage, we listened to an informative talk about the First Nation peoples of Manitoba and Canada. The talk focused on the tepee and the bison, essentials to the natives.

Then it was time for a canoe ride through one of the small marsh pond areas. Nine of us moved the voyageur-style canoe through the water, not well, by any means. It was my first and LAST canoe ride. (It was like hiking. You always had your eyes on the water and had to concentrate on moving the oars correctly. Hence, no observed wildlife.)

Then as I was about to take a picture of these "imitation sunflowers" I was approached by a camera crew, asking if I would be willing to do an interview for Manitoba Tourism. I said yes, and was a star for a few minutes. Maybe some of our Canadian friends will see me on TV!

This is the canola plant I mentioned in yesterday's posting. The flowerless "branches" on the lower part of the stem are the canola pods. I opened one of the pods and found it filled with little green seeds about the size of a mustard seed. Canola was developed (invented) in Manitoba and must be of the legume family.

Canola Fields

It was cloudy with some light sprinkles of rain on our drive from northeast SD through eastern ND and into Manitoba. I was surprised at the green fields. The small grain crops are still very green in this part of the country.

Once we passed the border in Canada, fields of yellow were along both sides of the road. No, it isn't clover or mustard. It is canola. The plants look a lot like flax or alfalfa, but the blooms/flowers are a sea of yellow. I had no idea what canola plants looked like or that it was a grain. I just knew it came in a bottle.

Winnipeg

This is where we ate dinner this evening. It was my first experience at Ichiban, but Curt had eaten at the one in Minneapolis years ago. It was just a few blocks from the hotel and was a welcome walk after the 7 hour bus ride.

Our chef fixed the appetizer at our table: chicken livers, onions and mushrooms with several sauces (soy, Saki, etc). It was very good, surprisingly. Our meal started with a vegetable soup, followed by a salad of marinated cucumber slices with crab meat. The chicken livers was course three.

Our group of retired teachers filled three tables at the Ichiban. Our table had the smallest group. The grill is in front of Dave & Jodi who are seated in the center of the photo.

The chef is "firing" the shrimp. My scallops with onions and mushrooms are resting on the side.
Steak accompanied the fish. It was followed with sauteed vegetables, course 5.

The waitresses wore traditional Japanese "dresses." Our meal was followed with a cup of green tea and a dish of ice cream or sherbert. Yes, we got enough to eat with the seven course meal. What a fun experience and a great way to start the Winnipeg excursion!

Sturgis Rally

The motorcycles are coming! The motorcycles are coming! It was time to leave the Hills area.

Cyclists taking a break in the Badlands

I counted over 100 motorcycles (not the RVs and trucks towing & carrying cycles) in a twenty mile stretch along Interstate 90 yesterday. I was glad we were heading east and they were heading west. A few motorcyclists were heading east as they had completed their Black Hills tour. The Sturgis Rally is almost a three week event these days as some come at least one week prior to the rally, most come the week of the rally, and a few wait until the week after the rally. It is a major boost to the economy of all of SD, not just the Black Hills and Sturgis.

This one was my favorite. I was sitting outside reading one day last week when a flash of yellow went by on the street behind our parked RV. I grabbed the camera and head out in search of "Tweety Bird". When I caught up with it, Jan stepped out of the car/cycle and shared the story while Joe parked the RV.

The body of a 1959 Chevy was used to create this unusual bike. A friend helped Joe build it from scratch. Joe and Jan towed Tweety from Florida to South Dakota for the Rally.

She said they are doing the motorcycle rally tour this summer. They have been in the northeast and are headed to Idaho after the Sturgis Rally. They have been to the Sturgis Rally before. The last time Tweety was in SD for the Rally, an 80 year old/young woman got a ride in Tweety for her birthday. As we were leaving the camping resort Tweety was being gassed up, ready to head north.