I've been so busy it's been hard for me to write. It seems we work from sun up to sundown. On Saturday we took another road trip. As if we haven't driven enough! Doug, Natalie, Aiden and I traveled to the city of Flin Flon, 1 ½ hours north of The Pas for the afternoon.
Here's a brief synopsis of the city (since this blog is part travel blog lately): "Beginning with a prospector's claim and a dime store novel, Flin Flon started mining in the 1920s and is now Manitoba's sixth largest city. Built on rock, the city sits proudly on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. Set in a beautiful vacation land on the edge of the Precambrian Shield, the area is notable for its distinctive greenish, fine-grained stone – greenstone. Standing at the entrance to the tourist park, the 24 foot statue of Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, designed by cartoonist Al Capp, welcomes visitors to Flin Flon. Flinty was the hero of a science fiction novel found in the wilderness by gold prospectors in the early years of the century. When they found gold in 1914, they remembered the story and called their claim Flin Flon. The name stuck, and that's how the town got its name.
Brightly coloured Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company headframes are unmistakable landmarks on the Flin Flon skyline. The company has been mining in the area since 1927. Today it is the city's major employer."
Flintabbatey Flonatin – say that five times without making a mistake. We toured the town, took pictures (which I may put on here if I can get Doug to download them). Interesting to see were the sewer/water lines on top of the ground, as the city is built on the Precambrian shield. Doug was interested in these for some reason. We drove by the nickel mine and into Creighton, SK and stopped at a tourist info centre and had our picture taken in front of a Northwest Mounted Police hut (we didn't know what the building was until I read about it later). After a stop at Canadian Tire and Walmart (hard to believe that these stores are so far north, but anyway), we drove back to The Pas by 5 pm seeing many lakes and small communities along the way. It's a nice place to visit, but I don't think I would like to live there. It reminded us of Minto, and by the time we left there was a haze of coal or nickel dust in the air, and I was beginning to cough.
Today we went to the Alliance Church, Nat & Josh's church, and Nat and I were in the worship team. It was nice to be in church again, after missing last week due to travel. Doug and I took a bit of a tour around town with our van before lunch. After lunch, we all had a nap, except Josh who was RCMPing around the town. At 3:30, Doug and I decided we needed another road trip, so we traveled through the town and out the other side. We saw Josh twice in his cruiser, and he teased us about looking for a van like ours with some 'questionable people' in it. We then made our way towards the Saskatchewan border, traveling through the famous Carrot Valley (I love saying this), through fields of wheat, mustard, oats and hay. We made it to the SK border and the road turned into a dirt road, so we turned around. We drove over 100 km on our pleasant Sunday afternoon drive. It's 28 degrees here today, and not a bit of humidity. Beautiful.
Well, must go for a walk up to the Dutch Drive Inn, which looks like an old fashioned A & W. We're going to have ice cream and Josh will eat supper. He's been working very hard the last couple of days. We're very proud to have an RCMP officer in our family. He's awesome and a great husband to Nat and father to Aiden.
Monday we'll be back at home renos and such. Nat and Doug are going to work together and put up some walls in the basement. I will look after Aiden and cook and clean. My back is out a bit today, so I hope it feels better tomorrow, so I can be a workhorse like Nat. Doug's back is a bit better. He slept on a futon in the middle of the living room floor last night, so we're in separate beds for awhile. Bed wars honestly; one of us is always having an issue with our bed. I wish I could just be suspended from the ceiling when I sleep.
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