Well, we finally got out of farm country today. But before we did, we passed the longitudinal center of Canada, in the middle of the most giant field ever. It was kind of cool to think about it.
About an hour after leaving Winnipeg, we hit the lakes. I don’t know what they call this part of Canada but it looks like polka dots on the map – there are lakes everywhere. It was really pretty:
We stopped for lunch in Kenora, which is at the head of the Lake of the Woods – I discovered after Googling that it is the 6th largest lake at least partially in the US, after the Great Lakes (it’s half in Minnesota). On the drive into town we passed an enormous paper mill with more logs than either of us has ever seen in one place, and that proved prophetic for the rest of the day.
We stopped and had a delicious lunch in town, then took pictures of Huskie the Muskie (yes, it’s really named that, I didn’t make it up):
I have to say, Canadians seem to have an obsession with large animal sculptures.
After leaving Kenora, the road got increasingly more desolate – more lakes and tons of trees and no people. There are just all these ravaged fields where they’ve logged the trees and there’s nothing left. I know it’s part of how people survive out here, and it’s important for a country to take advantage of its natural resources but it’s hard to look at.
About an hour before we hit Thunder Bay, we finally got to the high point of the day – we finally saw a moose! We’ve been on the lookout ever since we got to Canada. I was beginning to think all the signs and pictures were a made up story to amuse children, but there he was. He looked at us like we were insane and then wandered off into to the woods before I could take a picture. We were pretty excited anyway.