Freezing in the'Peg

I stepped out of the Winnipeg Airport and into a winter evening like I had never experienced before. Snow blew sideways at a wicked pace, snowblasting my face and freezing my fingers. I felt like the typical southern Ontario idiot as I waded through knee high snowdrifts enroute to the rental car in my dress shoes, dragging my suitcase behind me.

The winter experience continued when I hit the roads in my rental with all-season tires. Winnipeg, like many of the northern Ontario towns that I have visited, doesn’t plow the roads or make use of ice melting salt and by middle of January the streets have risen to the height of the curbs with packed snow covering any visible lane markers. Wind swept snow covers most of the road signs and my GPS keeps losing the signal which adds a sense of sport to the challenge of navigating my way to the hotel, which I finally spot conveniently located on the other side of Portage Ave which is divided by a concrete meridian. After a driving a series of circles around the hotel which paid off by leading me past a Liquor Mart I made my way to the hotel parking garage the wrong way down a one way street. The hotel was a Best Western with tacky fishtanks in the elevators housing some of the saddest looking fish I’ve seen, and a cocktail lounge that could’ve been a set from ‘The Graduate’.

One of the things I like about the job I’m doing for the next year is that I’m travelling with a team. It pretty much sucks eating dinner by yourself in a hotel room, which I’ve done at least a hundred times in the last few years. Travelling solo has its rewards as well which is why I love hiking solo so passionately. Having to acquiesce to the wants of a group can be, at best, trying for me. The group choose the Keg for dinner and again, for at least the hundredth time, I ordered the zesty Ahi tuna. Limited choices for a vegetarian at a steakhouse...

I had a couple of hours free the next morning and decided I would brave the ridiculous cold and drive downtown and check out a bit of the city. I slid into the street in my 2011Dodge Avenger rental (love the Avenger and I feel like a superhero every time I get in it), tires spinning on the snow road, and headed down Portage Ave trying to guess how many lanes were on the road. 20 minutes later I was standing at the corner of the Portage and Main. I snapped a picture of the iconic intersection and sang Propaghandi tunes in my head as I shivered my way around the city. The ‘Peg ‘s main streets feature a mix of new and old and it looks like a rebirth of sorts in underway with generic retailers and chain hotels common to any city mixing with mom and pop restaurants, hand painted signs and century old buildings. As I wandered down some side-streets it didn’t take much imagination to picture the streets as they were generations ago.

The timing was great for the trip as I had just finished reading Pierre Berton’s novel about the Depression and the history of the city during those times was fresh in my mind. I could almost picture ‘tincanners’ on the corners and General Strikers carrying placards.

It was cold though... the wind was bitter and dry, sucking the moisture out of me. I have heard that it’s a different kind of cold in the west than what we experience in Ontario and it soon got the best of me, leaving my lips peeling and my dress shoe clad toes near frostbit. I spent less than an hour exploring downtown but I was glad I saw what I did. I have a feeling that re-development might destroy the part that I saw before long. I know there is a whole area developed at the ‘Forks’, restaurants and bars and trendy shops and I’m sure if I had longer, and it was warmer, I would’ve checked that out as well (a few summertime pints on a riverside patio can be a great way to spend time as well) .

So the next trip is to the west coast. Vancouver promises to be warmer and I can’t wait for an early taste of spring. See you there...