Why Manitoba road attractions suck
Basically, there just is nothing here in the southern end of Manitoba. Now I hear that the northern end is more interesting but the Northern end is so far away that it takes like 24 hours just to get there and that’s assuming perfect weather and horrible roads. You could fly…
But this is about road attractions. See in Manitoba all the towns are tiny and this being flat ground, there just is not much in the way of geologic formations. The country is not that old and since it is so vast, historical preservation is a relatively new concept so attractions tend to be settler related and most of the settler establishments that sound interesting in a history book are long gone in real life. The stuff that is around is like the west wall of a fort, not a whole fort mind you, a place to explore and photograph, no just like 1 wall; fascinating…
Now, apparently, there are some fossils around Winkler/Morden, I say apparently because I have never seen them. Oh I wanted to but the presentation was so awful that I just went home.
Let me set the scene; Nina and I were coming back from the states a little trip into the western part of North Dakota. So we had already been in the car for over 4 hours and the thinking was, lets just get back to Winnipeg. But hey, there’s a sign for a Manitoba attraction and this one is for fossils. Its said “Fossils 2 KM” with an arrow to the left; hey, how bad can that be, fossils 2 klicks ahead? It was mid-afternoon a short stop to check out some fossils might be fun after half a day in the car. Problem was there was a lot of road construction and not too many road signs ahead. Well, two clicks ain’t far so I cruise on down the road but there are no signs, no turns, no indications, no nothing. A few clicks ahead later I see a road on my left but no signs of any kind. No road signs, arrows, nothing and the road is kinda hard to see with all the orange mesh and barrels everywhere “Maybe that’s the road” or maybe not so I keep going. A few more klicks and still nothing. Clearly that was the turn and now I need to bust a U. I pull over and after waiting a while for the traffic to thin on this main road reduced to two tiny lanes due to construction and I can turn around. I approach the unmarked road now from the other side but still no signs for what this road is or where it goes. I take the road anyway, I mean this must be it and I am quickly rewarded with the tell-tale silhouette of the Manitoba attractions sign. As I get closer I see “Fossils 57 KM”
57?! The last sign said 2! So the 57 might simply mean 57 km to the next turn? Hell with this.
So even if they seem interesting, you gotta find them first…