EPISODE 1: From Seattle to Winnipeg

My first objective was the Grand Coulee Dam. On the way I passed through the nice little town of Waterville and it’s nearby barn whose sign was painted a bit out of focus.

Waterville


barn

I drove through Moses Coulee caused by a series of huge floods during the ice age when a monstrous lake formed when the Colorado and other rivers were dammed by ice and then the ice gave way. The next picture of Dry Falls was also caused by these events – it was many times bigger than Niagara Falls in its heyday.


Moses Coulee


Dry Falls

Just before Grand Coulee Dam I came across this whimsical bit of human creativity (by a guy named Gehrke) , an interesting contrast with the biggest thing ever built by man, as Woodie Guthrie said. In fact, Grand Coulee Dam is the biggest solid cement structure in the world. It needed several photos to take it all in.

windmills 1


windmills 2


Grand Coulee Dam


Dam 2

I drove across the Canadian Rockies, camped near Lethbridge then reached the town of Bandon, Saskatchewan. I had a snack at this little restaurant, the Chicken Corner. It was run by a Greek fellow who, while his wife was frying chicken, was busy trying to arrange some sort or meeting of the Greek Community. Some of this was conducted in Greek, with professor somethingopolis or other. A guy walks in and asks what kind of restaurant this is. The owner says it’s a chicken restaurant. The customer asks if he has steak, or steer. No, the owner says in his rather thick Greek accent, just chicken. I mutter something about it being called the Chicken Corner, after all. The owner and I also discuss hockey since the Bandon Wheatkings are in the same league as the Seattle Thunderbirds, or at least they were. This seems like a LONG way to come for a minor league hockey match.

Bandon Town

And here is the biggest truck in the world.


Big Truck

On to my first major port of call: Winnipeg, my father’s (and grandmother’s) birthplace. I had a relatively successful time in the Manitoba provincial archives locating their exact address from a 1920 City directory and old insurance maps (like Sanbourns, for you planner types). Unfortunately the place where they lived is no longer there – it was about where why truck is in this picture, near the school sign.


Derby St

Then here is picture of General Hospital where my father was born – the older part of the building may have been there in 1920.


Hospital

However, the house where my grandmother was born (actually in the house, I think) is no longer there, but here is the place that it was.


King St

I hope further items in this blog will be more interesting.

At first I thought Winnipeg was just a sprawling city but I found some nice parts such as some beautiful boulevards. And Assiniboine park which contains a unique sculpture garden – unique because it is devoted to only one artist, Leo Mol.


Mol 1


Mol 2

And here is the state legislature building with its statue of Golden Boy by Parisian sculpture Charles Gardet. The torch in the right hand points to economic development and the sheaf of wheat in the left arm represents agriculture.


Manitoba Legislative Bldg

And here is the Dalnavert Museum built in 1895, designed by Charles Wheeler. It was built for Sir Hugh John Macdonald, son of the first prime minister of Canada and is named after their ancestral home in Scotland. It is in the Queen Anne revival style; note its asymmetrical composition in brick, and varied massing typical of this eclectic style. The veranda unites the building with its setting. Sorry, I could not help myself. I did not talk about the grain and texture of the Winnipeg urban form. I can’t wait to get to that Frank Lloyd Wright gas station in Minnesota.


Dalnavert