Old School Meat

 Winnipeg, MB

More Canada Beef!

Rae & Jerry's Steakhouse

Tonight we made reservations for Rae and Jerry's Steakhouse.  We drove by it last week and it looked cool so we did some research and decided to visit. Rae & Jerry's opened in 1957 and has been serving up prime rib and steaks ever since.  We got there at 4:30 to avoid any potential rush.  When we arrived there was one other table of people but we heard the waitress say it filled up at 6:30 for Senior night so we were glad we got there early.  As we ate the tables filled with Seniors and we heard a group of 7 men talking about "heading south" mid October.  Some of them were going to Palm Springs to golf for the winter, some to Vegas, and some just South with no place specific mentioned.  

We also overheard an interesting conversation that aligned with what Donna has been reading in the paper. Winnipeg isn't the most desirable city in Canada and the conservative party has been slashing the healthcare budget so Winnipeg can't pay enough to attract medical workers to live and work here.  One of the men talked about going to Cincinnati to get knee surgery.  The Canadian Insurance pays for it because of the doctor shortage here in Manitoba.  

The building is listed as a Midcentury Modern destination and has changed little since opening.

 

If we were staying longer we probably would revisit to see the lounge.

The soon to be full dining room.  That table closest to us was the table that filled up with the older men talking about golf and knee surgery.

Donna looks at the drink menu to see which cocktail will accompany her giant piece of beef.

Good advice but we didn't choose The Moscow Mule

They cocktail list was a deep dive into the classics with some cocktails we hadn't heard of.  The menu is also very specific about how much alcohol is in each cocktail which is good in my opinion.

I chose the Harvey Wallbanger because I have never had it and never seen it on a menu (I wasn't drinking cocktails in the 70s) and Donna chose a Rusty Nail because you rarely see those on a menu.  It's not that those drinks are hard to make it's just that we don't have the proper ingredients and a modern bartender may not know the proper ratios.

The menu isn't an ala cart sort of menu.  If you order a steak you get sides and a starter.  Your starter option is soup or a tomato juice.  Not sure how this started but I got the tomato juice and it came with Worcestershire sauce.

We both got the BIG one that came with the rib bone.  We will have a great leftover breakfast and probably leftover lunch tomorrow.

It was a fun meal.  I do love an old school steakhouse.  We used to frequent House of Prime Rib and Harris' in San Francisco.  The meal was incredibly reasonable when converted to USD.  

That was it for today.  On Wednesday we do a bit of shopping for the road trip and then Thursday is packing day.  On Friday we take 3 days to drive to Denver with camping in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. If you missed More BDI Ice Cream & Leo Mol Sculpture Garden you can read it via the link.

More BDI Ice Cream & Leo Mol Sculpture Garden

 Winnipeg, MB

At the BDI Mural

Winding Down

Today we went to BDI Ice Cream again.  We had to visit at least one more time while we are here.  Our last visit was great.  This time we got reasonably sized ice creams and didn't end up taking many photos.  

After Ice Cream we headed over to Assiniboine Park to visit The Leo Mol Sculpture Garden.  It wasn't the grand contemporary art kind of sculpture garden but rather the naked women, clothed men, and bears type of sculpture garden.  We also visited the English Garden which was way better IMHO.  There were tons of flowers and we even saw our first hummingbirds in a long time (for us).  

Just a naked woman working on her abs.

I wish there were more like this.

That was pretty much it for today.  We did have a small adventure yesterday to Half Pints Brewing to have a beer and play pinball.  I got to talk to the brewery about beer and Winnipeg and other stuff.  It was a nice trip and the beers were great.

Things are pretty dead around here.  It's Labour Day Weekend here in Winnipeg and I guess everyone heads to The Lake for one last hurrah before school starts and summer ends.  

I did notice the other day that we ended up getting 2 more county equivalents when we went to Assiniboine Downs.  One was pretty obvious after looking at our route but we entered one by entering a clover loop while switching highways.  The line runs right along the highway so the loop takes you into the next county equivalent.  Pretty fun (for me).

The highway obscures the line so I drew it in black to show what I am talking about.

We only have 3 real days left here so things are slowing down.  We are really looking forward to our road trip through ND, SD, and NB on our way to Denver and then our month in Denver will be fun.  We have friends there and we have a couple of friends flying out to hang with us (and other people, but mostly us I tell myself).

If you missed 5 Pin Bowling check it out.  You'd think it would be half the price of "real" bowling but it isn't.

5 Pin Bowling

 Winnipeg, MB

Park Alleys Bowling!

Trying 5 Pin Bowling

Today we headed to Park Alleys to try out 5 pin bowling.  It's exactly like 10 pin bowling except there are only 5 pins, each of the pins are worth different points, you get 3 balls, the balls are smaller, and there are rubber bands around the pins to make them move more.  Actually it's nothing like 10 pin bowling.  5 pin bowling is like a combination of 10 pin bowling and duck pin bowling (seen here in Cincinnati).  We went at noon on a Friday so we were the only ones there for most of our time there.  We paid for an hour of bowling and each got a beer and settled in.

They had a great beer selection

The décor was really cool too.

Lanes 1 and 2 have been replaced by a stage for live music and karaoke.

The Dude made an appearance

Old score sheets lined the ceiling 

This location was chosen, in part, because they had 2 pinball machines.  We played after bowling.

They had a place to track your high score

These pins were embedded in the bar.  You can see the rubber band around the middle.

Donna spotted Pumpkin Pins that weren't currently in use.

After bowling we had breakfast sandwiches for brunch and then played some pinball before going grocery shopping.  When we returned home we found someone parked in our spot in the parking garage so we worked with the Airbnb host to sort things out.  They ended up telling us to park in another spot that is associated with a listing that they manage.  This hosting service is not as organized as we would have liked but we are down to only a few more days here so hopefully the rest of our stay is without parking drama.

That's it for today.  If you missed The Manitoba Museum check it out.

The Manitoba Museum

 Winnipeg, MB

The Manitoba Museum

Today we took a short walk to The Manitoba Museum.  The museum displays the history of Manitoba.  For an extra fee you can also visit a planetarium and a science gallery.  The history part is big enough to fill a half a day so we went with just the history part.  It was huge and really cool.  It starts with Earth history and shows the fossils found in Manitoba.  Manitoba was underwater for much of the time so the fossils from this time tend to be aquatic.  As you explore the museum you travel through time to present day.

The museum has some amazing dioramas and taxidermy

The Creation of the World -  Daphne Odjig

There was a giant video of what the Manitoba area might have looked like underwater.

We learned about many of the fossils they had on display from this docent

"Oh crap!"

This stone figure is called an Inukshuk, an Inuit word meaning "something acting in the capacity of a human" or "resembling a person". Inukshuit (plural) are found throughout the Canadian Arctic.

Some of the dioramas leaned into a bit of gore.  I haven't seen this in other museum displays.

The museum featured some awesome fonts and period looking displays.

The Caribou feet were in full bloom!

More of that cool font

Even psychedelic

There were a few murals by Jackson Beardy.  I really liked them.

More of that gore

They had a giant insect display.

We went to Nonsuch brewing before I learned what it was referring to.  Nonsuch was the first boat from England to trade with the indigenous peoples here in the area.  It was so profitable The Hudson Bay Company was formed.

There was a replica of The Nonsuch you could board.  It was build to celebrate the 300th Anniversary of The Hudson's Bay Company and actually sailed 14,000 kilometers (8700 miles) in salt and fresh water before ending up in the museum.

Pipes

I took this photo

and then Donna pointed out that each of the figureheads had a different expression.  I admitted I hadn't noticed because I was looking at something else.

Donna sampling the finest furs for trade. She is making her "Oh so soft" face.

This is a lamb's head snuff mull (an oversized snuff box).

The Hudson's Bay Company provided The Smithsonian with many specimens for the museum.

Another view of The Nonsuch from the 2nd story.

The museum also featured some odd dead ends.  One might say liminal spaces.

And early snowmobile

and a cool looking ice fishing vehicle

Another liminal space

And more cool period displays and furniture 

They had an entire street with all sorts of shops set up.  You could go into the shops.

Waffles, waffles, waffles!

I am placing an order at a pharmacy but the photo makes me look like a Terry (apparently the male version of a Karen)

We watched a video that stated at one point Winnipeg was considered the most racist and unaccepting place in Canada so there was a concerted effort to change that including LGBTQ+ rights.

They had this cool place that made cool rainbow shadows.

We didn't have lunch in the café.

Lake of the Woods Brewing

After the museum we walked to Lake of the Woods Brewing.  It's 1 of 4 breweries that are in close walking distance to us and the last one we visited. Seating wasn't great due to space but the beer was good, the service was great, and you could order food from upstairs.  We got a burger and split fries.  Both were delicious.

Anniversary beer aged at the bottom of a lake.  We didn't get one.

My imperial IPA

And Donna's Kolsch

I don't think you would see a couple of these specials in the US.
1. Student Mondays - Students get $2 off all flights 6pm to Close
2. Merch Madness Saturdays - 5% off merch for each pint you drink up to 25% off.  Seems like it would promote binge drinking in The US

Manitoba Casual Pinball League

Tonight I headed back over to Phantom Amusement to play in the Manitoba Casual Pinball League.  This isn't a tournament but a weekly league where they take the top and bottom score and drop it and then rate players at the end of the season.  I will only be able to play in one so that will probably be my top and bottom score and it may get thrown out but it was fun to play with people and learn a few things.  

During the tournament I saw a dad teaching his son the cheating ropes.  They were having tons of fun.  There aren't any tickets so no harm no foul.

Whacking Moles!

The observation tower at The Forks Market.

There were only 13 players so we took a break after 4 rounds so people could refill their beers.  I took a walk around The Forks Market.  It was a really pretty night.

I took first place.  I will be the guy that shows up for one night, wins, and never shows up again. Oh well.

That's it for today.  If you missed WAG - Winnipeg Art Gallery, check it out.