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.

Day 6 of Folklorama - canadien-français

 Winnipeg, MB

It looks like I am trying to keep Donna hidden but I am actually trying to hold my ice cream and take a selfie with both of us, both of the ice creams, and the pedestrian bridge.  We kind of got there.

BDI (Bridge Drive-In) Ice Cream

Today we braved the Winnipeg rush hour, which is terrible because all of the road construction has to happen during the summer, to pick up BDI Ice Cream before our Folklorama Pavilion time slot.  BDI is right next to a pedestrian bridge and they are famous for having giant elaborate ice creams. On the drive there the radio traffic reporter described the construction as "chronic" and they aren't kidding.  Just about every major highway has a lane closed somewhere but the drive was worth it.

You have to walk up to the drive-in

They have some crazy ice creams like a half a pineapple filled with ice cream and other stuff.

And a half a cantaloupe filled with ice cream.

I got the Cookie Monster.  It had half a cookie and was rolled in 5 different kinds of crushed cookies for a topping.

Donna got the "Biggie - Smalls".  A big Ice Cream Cone topped with brownies and chocolate shell with a smaller cone on top topped the same way. 
The family you see in the back asked, "What does she have?, Yea I'll have that."

A close up of "Biggie - Smalls"

We walked the bridge and ate our ice cream.  

Well I ate mine and Donna ate about half of hers.  It was so big and so small at the same time.

Folklorama

After our ice cream stop we continued on to our Folklorama event for the evening.  Tonight we chose canadien-français.  It was noticeably more sparsely attended than the others we have been to but it was a Tuesday so who knows.

We started out with a Manitoban which is 2 pours of Rye Whiskey and 1 pour of Caribou which is a fortified wine that is associated with the French Canadians.

The Menu

This is what the bottle of Caribou looks like.

The music and dancing tonight was TOP NOTCH!  I learned that apparently there is an element of tap dancing within most western cultures.

They played a song that they said was about alcohol.  They wanted us to buy more Caribou for the song but we resisted.  The audience partication included them singing a line in French and us saying "Oui, Oui, Oui!" and then singing another line in French and us saying. "Non, Non, Non!"  I assume the lyrics were, "Do you want more fortified wine?" and then "Haven't you had enough?"

After about 20 minutes of song and dance I realized that the canadien-français people are just hipsters.

This woman was incredibly good on the fiddle or violin (I looked it up and they are the same thing).

It turns out she was born with a fiddle attached to her chin.  Here you can clearly see her clapping and not holding the fiddle so it must be attached at birth.  I'm not sure if it started out that large or grew with her as she grew.

After the show we Sortie'd through the gift shop and headed home.  

Before and after the show we talked to an older couple that was planning on going to Belgium that same night.  They asked how the show was and I noticed I paused for a long time and then said, "It was pretty good but I don't want to spoil it for you." After the show the woman asked Donna how the show was at Belgium and Donna mentioned that after this show, she should temper her expectations. 

That was it for today.  It was a fun day of exploration and ice cream.  If you missed Day 5 of Folklorama - China check it out.

Kanabec County Fair

 Mora, MN

Fair Food!

The Kanabec County Fair

Today we drove about an hour north to pick up some new counties, new highways, and visit a county fair.  It was quite a bit smaller than the Rice County Fair but it was still good.  

The fairgrounds entrance features a giant Dala Horse.

When we parked I assumed this was a shuttle that brought people to the fair but it was part of their transportation display.  You could go inside.

They asked us to fill out a thank you letter to Minnesota State Congress for funding so we could get a free bag but we said we were from out of state so they gave us a free bag anyway.  The bag features counties we haven't been to.

The photo area featured more animals in hats than I would have expected.

This Godzilla won a Blue Award!

Abraham looks worried he won't get any Valentine's Day Cards.

Apparently Butterflies start out looking a lot like Pennies.

This alpaca grew up in the mean streets of Mora.  You gotta keep on your toes (good thing alpaca have toes) and use a bit of hay like a toothpick to look tough.  This one's hair also looks pretty tough.

Not sure what happened here...

Grubbing on local pork.

There is a competition for drinking beer and then picking flowers.

This toupee won an award.

There is an award for drinking wine too apparently.

Pinball Tournament and A New Brewery

Later than evening I headed over to Keg and Case Market to play in a pinball tournament.  The market has some fun stalls in it, a big brewery, and the bottom floor has a ton of pinball machines.  The tournament was advertised as starting at 7 and ending at 9 so I figured I wouldn't be home too late.  Turns out it went until 10:45 and if I had done well I would probably still be there.  I was tired and played on a bunch of machines I didn't know and got kinda destroyed.  It was a good learning experience for me.  I came in 25th out of 31 which isn't what I consider good.  I won 2 rounds but took 4th and 3rd in the rest.  You get points each round for where you place.  7 for 1st, 5 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, and 1 for 4th.  After winning my first round I got destroyed in my 2nd round and I think that put me on edge for the rest of the tournament.  There were some games I should have played better on.  Next time!

The tournament is $6 and you get a token for a free $7 beer.  I like that math!

This is me scoping out the competition.

The competition was intense!

This gal slapped and shimmied to first place in one of my rounds.  She ended up 7th.

It's fun watching everyone's style of play.  Some are pretty still but many are incredibly animated and really fun to watch.  I am noting all of the tournaments near our future stays and hope to play in more.  It's an inexpensive fun evening if you don't buy a ton of beers, which I don't.

That's it for today.  If you missed Visiting the Hmong Marketplace check it out.  The Twin Cities area is the largest urban Hmong population in the world.