We are in Selkirk, Manitoba this evening; about 30 minutes drive north of Winnipeg.  We left Winnipeg a little after 10 am this morning and arrived in Selkirk at 5 pm this evening.  How is that possible you ask?

Well….let me tell you how to do it.  You leave Winnipeg via highway 7 and stop for an hour or so at the 36 square kilometer Oak Hammock Marsh which is a major migratory and nesting area for 200 bird species.  (The coolest thing at Oak Hammock, besides the endless view of marsh land and the sounds of chirpping birds, was the visitors center which was built of light colored stone, surrounded by grass-covered berms and sporting a prairie grass roof that birds actually nest in.)

After you leave the marsh drive due west to the town of Stonewall where the citizens have turned an old rock quarry into a lovely park with paths, picnic areas, a pond and a really nice community center.

                                      Old kilns in the quarry.

After lunch at the top of Hwy 7 in Arborg,  drive over to Hwy 8 and go north until you cross the causeway to Hecla Island. In 1875 Iceland’s largest volcano erupted violently driving many people from their homes. The Canadian government offered the Icelanders land on Hecla Island – called New Iceland at the time.  The village still has some of the original buildings. Hecla Island is the largest island in Lake Winnipeg and fishing was a major part of the Icelanders life there.The one road of Hecla Village runs along the shore of Lake Winnipeg.  On the other side of the road are regularly spaced small homes on approximately 1 acre lots.  Every one of those lots was covered with neatly mowed grass.  We saw about 5 guys out mowing their monster lawns with everything from regular size ride-ons to tractor pulled commercial-size mowers.  It must be a continuous job!  It does look nice though but all that space around each building made the small house look even smaller.

After you tour the village from end to end turn around and head south again on Hwy 8.  Drive past the turn off you had taken going north and keep on Hwy 8 to Gimli, another Icelandic village (we were looking for the giant Viking but couldn’t find him), then continue on to Winnipeg Beach where you will  follow Hwy 9 into Selkirk.

We had driven from Arborg to Hecla Island with the roof down on Poppy and had a whole flock of Canada Geese fly directly overhead as we neared Hecla Village – thank goodness none of them dropped any ‘souvenirs’ on the way by.  I just pointed the camera straight up to get this shot.There had been very dark grey clouds off to the west for most of our drive from Hecla Island to Selkirk and 30 minutes out of town the sky opened.  And I mean opened.  Is there such a thing as a rain-out?  We could barely see the road and the almost-running-board high water on the streets in Selkirk were flooding Poppy’s undercarriage.  She got a power wash for sure today.  Thank goodness it stopped before we had to get the luggage out of the truck.And that, my friends, is how you drive all day and end up 36 miles from where you started.