Experiencing Canada

     Jen and I both expected to wake up to fields of golden wheat.  What we didn't take into proper consideration was the time of year.  We instead woke up to snowy river banks and grain elevators as we passed from Saskatchewan into Manitoba.  In Manitoba a huge storm hit, and when we got off the train in Winnipeg, it looked like some sort of massive beast frozen in a glacier since prehistoric times. 

    I met my aunt and uncle in Winnipeg for a pleasant, but incredibly short visit which I came out of with a huge bag filled with food, including a dozen huge cookies.  Everybody likes cookies, but after about 5 I started to beg other passengers to take them because I felt quite ill.  Luckily everybody was really friendly - maybe not friendly enough to eat my cookies just because I couldn't take anymore, but friendly enough to make pleasant conversation instead of eating my cookies.  Pleasant conversation AND amusement.  We met two friends from Scotland traveling to a tour in New Brunswick, two roommates from Toronto traveling home from work in Whistler, a girl from the Netherlands wanting to see the country, and a girl from Saskatchewan going to work in Guelph, all willing to invest mass amounts of time in playing uno, and the Scottish variation on old maid: Scabby Queen.  I ended up as the scabby queen, a title I will never live down. 

   The train made a stop in Sioux Lookout, a random small town in Northern Ontario, where Jen and I got off, expecting to find not much.  What we ended up finding was a cool little Lebanese restaurant, where Jen picked up some dinner with which to enjoy the rest of the evening voyage through the Canadian shield.  I had my own seat to sleep on tonight.  It was brilliant.