We had planned a few stops between Winnipeg and Regina before leaving on the road trip, and we had no idea how long we'd stay at each place. Well, after Riding Mountain, it wasn't long... a night and a day for all four places, two of which turned out to be total disappointments, unfortunately. 😔
Our first stop was in Souris-Glenwood, where we were looking forward to the longest suspension bridge in Canada, amongst other things. We got there quite late (and were greeted by peacocks 🦚 in the streets!), so we grabbed a bite at Woodfire Deli and postponed our exploration to the next day. In the morning, we set out to find the trail to the Mystical Old Oak Tree, and let me tell you, just finding the trailhead is an adventure in itself. There were also so many dragonflies everywhere, it was incredible! Swarms of them just hovering above the treetops and all. We climbed the Lookout Tower on the same trail, and from there you can pretty much see the whole village, which was nice. However, concerning the mystical tree, if there hadn't been a little fence around it, I don't think we would have found it. There was no special "vibe" coming off of it, and it didn't look that different from the rest. Ah well, at least we got to see a really old tree. We also went across the Swinging Bridge twice. It was ok, but nothing spectacular. I'd say if it's on your way then fine, otherwise I don't think it's worth going there for just that. We also wanted to visit the Plum Museum & Visitor Centre, along with the Hillcrest Museum and the Railway Museum, but none of them were open: looks like tourist season starts July 1st here, so we were done with the town in no time.
So we hit the road again and we headed due south to the border, where the International Peace Garden is. Again, we were quite disappointed, as we were apparently very early in the season, and were charged full price to see empty fountains and empty flowerbeds... I'm certain it's very pretty in July, but even with our visit of the greenhouse, the 9/11 Memorial (made of beams from one of the WTC towers), the chapel and the bell tower, we felt like we'd been ripped off. 😒 The only cool thing about the park was that it was on international grounds, so you could get into the park and walk over the "border" without restrictions, and only show your passport to get back out.
Once again, we didn't stay much longer than the time needed to walk around the place once, and once through the customs, we were on our way to Kipling. Not much here except the Red Paperclip Cottage. This little house turned café (we were unfortunately too late to eat there) was the one Kyle MacDonald ended up exchanging for a paperclip! Just a little ways from the house is the World's Largest Red Paperclip, to memorialize the event.
Finally, before reaching Regina, we went through the town of Montmartre in Saskatchewan to see its Eiffel Tower Replica. It was quite surreal to see that little tower in the middle of nowhere, next to a train track! It made for a pretty good picture.
And that was it for the shorter-than-expected stopovers between Riding Mountain and Regina! Stay tuned, folks! 💜
TL;DR: All four places were extremely short to visit (mostly due to things being closed because we were "too early"). We didn't get to visit any museums in Souris (they all open in July), and the International Peace Garden was a desolated place. However, the World's Largest Red Paperclip in Kipling and the Eiffel Tower Replica in Montmartre were fun additions to the road trip!
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