Day 24 Reston MB

Friendly Manitoba isn’t just a slogan on a license plate. It is the moto of everyone we meet today as we arrive in the little community of Reston Manitoba.

Our drive from Winnipeg was uneventful and the landscape spread before us, as it does on the prairies, but the urban sprawl of Winnipeg gave way to the remoteness of rural Manitoba. The sights along the way were new and captivating for us as canola fields glowed almost a neon yellow, the walls of hay bales demanding notice, and the circular flight patterns of flocks of snow geese, all common place here perhaps, but not at all common for us.

Endless canola
Walls of hay bales

Reston appeared in the south-west corner of Manitoba. A delightful stop on our way to Grasslands National Park. The National Park was just too far for a leisurely driving day, so Jonathan had arranged a one-night stop in Reston Lake Campground. This little place is a place you might read about in a novel or see in a movie. It’s the kind of a place everyone wants to live, but it just doesn’t really exist. Well, it does in Reston.

The campground is a small municipal park. It has a man-made swimming hole, a water park, a golf course, hiking trail and Co-Op take-out and ice cream stand. We had gotten an email with our reservation that told us to go straight to our site. “Natalie” had left a note on the registration desk that she wouldn’t be back until later, so there was no way to “check-in”.  One might think that not a nice welcome, until we arrived at our site to find a little welcome package tied to our water tap. It had a welcome note, town maps, information on the area and little gifts from local businesses! Everyone who walked by our site said “hello and welcome”, and the little campground had a happy vibe! 

Taken from inside the trailer, so we are right in the middle of things!
Looking across the swimming hole at our trailers
The biggest bucket splash I have ever seen in this little splash pad!

We decided to walk into downtown (the whole community is 5km2!) to support some of the businesses that were so welcoming. We discovered a quiet, well cared for town. Friendly people greeted us and engaged in idle chatter. Even groups of teens would wave and offer a good word. We saw countless examples of just how community minded this little place was. Such a delight!

A town beach volleyball court. Artwork on the fence was done by a local art club!

Obligatory ice cream stop!
Local library that we were welcome to use...not sure how that would work, but a nice gesture!
Love the name!
Little trails everywhere inviting you to wander.
We walked the Peanut Line - an old railway bed that was an important part of the communities history as a junction. It was called the Peanut Line when locals thought the train whistle sounded like the peanut carts - the name stuck. This trail, again built and  maintained by the community is a work in progress. Each time they raise enough money, they put another sign on the self-guided trail to share their history!
They even have a community orchard!! Quite impressive too. 

We learned there was one bar in town and since this was a Friday night we thought we might check out the local night life. Not sure what they do here when the sun goes down, but this wasn’t it. We found the Rest ‘n Inn and Bar without any problem. The open sign was lit and David went in to explore but there wasn’t a single soul there! So, we had a lovely walk back home.

Farm equipment makes a cool sunset silhouette!
The only local bar. Where is everyone on a Friday night?
Back at the trailer 💓


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 45 Thunder Bay (again)

Image
The day from Dryden to Thunder Bay was delightfully uneventful. We stayed here on the way down so knew exactly where we were going and what to expect. It may not sound like a marvelous adventure, but it’s a great travel day! The smoke was greatly reduced and the rain stopped so we were all good! Just a pretty little stroll before bed!
Read more

Day 14 Thunder Bay

Image
Moving on today for an overnight in Thunder Bay in a full service park. We certainly don't mind simple living, but every once in a while having full service to do laundry, clean tanks, restock the larder and have a proper shower makes roughing it that much more manageable! The other thing that we finally have for at least one night is reliable Wi-Fi and cell service. Once again, loads to be celebrated in disconnecting. When you do have intermittent Wi-Fi and get a notice from your bank about an issue, you need cell signal for the dual-factor authentication! We have had a couple of issues that were delayed until we had cell coverage, so today was also the day to get those chores sorted. Jonathan and Jenna had given us National Park Passes for Mother's/Father's Day but our generous PM and his free park visits for 2025 wrecked that plan. They had a friend recommend a Mexican restaurant in Thunder Bay, so insisted on taking us to supper as a substitute. We insisted it wasn'...
Read more

Day 43 Winnipeg (again)

Image
Settled into Winnipeg once again after a long day of travel. This morning when we were getting ready to leave Moose Jaw, I realized it was time to go home. To be fair this happens at the end of many wonderful holidays. I am having such a wonderful time I don’t want it to end, but when it’s time to go home, it’s time to be home! Camping is not for everyone, but I love it. I love the simplicity. I love the problem solving. I love the adventure. I even love how you need to work for everything you have, and what you want becomes less. This morning as we had breakfast and prepared to move on, I found myself thinking – this will all be much easier to do when I get home! I was feeling grumbly! A sure sign it’s time to be home! Our travel was much better today. There was still significant smoke for our entire drive, but no rain. I can’t bring myself to complain about the smoke realizing that people here have been living with this all summer, and yet even those people are so much better off...
Read more