Spent most of yesterday traveling, our first stop was at the Riverbank Conservation Center to pickup some water, after filling our tank we checked out their wildlife display which included a giant beaver 2.3 meters long!! Then it was off to their outdoor gym for a quick workout before lunch.

When we reached Carberry we headed south to Spruce Grove Provincial Park. We hiked into the park to see the Spirit Sands Desert sand dunes which were left behind when Lake Agassiz receded.

On our way back to the highway we spot a turtle crossing the road. Then it’s off to Portage la Prairie to overnight at the Walmart. While walking down for my morning coffee we spot the world’s largest Coke Can.

After driving thru the middle of Winnipeg, something I don’t recommend doing in a RV!!! we arrive at our first destination the Royal Canadian Mint. It looks just like I remember when I saw it on TV but we couldn’t find John anywhere.

We have a great tour of the mint but no pictures are allowed wish I’d known that before I took this one. 🙂

We had a great tour of the mint, learning many things I had no idea about. This mint produces 50 million coins a day, of which 65% is sent to other countries the remainder is put into general use here in Canada. The average life span of a coin is 3 years the mint buys back all suspect coins and ones it deems unusable are destroyed then sold off to be recycled. I could go on about all the other things we learned on our 1 1/2 hr tour but I’ll just leave it at I throughly enjoyed it.

After lunch we visited the Museum of Human Rights – a very unique building situated on the river. The museum is very informative covering human rights atrocities and struggles from apartheid, the Nazi death camps, Rwanda genocide, first Nations issues to the struggles of women and the disabled.

Lots of stories and exhibits, it’s a rather dark and somber place, but on the 7th floor there are stories of hope and progress as well as an awesome view of Winnipeg. We spent over 3 hrs here then it was time to head out to find a place to spend the night.