Travelogue: Winnipeg (Days 14-16)

After days of driving through Ontario's seemingly infinite wilderness, part of me was itching for the excitement of being in a city again. (And with no offense to Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, Winnipeg was the first place on the trip west from Toronto that can accurately be referred to as a city.)

I was especially excited for Winnipeg because it's one of the few major Canadian cities I've never been to, so I was curious to see what it had to offer.

As it turned out, what Winnipeg has to offer is a lot.

I was so impressed by Winnipeg - and no, I can't claim to know it that well after only 48 hours, but it certainly gave an excellent first impression.

That impression started at The Forks, which has to be one of the biggest and most impressive urban redevelopments in Canadian history.

This huge plot of land (60 acres) in the heart of downtown at the point where the city's two defining rivers meet has been a meeting place for centuries, since long before the arrival of Europeans. By the mid-20th Century, Europeans had done what they were fond of doing: turning a previously human space into an industrial landscape. The area was a huge railyard up until the end of the 1980s, when the regeneration began.

A few decades and several hundreds of millions of dollars later, the area had become the city's beating heart.

Museums, performance spaces, playgrounds, green space, historical markers...I can't think of a Canadian city that has a better park right at its very centre.

We spent much of our time in Winnipeg at The Forks: at its playgorund, its (huge and awesome) skatepark, and enjoying the variety of foods at its market.

But the most impressive building at The Forks - the most impressive building in Winnipeg - is the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The museum documents the people, progress, and challenges that have defined humankind's ongoing struggle for fairness. There is so much to cover that we couldn't see it all, but we (and the kids) learned a lot about residential schools in Canada, civil rights movements, and difference makers in Canada and around the world.

Not only were the displays thoughtfully laid out, but the building itself was so beautiful that it elevated the subject matter that much more.

From the outside, it looks a bit like hands cradling a candle. Inside, as you make your way through the exhibits, you climb gradually higher, before taking the elevator up to the central tower, which provides 360-degree views of the city. The whole experience therefore takes visitors upwards; important because despite the heaviness of the material, one is left feeling hopeful. After all, if we can build such a beautiful time capsule of how far we've come, surely we can go further.

We had two more playgorunds to visit before leaving Winnipeg: a Jumpstart playground (our sixth of the trip) and the wonderfully colourful Nature Playground at Assiniboine Park.

Assiniboine park is much further from downtown, but another significant city green space: it includes a botanical garden, a forest, the Winnipeg Zoo, and the playground. We loved the playground for its big rubberized hills, large water play area, big crow's nest climber, and rainbow slides.

Our brief stint in Winnipeg left us with more great memories than we anticipated. Granted, the weather was stunning enough that any city would have looked its best. But the city punches well above its weight for the sheer number of places worth visiting, and I have to recommend that you head there someday.

But before you go...if you believe in the power of play (and if you're here you probably do) please consider donating to our cross-Canada road trip by clicking here. It would mean a lot!