Road trip: Moorhead - original of the Dilly Bar

While at ValleyCon this year, we decided to do some touristy things. Shan had looked up points of interest and came across this.

The Dairy Queen in Moorhead is where the Dilly Bar originated.

We had been by this location before and had noted it for the very large umbrellas but had never known of its history.


The American Dilly Bars are larger and flatter than the ones up here. They also come in different flavors.

Stuck in the middle?

On Canada Day, we took a short trip to the longitudinal center of Canada.

It used to be just a road sign but they have updated it for the 150th anniversary.

Komarno - now that's a mosquito!

We didn’t really look around Komarno too much. I know I have an uncle buried there but we didn’t visit. We did stop by their local monument though.

It’s a giant mosquito.


And it’s on a pivot so it can be turned.

Road Trip - Gimli

We used to know when we getting near to Gimli when we could see the distillery.

Gimli used to be a little community about an hour north of Winnipeg. Over the last decade or so, it has had some real growth. While there is still a lot of people using it as a cottage town, there are also a lot of people living there year-round. They still have a movie theatre and a lot of restaurants for their population.



They have done extensive upgrades to the beach area. They still have the big wall to calm the waters of the Lake Winnipeg for the Harbour and for fishing. They have moved around some of the big monuments including the plane that used to be at the end of the main street.


The Viking has been around for many years, and is now tucked away in his new location.



They run the Icelandic days festival in the late summer and have recently added a waterpark to their main park.

Road Trip – Pinawa

Pinawa is a small community on the edge of the Whiteshell. It was a former company town – with the nuclear plant being the main industry. There is a park near the old dam and a lovely golf course. They also have a small suspension bridge. In addition to the beach, they also have a swimming pool.



In town, they have a wonderful large sundial.


In addition, there is often a deer population that roams the streets – and have become quite blasé about people.

Road Trip - Petersfield

Coming back from Winnipeg Beach, we stopped at the Petersfield duck.

There's not much of the town itself but they have a nice little park where you can pull over and see the duck and take some pictures.

Road trip - Winnipeg Beach

One of the other places we stopped in at last summer was Winnipeg Beach. This is where they had filmed some of the series Falcon Beach.

It's a small town - the biggest draw for most people is the beach - it's quite a nice beach with a huge boardwalk beside it.

On the ends of the boards they have dedication plates. These ones tell a neat story.


My big reason to go was the surviving arcades. They have three arcades in a row on the main street.



I wanted to make sure that the kids got to see some real arcades while they still could. The two Playlands had some old decor - with vintage posters from the eighties.


They had some old games and even some skee ball games. In the Boardwalk Station they had a pool table, old arcades, a pair of coin-op horses, arcade games, and some vintage pinball machines.




The kids had a great time. I hadn't been to Winnipeg Beach in the last two decades, but it's definately on my list of places to go back to soon. The beach is so nice that it shouldn't be hard to convince the family, but I'm heading back for the arcade.

Road trip - Russell and Gladstone

While coming back from Yorkton back in June we also stopped at Russell and got a picture with Arthur the bull. Notice the gold medal around his neck to celebrate Jon Montgomery's Gold win in the Skeleton in the 2010 Olympics.


The kids discover that Arthur is definately a bull - not a cow.


We also pulled over in Gladstone and got a picture take with 'Happy Rock'.

Langenburg - Goliath

While on our road trip to Saskatchewan, we pulled over in Langenburg to take a ride on the Goliath. We had seen it on the way down and decided to stop in on the way back.



You can get some good height on this swing.