On the road again and finally headed to Canada. Because we got out of Minot so late, we only got about an hour down the road before we found a nice campground at a city park with full hookups in Bottineau, ND —home to Tommy Turtle. It was a pretty campsite with lots of grass for Daisy to lie out in the sun. A quick dinner at home and a relaxing evening.
The next day we planned a busy one with several stops with our camper on our way to our next stop in Canada.
About an hour down the road, we entered the International Peace Garden located at the 49th parallel north of Bottineau. It was built and designated as a symbol of friendship with water fountains, formal gardens, statues and a 911 memorial. You can roam back and forth across the international border freely. It was dog friendly, so we were able to take Daisy on our walk around the grounds.
Promise of Peace Sculpture
After leaving the Peace Gardens, we headed across the Canadian border. The Border Agent was very friendly and asked how are trip was going. A far cry from the treatment we received entering the US last time. We even claimed our wine and he told us that we should pay a duty but he was going to let us through since we declared. We then told him about being in transit on military orders and he said great, no duty needed! We were through in 5 minutes.
The next stop was a small town called Boissevain, Manitoba located in the heart of the Turtle Mountains, hence all the turtles we’ve been seeing.
Boissevain’s claim to fame is the town’s “Outdoor Art Gallery”. As we drove into town we were greeted by another Tommy the Turtle. Tommy is 28 feet tall and weighs 4.5 tons; he is the town’s mascot. The town used to be the home of the historic Canadian Turtle Derby that started in 1972, but the community “ended” it in 2001—I’m pretty sure there is more to that story, but I did not pursue the “why”. If you find out, please drop us a line.
After a quick visit to the Visitor’s Center, who handed me a Tommy Turtle pin and several Canadian Flag pins, we all (Daisy included) set off with our map to find the Outdoor murals around the town. Here is a picture of the Heritage Tree; the story is this tree was planted from a walking stick used by an 1800’s business man, William Venables.
Below are some of the more interesting and better preserved murals that we located:
Next stop Brandon, our stop for the night at Turtle Crossing Campground. After setting up the camper, we ventured to downtown Brandon and had dinner at a nice little pub called The Dock on Princess (Princess was the name of the street). We don’t usually eat out very much, but I think we were still celebrating Blue ID Card Day! After dinner we stopped in at the Visitor’s Center and got the low down on the city from a young college girl who worked there. She was really excited to tell us about her small town. After telling her we only had a few hours, where does she suggest we go, she sent us to “Crow’s General Store”…we were off!
She did not disappoint, Crow’s General Store was a mix of Ice Cream Store and antique shop. Fun times, check out the pics where the owner took our pics, posed us in all these different ways and even supplied the hats. He was so excited we came by to visit, even though we didn’t stay for ice cream—I was still full from dinner.
Another busy day in the books!
After extensive (i.e. Wikipedia) research, it appears that Turtle Racing’s demise in Boissevain can be traced to claims made by PETA that racing was inhumane and highly stressful to the Turtles. (It’s interesting that no Turtles were interviewed or questioned to find out what they thought about it…)
(PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals). Over & Out. C
I knew that was the case!! Sorry for the delay on reply, I can’t blame this one on the internet, but I must have missed the notification. Thanks for the update!
You should send one of your pictures to Crowe’s General Store – maybe he’ll hang it up – like some places do after famous people visit. Just a thought…