Planning Part 5 - Day Two Saskatoon to Winnipeg

Day two of our trip should provide less of a conundrum than the first - continuing east from Saskatoon toward Ontario, all roads pretty much converge on Winnipeg. Highway 16 is the most direct route, but a  detour slightly north on Highway 5 in Saskatchewan will provide some interesting stops. The driving time alone will be approximately 8 hours, which means we'll need to be judicious with our stops and won't likely be able to spend much time at all these places or even visit them all, but here's a healthy itinerary of some things to see and do between Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

Day 2 Part 1

The stops on the first leg come from Saskatchewan Tourism's Multicultural Heritage of Saskatchewan Driving Tour. While we won't complete the entire tour, I've picked out a couple of stops that seem interesting.

Humboldt, SK
The town of Humboldt houses the Humboldt and District Museum as well as murals on the German-style  buildings. The original Humboldt site (slightly east and south of its current location) was a communications (telegraph) hub for the North-West Rebellion of 1885, and today, houses several storyboards to tell of this history. Since learning more about the rebellion, I have to admit to being kind of bummed about not being able to visit some of the historic sites related to it. So, I am excited about having at least one stop related to this event.

St. Peter's Cathedral, image from Wikipedia

Muenster, SK
In Muenster, another German-style town just down the road from Humboldt, St. Peter's Cathedral arises out of the prairie landscape. It boasts twin towers on the exterior, and a beautiful interior that contains 80 life-sized paintings and frescoes of religious figures.

Yorkton, SK
Back on Highway 16 east, you come to Yorkton, SK. Attractions here include St. Mary`s Ukrainian Catholic Parish with an elaborately painted dome, and the Western Development Museum, which chronicles the settling of the prairies.

Not far past Yorkton, is the Manitoba border, and the second leg of the journey. A great source of information on things to see and do is the Travel Manitoba website.

Day 2 Part 2

Minnedosa, MB
Having worked for a company with a plant in Minnedosa, I have a curiosity to stop in this town I have heard about for years. As luck would have it, Minnedosa is also home to the Minnedosa District Museum and Heritage Village.The village consists of eleven furnished historical buildings, a restored blacksmith`s shop, windmill, waterwheel and much more.

Neepawa, MB
Just down the road from Minnedosa, is the town of Neepawa. The town boasts a number of historical buildings including the Beautiful Plains County Courthouse (National Heritage Site) built in 1884, Beautiful Plains Museum housed in a CNR station built in 1902, and the home of famed Canadian author Margaret Laurence.

Portage la Prairie, MB
This city`s name, derived from the prairie portage between the Red and Assiniboine rivers and Lake Manitoba, is historically significant in and of itself. It is also home to Fort la Reine Museum. The museum contains  28 heritage homes and buildings, and is designed to provide a glimpse into the life of prairie pioneers.

Winnipeg, MB
This will be one of our fullest days of driving and touring. Even if we decide not to stop at each of the attractions noted above, it will be quite late by the time we arrive in Winnipeg, and we will not likely have time to see or do much there. Fortunately, Winnipeg is one of the few places we`ll pass through twice. So while I`ve compiled a decent list of things to see and do in this city, its not likely we`ll tackle any of them until our return trip.

More than likely our second day will conclude in a hotel on the outskirts of Winnipeg, with us stopping just long enough to rest for our next day`s adventure.