Moving to Vancouver Day 4

Can you get carpal tunnel from driving too long? Yes

There’s a small town of 75 000 people that exists at the western edge of Ontario called Kenora (around 2:53 of the video). I am lucky that I made a detour to grab a Tim Horton’s coffee, otherwise, I’d never have seen it. It gives a feeling of a fishing village, except there are no fishing boats because the village surrounds a lake. The town center spans two blocks and one street, while the rest of the town are mostly residential area with red tile roofs. The lack of the usual big name discount retailer’s presence along with the high class houses dotting the street, tells me that this is more of a vacation area than that of a normal city. I will return to this place one day.

Winnipeg

The moment I cross the line to Manitoba, the mountains disappeared. The whole province seems to be flat. Surprisingly, Winnipeg with a population of 600 000 has a more developed downtown than that of Ottawa, perhaps even rivaling Montreal. Or maybe, I am just not used to seeing low density business districts since everyone wants to be crammed onto the island in Montreal.

The architecture here is interesting, the city doesn’t have a grayish feel to it compared to other major cities I’ve been to. Perhaps because of the stones that they used, or the simple fact that most of the construction materials are still new. Or even better, low pollution?

In any case, Winnipeg is a major hub, located in the middle of Canada. A lot of heavy industrial complexes with railroads everywhere. Might explain why gas here is so cheap. Why else can a city in the middle of nowhere get gas cheaper than any other city without producing any?