Canada/West 2022:
Day 8 - Winnipeg

	Wednesday, August 17, 2022: We had an entire day to spend in Winnipeg and decided to start the day off with a Canadian McDonald's breakfast: two Egg BLT Bagel meals on Everything bagels with large Diet Cokes. So good!
	As long time readers know, Debbie uses her camera well. So well that it sometimes need to be replaced. Tom spent the previous night researching replacement cameras and was very suprised to learn that the successor to her beloved Canon PowerShot SX720 HS was available at Staples in Canada. We timed our activities on this day to get there as soon as they opened. Not only did they have the one SX730 that showed online, they had one SX740 that showed as unavailable. We bought the SX740 and were very happy.
	We headed next door to the Shoppers Drug Mart to look for melatonin and eye drops. Once we were in the candy aisle though, a bag of Aero chocolate got into our basket, ...
	... and then a chicken noodle pasta mix also fell in. Weird. We made a mental note to stock up on Kraft Dinner before we left Canada because that name is amazing.
	Our unplanned shopping complete, we passed this Royal Canadian Air Force T-33 in Woodhaven Park, ...
	... on our way to the Polo Park Mall.
	We passed through the food court and noticed that TacoTime was available in Canada. We had last eaten at TacoTime with our nephew Stewart on a previous trip to Seattle.
	Behold, the Polo Park LEGO store! This was Debbie's first LEGO store experience since turning into a full-fledged AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) in February.
	We spent some quality time at the Pick & Build wall, with Debbie choosing pieces and Tom carefully using all of his packing and engineering skills to fill the large LEGO cup as full as possible. Debbie carefully sealed the container once we could fit nothing else in.
	Next up was the Build-A-Minifigure station. You can build three minifigs that each have five parts: hair/headwear, head, torso, legs, and one accessory. Debbie was very specific in her selections, knowing exactly which faces and torsos she already had and making sure she didn't end up with duplicates.
	Tom looked around at models he didn't realize he wanted, like this Camp Nou FC Barcelona stadium set, ...
	... and a LEGO model of the Atari 2600 that he had as a teen.
	Debbie loved this Starry Night artwork kit. That painting has special meaning for her and her family. We recently completed a jigsaw puzzle version of it, and this looks just as fun.
	After trying to justify this set by saying that we could use the assembled bulldozer to help clean up any leftover pieces, we had to leave it on the shelf.
	This Star Wars AT-AT set included six minifigs and two speeder bikes. That's going on the must-have list for purchasing some day.
	There are fourteen minifigs in this Diagon Alley set along with several owls, wands, and ice cream!
	Here's Debbie with her completed minifigs. She's absolutely beaming with happiness!
	As we made our way to the checkout, we both said that we liked this LEGO goldfish set at the same time. It's nice to have similar tastes, especially in LEGO.
	Here's Debbie's complete haul: a LEGO ornament ball, a LEGO White Classic set, a LEGO Easter Rabbits, Debbie's Build-A-Minifig set, a pre-built minifig set, and her first ever Pick & Build large LEGO cup.
	We left the Polo Park area and crossed the city headed for our next stop: Forks National Historic Site.
	We're not sure why it needs quotes around it, but we think the Nutty Club is a fine name for a candy store.
	The streetlights were interesting as we crossed the city, ...
	... and we loved the rainbow sidewalk as we got closer to Forks.
	As we circled the area looking for parking, we found a spot outside Johnson Terminal. We used one of the parking apps on Tom's phone to pay for our spot, ...
	... and then got out to walk around and enjoy the Forks National Historic Site. This is a large urban park and green space, with lawns and sculptures, including this one named, "The Three Footsteps of Vishnu."
	But we were really here to see red chairs! Canada has placed pairs of red Adirondack chairs in national parks across the country to encourage people to seek them out, so we were.
	Debbie sure looks like she's enjoying Canada, doesn't she?
	The Red River ran beside the park, and they were still building this riverfront space. It looked like it would be awesome once it was finished.
	There was a pretty bridge over the river.
	This sculpture had runes carved out of the metal to allow the sun to shine through it. It was a very cool effect and we were glad to be here on such a beautiful sunny day.
	Here's the amphitheater with the city skyline in the background.
	This sculpture was made from stainless steel bicycles. From this angle, it just looked like a collection of shiny wire, ...
	... but from this angle, you can see the gaps in it as all of the bicycles line up. There are people sitting on the grass in front of it on the lower right for scale.
	The word "cool" shown through on the ground beneath the shade created by the rest of the sculpture's structure. Cool indeed.
	We went into the market building to make a stop at Sweet City Candy. They had lots of vintage candy, including ...
	... two packages of actual Hydrox cookies. These are the inspiration for the modern Oreo cookies and are extremely hard to find. We were good and only bought one of the two extremely-overpriced packages, leaving the other for someone else to discover and be as excited as we were.
	We couldn't pass by this display of designer hard candy in test tubes. We bought one of the red ones. They were maple-flavored with a maple leaf shape in the center of each disk.
	Check out the Everyone is Awesome! LEGO display next to the cash register. We had resisted buying a second set of our own at the last LEGO store, but guessed that our resistance wouldn't last long.
	We headed back to our van and departed the area, getting this view of a very majestic-looking building, ...
	... and the outside of Union Station for Rail Canada.
	The buildings in this area were a mix of modern and older style, with the building on the right reminding us of the Frontenac Hotel in Montreal.
	Check out this cool sculpture on this bridge.
	The Red Top Plaza had a Coca Cola mug atop their sign, ...
	... and a polar bear statue in their parking lot.
	We continued our streak of having poutine at least once per day by stopping at yet another McDonald's and ordering the Spicy Chicken Sandwich with poutine and a Diet Coke.
	Back in the hotel, Tom tested the camera that we had purchased at Staples earlier in the day, ...
	... and then took full advantage of the hotel bathtub for a long, hot soak.
	Debbie checked the aurora forecast for tonight in the hopes that we would be able to see the northern lights. Unfortunately, it's not looking too good for seeing them tonight.
	We cooked the noodle dish that we had purchased earlier in the day for dinner and added some chicken cubes to make it more of a meal. Delicious.
	It had been a fantastic day with wonderful weather. We looked ahead to the forecast for tomorrow when we were going to be in Riding Mountain National Park and saw that it was forecast to be severe thunderstorms and hail for most of the evening. We took advantage of the hotel Wi-Fi and replanned the next day to avoid that unpleasantness. The clouds were rolling in from the west as the sun was going down and we were preparing to turn in.  Day 9 >