Day 19 - A Tour of "The Ole Stompin' Grounds"

I was awake about 5:30 AM but lay in bed and dozed on and off for awhile. About 8:00 AM another friend, Dean, called and then dropped by on his way out to the lake to go fishing for the weekend. We had tea and chatted for a while before he drove me over to the car rental to pick up the car I had reserved the day before - so much easier than driving the RV around town. He carried on his way and I went back to get the teens.

We headed out to tour the places around town that I’d grown up in. We first went over to Kildonan Park where I used to ride my bike in the summertime to go swimming in the “big” pool as opposed to the wading pool by our house.

The Witches Hut
We visited the "Gingerbread House" and then carried on up Scotia Avenue to view the three different houses in the “hood” I’d lived in. After that we saw the elementary schools and St. John high School that I’d attended.

St. Johns Library

We also visited the St. Johns Library where I’d had my old orange paper library card for so many years and where I became the bookworm that I am today. We parked and went in - the smell instantly brought the memories of the place flooding back! It looked and smelled exactly as I remember it - the 99 year old wooden shelves, all the dark wood trim, the big cast iron radiators we would warm our hands and feet on after the 6 block walk in the cold of winter and especially the years of all those books - it was WONDERFUL to me. They will celebrate the centennial of that branch of the library next year - 100 years of serving the community. This was the place I had discovered Laura Ingalls Wilder and her “Little House” stories; Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden and the Bobbsey Twins; Farley Mowatt and his Owls; and later on as I grew older - Margaret Laurence, Mordecai Richler, Gabrielle Roy and the other great Canadian Authors. How I loved that old building - no other library can compare! We drove around a little more - looking at how things had changed and also stayed the same in so many ways and then we headed over to Garden City Mall.

I had arranged earlier to meet some wonderful people from my childhood - Marion and Trevor, of Gunton, MB. at the mall for a coffee/tea and a quick chat. We had a nice visit with them catching up on all the family, did a little shopping, and then off towards “home” to check on Henry who we’d left in the RV. On the way we stopped at "Sal's"for dinner - another trip down memory lane. Only Kasey had the "Nips and Fries" with a shake - Dillon and I chose something else. Salisbury House "under the little red roof" is a Winnipeg Institution - they've been around since 1931.

Back at the campsite I blogged the day while watching the dark and cloudy sky build. A thunder storm is on it’s way according to the radio. Off to the airport soon to pick up Dale - another day ended.