A lthough road trips are best embarked on with as few rules as possible, Chris Audet shares the following road trip story suggesting that some precautionary measures are indeed wise: In 2009, a buddy and I drove a pickup truck down to Alberta to find a job on the oil rigs. Two days into the [...]
T here is an art to road tripping that is both gritty and glamorous. Requiring a willingness to embrace the unknown and forego comfort, road tripping is definitely for those who can appreciate the capricious. Let’s face it, for those of us stuck in Winnipeg for the summer, dreams of escape follow us like ominous [...]
Camping is one of the best activities to do in the summer. The possibilities are seemingly endless and camping trips are always satisfying. Or at least I used to think so until recently. Frequenting many of Manitoba’s esteemed campgrounds this summer has left me questioning society and our collective survival skills. Let me begin by [...]
In the shadow of what could very well be North America’s largest oil disaster — certainly constituting much more than a spill — a look at our waters closer to home reveals a haunting narrative of callousness. Do we really care about the state of our water, both locally and globally? Lake Winnipeg is at [...]
Getting more elaborate and more innovative each year, for many people the Winnipeg Folk Festival is an annual ritual that is not to be missed. I have affectionately compiled a list of highlights and lowlights from this year’s festival. There are aspects of the festival that can be improved upon as well things that should [...]
What’s faster than fast food, twice the price and triple the calories? If you guessed carnival food, you are correct. Strolling through the midway amid a sea of tank tops, tattoos and teenagers, the presence of food is undeniable. Tantalizing smells and not-so-delicious-looking signs make food an undeniable option every few steps. With close to [...]
It’s opening day at the Red River Ex in Winnipeg and of course, it’s raining, but isn’t that what the weather is supposed to do when the Red River Exhibition comes to town? As outdoor attractions, carnivals are always at the mercy of an uncontrollable element — the weather. When circus fever hit America in [...]
Move over ferris wheel and Polar Express. The Mega Drop is now in town and its taking all the attention. When it comes to carnival rides, the ferris wheel has the distinction of being the first. Named after its inventor George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., Chicago’s World Fair in 1893 was where the ferris wheel [...]
Just over 1,900 years ago, in the first century AD, the Roman poet Juvenal was composing scathingly honest impressions of the state of life in the Roman Empire. Witnessing the demise of political stability, Juvenal wrote of a culture that glorified amusement. With a large portion of the Roman population hungry for entertainment, political leaders [...]
They worship the wind. They wake up in the morning and check the trees outside of their windows to gauge how much wind is blowing and from which direction. They consult multiple weather sources — via phone, radio, the Internet and television — to compare forecasts for the day. And they do all of this [...]