International Peace Garden to Indian Head, Saskatchewan, Wednesday, August 25, 2010

We woke up to our first day of camping in Canada! We really were impressed with the campground at Adam Lake. It had lots of trees, good separation between campsites, and showers and electricity.

First order of business was to return to tour the International Peace Garden. The entrance is actually on the border between North Dakota and Manitoba. We had to go through Canadian Customs the night before, but did not need to on our return.

The International Peace Garden is a 2,339 acre botanical garden "devoted to World Peace, along the world’s longest unfortified border". The atmosphere while walking in the garden was quite "peaceful". Visitors can walk up one side of the main garden area and then back down the other side. Along the way there are a number of special structures: the Carillon Bell Tower, the Peace Tower, the Peace Chapel, a 9/11 Memorial, and a new Interpretive Center. (PDF map)

The Peace Tower consists of lots of concrete featuring four huge slabs (columns 120 feet high) representing the immigrants' aspiration when coming to both the United States and Canada and the other bonds between the two countries.

The Welcome Center seems to be brand new and isn't even quite finished yet, although it is open for business.

In Chris' opinion, the managers of the International Peace Garden seem to have a strong understanding of the garden part. There are lots of colorful flowers in a variety of pleasant arrangements. Their understanding of the peace part of their name seems more doubtful. Here are two observations.

The Peace Chapel is the place where the garden managers can most clearly express their thoughts about peace because inspirational quotes are carved on the interior walls. (YouTube video of quotes) The quotes are very thoughtful and inspirational. I really did like them. But this is a Peace Chapel. Shouldn't the quotes be about peace? When the quotes were being selected for the chapel walls the selector(s) seem(s) to have forgotten the main theme half way through and just started picking quotes they liked. For example:

"Does't thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." - Ben Franklin.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you." - Jesus. This quote may or may not be about peace, but Jesus said several things that definitely are about peace, e.g., Matthew 5:9, 5:38-48 and 26:52. Aren't these passages more relevant?

The Interpretive Center's gift shop sells wooden toy guns. This itself is not a contradiction because some claim the intimidation of guns causes peace. But, this garden on the "world's longest undefended border" symbolizes a peace created by trust between two nations sharing a common belief in democracy. Therefore, selling guns at this gift shop is ironically amusing. It would be appropriate to sell toy guns at a peace monument on the border between North and South Korea.

After leaving the Peace Garden, we again had to go through Canadian Customs to re-enter Manitoba. Our plan was to head for Brandon, Manitoba, to catch Trans-Canada highway 1. [as an aside, I think Brandon Manitoba sounds like a great stage name for someone. How about you?--Kathy]

While passing through Boissevain we first stopped to get tourist information. This community has many murals painted on buildings around town and a giant turtle welcoming visitors (remember the Turtle Mountains?). We ate lunch at a new facility that included food and snacks and gifts. It was nice and the folks there were very friendly. The café part had books on shelves all around the large room. It was very nice and homey for two librarians on the road!

We caught the Trans-Canada Highway at Brandon and headed west toward Saskatchewan. This would be the first time either of us had been in that province.

We had discovered, while reading some of the travel brochures, that Indian Head, Saskatchewan, was were a Canadian TV program called Little Mosque on the Prairie was filmed. After reading about it and watching some clips on the Web, we have decided that we are going to interlibrary loan the series to watch. It seems like it might be fun.

So, of course, we decided to stop in Indian Head to see the "mosque" from the show. After driving around fruitlessly searching we went to the city office to ask about this. (Yes, the library was closed!) We discovered that the church building in the show was actually just a façade and had already been taken down for the season (they film in town during July and August each year). The helpful lady in the City Office pointed out where it usually stands during filming.

We decided to stay in Indian Head at the KOA campground. We also ate supper at the Craft Tea Elevator Restaurant. Kathy was excited because they serve breakfast all day (the omelet was very good)! Chris had good liver and onions.

When we first began camping in Canada, our night-time DVD viewing has included episodes of season one of Corner Gas, another Canadian TV show. We have enjoyed watching the show which seems similar in spirit to Northern Exposure. Take a look at the first season, episode one opening scene on YouTube.

We hope to visit the town where it was filmed later on the vacation, so we watched more episodes before we bedded down for the night.