Our second 24 hour train ride flew by, going through Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and Manitoba! We arrived on the train after midnight, and
everyone was already asleep. It was difficult to put all of our (growing)
luggage up in the top bunk and sleep with it all night. The woman below me was
making noises you would expect from Goofy as he slept. The cartoonish ‘ahhhh
wooo wooo wooo’ was not really snoring but it was like deep sighs or something.
Interesting. These characters were quite different than the Vancouver-Edmonton
leg. On that ride, there was a woman in our section who sounded like Wanda
Sykes. In fact, it was a few hours before we met her and were surprised that
she looked nothing like Wanda.
We met a few neat people during this ride, and gosh if I
didn’t talk to them for a long time, learning their life stories. (Silly PEI,
teaching me how to enjoy being friendly). One woman travelled to the village in
NY in the 60s and clearly had some fun as she was telling me about the romance
she had until she found out he was married and her parents arrived from
Winnipeg to bring her back! That was just part of her story. I met a young man
touring the world from France who just spent the winter in Australia and was
headed to Montreal. (Oh crap, did I say young man? He was only 24….that makes
me sound soooo old!). We sat at dinner with a man who was interested in the
braid in my hair as explained that he braids his wife’s hair each day. Aww! So
sweet! There was one couple from Australia, but it must have been the Jersey of
Australia. My gosh they were annoying. Each word was like a knife, sawing at my
brain. I wanted to stuff my ears with cotton to avoid the cacophony of noise
they claimed was speech. It wasn’t just their accent, they were the most
‘obnoxious Americans’ I had ever met, and I don’t think they’d ever been to the
States! The whole time I was in a car with them (10 minutes that felt like 6
million), I felt like I was in ‘My Fair Lady’. I turned the music on and
enjoyed the following lines trying to drown them out (unsuccessfully), but giggling ironically the whole
time: ‘Why can’t the English set a good example to people who’s English is
painful to your ears.? The scotch and the irish leave you close to tears. And
there even are places where the English completely disappears. In America they
haven’t used it for years.’ Hehe.
We arrived Tuesday evening in Winnipeg, got into a Prius
cab, and drove to our hotel, ‘the Marlborough’. The hotel was built in the 20’s
and though it had some nice history it was just odd. The beds were unbelievably
comfortable, which is all that really matters, but there were workers talking
loudly early in the morning, locals hassling us in the lobby, and no remote for
the TV, not that that really mattered. We did get free hot breakfast which was
nice and the location was very close to Carrie Underwood. Oh that’s right, did
I mention we were in Winnipeg to see Carrie? Hmm yes. We basically just stalled
on Wednesday touring around Winnipeg, waiting for the 730pm show.
Winnipeg was whelming. I’m not sure if that’s a real word,
but it’s one my sister and I have used to describe those things that just make
you go ‘huh’, without too much emotion involved. They’re not great, but you
care so little about them, you don’t care at all really. Winnipeg was whelming.
There were more drunk and crazy people wandering around than any other city we
have been to, the buildings were dilapidated and old, the tourist locations sad
with no one there, and people were unhappy. It was quite ironic as the license
plates said ‘Friendly Manitoba’, but I can’t imagine they were thinking of
Winnipeg-ians when deciding on a slogan. Winnipeg reminded me of the people of
Albuquerque, as there is a very large 1st nations population here,
but the streets and buildings were more like Detroit: old and nearly
abandoned. We walked through Chinatown,
the Exchange, Forks, the Legislature, the art area, all over really. The Forks
Market was pretty cute where I enjoyed my first bubble tea and Jenn got some
really cute shoes. Mostly we were happy to go back to the hotel early to get
ready for the big show as Winnipeg was…well you get it.
Our hotel was less than a 3 minute walk from the
concert….and let me just skip ahead to tell you…it was amazing! Carrie Underwood performed like this was the only show she would do all year. She held
high notes for seconds longer than she even does in her songs, and the ballads,
oh the ballads. Her energy was crazy high! There was a floating/flying stage
where she went all the way to the back of the audience. Beach balls 5 feet high
were bounced all over the stadium. She had 5 costume changes. There were
massive moving screens stories high that were integrated with each song. If you’ve
seen the show Nashville, think way bigger, cooler, and more integrated. Technologically,
it was a marvel. Musically, it was incredible! Her showmanship was astounding.
I’ve been a fan of Carrie Underwood, but only in the 'buy her cd’s' kind of way.
I am now a repeat fan and will look for upcoming concerts. The playlist did not
disappoint as she sang a bunch of the new ones with the great old ones ‘Before he
cheats’, ‘Last name’, and she adapted the ‘All-American Girl’ for Canada. An incredible
90 minutes. Little Hunter Hayes performed before her for 40 minutes or so and
looks a bit like Frankie Munez from Malcolm in the Middle. He was sweet but
clearly green, especially in contrast to Carrie.
Our journey is now half over. Tomorrow we are off to the States, to the Mall of
America and Mount Rushmore, and to sample North Dakota, South Dakota,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and arriving in Illinois on Saturday. I
suspect with the amount of hours we’ll be in a car, it will be a few days until
the next blog. Should be fun though! I have all the fast food joints planned!
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