Exploring provincial parks in Manitoba

Rowena and Gary Friesen love to go camping in the many provincial parks in Manitoba—by themselves, with friends or with their grandchildren

Although Rowena and Gary Friesen haven't had much time to travel the last two summers, RVing is still a passion for this couple from Morris, Manitoba. The Friesens have two adult children; one lives in Winkler, Manitoba, and the other lives in Nashville, Tennessee. The couple's lives have been blessed with grandchildren from both their son and daughter, and for these active grandparents, the ability to get around Manitoba with a comfortable and spacious RV makes life so enjoyable.

Tell me about your RV: what unit do you have at present and what do you like about it?

Currently, we own a 2009 Forest River Roo travel trailer. We love it because it is a very spacious trailer with a push-out on each end for the queen-size beds. The entire living quarters has a push-out—which gives us a lot of extra room as well. The trailer has a full bathroom (that) includes a shower. It has a large fridge/freezer, stove, oven and microwave oven.

How much of the year do you spend RVing and why do you love the RV lifestyle?

We haven't spent as much time (RVing) as we would have liked in the past two summers because of time spent away helping our children relocate to new cities, but we love the RV lifestyle because you can simply hook up and travel to different provincial parks and campgrounds every weekend if you like.

Where are your favourite places to camp in Manitoba?

We have camped at Falcon Lake, Birds Hill, Grand Beach, Spruce Woods and St. Malo provincial parks. For us, St. Malo Provincial Park is a favourite because it is only a 25-minute drive from home and it has a great beach area, which we enjoy when the grandchildren come camping with us. We also enjoy Turtle River State Park in North Dakota, where we go once a year for the Labour Day long weekend with friends. RVing is a relaxing lifestyle with a chance to visit many different parks and campgrounds.

What has been your most memorable experience as RVers?

We were camping with two other couples—friends of ours—at Falcon Lake. We were enjoying our evening refreshments when we saw a truck trying to park the biggest RV we had ever seen; they were going to be camping next to us. We soon discovered that it was a father parking a rented RV for his daughter and her friends. They did eventually get the RV parked and levelled, and the father left for the weekend.

That's when the partying began. We were soon surrounded by a large group of young adults, who carried case after case of beer to the site. It wasn't long before the park rangers appeared to "check out" what was happening. Well, as you can imagine, as the evening and night progressed, the partying continued long and loud. About midnight or so, the park rangers shut it down. The next day, the father came to the site to assess what was going on—as I assume he had been called.

They hauled many cases of beer out of the trailer, and as the father was about to drive away—in what looked like a fairly new, very expensive sports car—he hit the steel pole on the site and scraped the side of his car. You can only imagine what ensued. By Sunday, a towing company was called and they came and picked up the rented RV, confiscated it to the nearby lot at Falcon Lake where these trailers are held, and the party was over. It provided a great deal of entertainment for us and our friends.