1998 Grey Cup Trip

20 - 23 November 1998

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Images

1998 Grey Cup Page

For Christmas (1998), I got an el cheapo scanner. (An Astra 610P by UMAX.) However, to this point, I am quite pleased with its performance. I wanted to be able to put up (not necessarily professional quality) scans of things like my vacation photos on the web, and it seems good enough for that. Below, you see samples of what it can do. Hopefully, I got the brightness and gamma values to be acceptable for everyone. By default, things were a little dark, and I had to fiddle with it. I then used the default "sharpen" filter in LView Pro.

I was torn between putting up a lot of huge images (that would take forever to load), and tiny images where you can't see anything. For the images in the table below, the compromise I came up with was to post jpegs with a long dimension of 375 pixels. If anyone wants a larger image of anything here, please ask.

**1998 Grey Cup Trip Images**
	Here's T.J. scraping the ice off the rental car. (Funny, I seem to remember that the car was greenish in person! Remember what I said about the scanner.) The Balmoral Hotel and the "Club Fantasy" are in the background. Saturday A.M.
	Here are T.J. and I at the Ukrainian Homestead Museum in Winnipeg Beach. (There was a good deal of Ukrainian immigration to the area.) As you can tell, it was closed, apparently until May. (I only knew that because I knew that the date mentioned in Lakeside Park by Rush is Victoria Day: "And everyone would gather on the 24^th of May...") The big sign says: UKRAINIAN HOMESTEAD STARTING VICTORIA DAY TILL THE END OF JUNE OPEN WEEKENDS ONLY OPEN DAILY 11:^AM - 6:^PMJULY 1 to end of AUGUST CLOSED WEDNESDAYS CLOSED SEPT LONG WEEKEND Saturday Afternoon.
	This is "beautiful" Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba. Actually, it did have a sort of beauty to it (if you find beauty in quietness and nature). There were a few people in town, but besides T.J. and myself, the beach was completely empty. I assume that the beach and town are a lot more active during the summer months. Saturday Afternoon.
	I'm standing in front of the big Viking statue in Gimli, Manitoba, which gives you an idea of its size. In the background, you see Lake Winnipeg. (In reality the surface of the lake is rather flat, and not on an obvious slope.) If I remember correctly, the AAA/CAA Tourbook said that Gimli is/was the world's largest Icelandic settlement outside of Iceland. I don't know exactly what the plaque says, but is says something like "VIKINGS - Discoverers of America", and then the date it was unveiled and the fact that it was unveiled by the President of Iceland. Saturday Afternoon.
	One thing that I always try to do whenever I'm in Canada is go 5-pin bowling. Every Canadian that I have mentioned this to has been surprised, but in Ohio, the only type of bowling I have seen is 10-pin. I've seen other types of bowling in the States, but not 5-pin. It takes a few games to get my stroke down, and this time we only bowled one game. I don't remember what my score was, but I think it was in the 90s. Does anyone know what is considered a "good" game (by a novice) in 5-pin? (I think I bowled a 175 game in 1997.) Astute viewers will notice that I am wearing my Columbus Blue Jackets t-shirt. Saturday Evening.
	Here's a photo from the Saskatchewan Hospitality Suite at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. From left to right, there's me, Darryl Spanier (aka "Spanky", aka "Ted Nugent") of Saskatchewan, T.J., and John (borrowing my Hamilton jersey). We spent some time talking to "Ted" and his friends at the Saskatchewan Suite. They seemed impressed that anyone from the States would be interested in the CFL. As T.J. said when people mentioned that, "We used to have a team!" (Actually, seven, but I digress...) If Darryl or his friends are on-line (or anyone reading this knows them), have them drop me, T.J., or John a note. Saturday Evening.
	Here are John and T.J. standing at the "Meridian Marker" on the Trans-Canada Highway west of Winnipeg. This gives a small impression of how totally flat the landscape is in the area. I didn't read all of the plaque on the marker, so I must confess that I don't know what meridian it is marking and why. I later read a little about the Métis and how some land surveys were infuriating to them. I wonder if this marker was related to those surveys. Sunday Morning.
	Here is a photo of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba (not the you can see much) from across Crescent Lake. As you see, there was some snow there, despite the fact that there was none in Winnipeg. There didn't seem like there was a whole lot to do in Portage la Prairie, at least not on a Sunday morning. Sunday Morning.
	This is the Manitoba provincial capital building. I took this photo while the Grey Cup parade was happening on Friday evening. (It's the only photo in this table that's not in chronological order.) Friday Evening.
	Those little specks are me and John, probably distracting from an otherwise nice photo of the inside of the Manitoba provincial capital building. I don't think that this photo does the building justice. It's definitely the nicest capital building, relative to population size of the area, that I have ever seen. (I guess that, in and of itself, is open to criticism, but as a tourist, I'm not complaining.) If you are in Winnipeg, seeing the 2 huge buffalo (not shown) will make a visit to the capital worth the effort! Sunday Morning.
	Last, but not least, here's a photo from the game. I took too many photos at the game, but I this is the best one. I have an 8x10 (inch) copy of this in the room of my house where my wife allows me to put things like that. :-) By the way, my camera is a Canon "Sure Shot" 35 mm (with a broken "K Date" feature). Considering the fact that I've been making it a habit of taking photos of sporting events, I've been wondering if I should invest in a nicer camera with a "zoom" option, and maybe try to learn a little about photography. Late Sunday Afternoon.

(Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of "Colonel Sanders".)

David Kenney davekenney@aol.com