This is an exciting year. The 2010 Winter Olympics have taken place in Canada, and with it has come a global media blitz that has featured stories about Canada's landscapes, people, and culture - with Manitoba stories, cultural icons, and Olympic medalists being featured as part of this multi-media exposé. Manitoba Homecoming 2010 is a year-long experience bringing former and current Manitoba visitors, friends, and families together for events, and festivals all around this province. And, in May of this year, Rendezvous Canada (the Canadian Tourism Commission's major international cooperative sales marketplace to sell Canada's travel experiences to international markets) takes place in Winnipeg. With Travel Manitoba's support, we are launching six new signature experiences all over Manitoba that will showcase our outdoor environment, cultural experiences, and the authentic hospitality of "friendly Manitoba".

The 41st edition of Festival du Voyageur, the 36th annual Winnipeg Folk Festival and the 40th anniversary of Folklorama are testament to the vibrant way that we bring the celebration of culture together with experiencing our outdoor environment in unique ways. Sometimes, we artificially separate our enjoyment of travel into too many compartments. Are we campers, or hikers, or do we love dining, or music? What if we started to use the outdoor experience as our "ticket to unlocking the Manitoba experience"? The price of admission is simply going out the door into Manitoba nature - and bringing all of your expectations about a good travel experience with you.

Your expectations might include being with friends, going to the cottage, taking a trip down the Assiniboine with spring meltwaters, or hiking the Mantario trail. Or, maybe, it's having your first BBQ of the season in your backyard, as you notice returning spring migrants like Canada geese, or the merlin that has taken up noisy residence in the neighbour's tall spruce tree. Spring is full of that slightly musty smell of wet, dead fall leaves exposed by melting snows, fresh minty smells of aspen buds bursting with the direct heat of the sun, and fresh earth exposed in our gardens. 2010 is year to explore Manitoba with our senses.

As Travel Manitoba's Outdoor Ambassador, I would personally like to invite you to celebrate the return of spring by going outdoors on the first sunny day of spring, and closing your eyes to feel the sunlight on your face, and smile. Tip your cap or hat to Spring in Manitoba!

Celes Davar
www.earthrhythms.ca

For Manitobans, as soon as the mercury creeps above zero it means spring has arrived, no matter what the date. So while it may be a while until the snow actually disappears, now is the time to start planning for some outdoor adventures this spring, summer and fall.

FortWhyte Alive's EcoAdventure, April 25, 2010
Celebrate Earth Day in Action. Cycle, paddle, run, navigate and blade the 11th Annual EcoAdventure. Starting and finishing at FortWhyte Alive, teams or individual racers travel 40K on an all new race course for 2010 designed by Swamp Donkey Adventure Racing. Racers will paddle their way through the lakes at FortWhyte, head out on foot through the forest, put their minds to work in a test of orienteering, rollerblade through Assiniboine Park, and hop on a bike and head back to FortWhyte to cross the finish line. All proceeds of the event support environmental education programs at FortWhyte Alive. For more details or to register a team, go to www.fortwhyte.org.

Caching Riding Mountain GPS Adventure Quest, June 12 & 13, 2010
Get a team together for this modern-day treasure hunt in Riding Mountain National Park. Search out over 50 caches, with types ranging from traditional to virtual to commercial to activity, with the help of a GPS. Each cache has an assigned point value, depending on its distance from the start location, difficulty and tasks involved. Teams have 26 hours to collect the most points, deciding on their own which ones to go after and in what order, and make it back to the check-in area. The three teams with the most points will receive a prize and additional prize draws will be made for all participating teams.

Starting and ending at Sportsman's Park (just south of the park gates) the GPS Adventure Quest is open to all novice and experience geocachers, with the option to rent or bring your own GPS. Fees are $55 for teams renting a GPS and $45 for teams that have their own unit. The registration fees include a GPS basics workshop on June 9, pancake breakfast and wrap-up barbeque for all registered teams. Registration forms and entry fees must be received by June 7, 2010. For more details and to enter your team, go to www.cachingridingmountain.com.

Churchill Wild offers exciting new fall adventure
For those already thinking about an adventure for this fall, Churchill Wild has introduced an exciting new package, Caribou to Wolves. From September 7-17, Caribou to Wolves will take you over 20,000 sq km of the wildest regions in the Arctic and features wildlife viewing, aerial tours and fishing, with the assistance of an expert guide. Get your camera ready to snap shots of wolves, caribou, moose, three species of bears (polar bear, black and grizzly), Arctic and coloured fox, wolverine, beaver, pine marten and countless bird life all set in a kaleidoscope of spectacular fall colours.

Once the sun sets, get ready for the dancing curtains of the northern lights. This spectacular light show, accompanied by the howls of wolves, is a spine tingling thrill. First-rate accommodations at a cozy camp and a luxury lodge, featuring wood-fired hot tubs, along with the finest gourmet cuisine found south of the Arctic Circle, round out this trip of a lifetime. For more details and booking information, go to www.churchillwild.ca.

SnowRider writer enjoys trails and hospitality in the Whiteshell
As we get set to pack up our boots, parkas and toques for another year, winter lovers and SnowRider readers will have a great idea for a snowmobiling adventure for next winter thanks to a profile on the Whiteshell snowmobile experience by writer Cora Tschetters to appear in the magazine's fall issue. Travel Manitoba facilitated Tschetters's visit to Manitoba and many members of the Whiteshell Snowmobile Club, Whiteshell businesses and Natural Resources and Snowman representatives played a part in welcoming her. Tschetters and her guides covered over 300 km during her two days in the Whiteshell. Not only was Tschetters impressed with the trails and signage, she was thrilled with the level of hospitality shown by the area businesses. "It was above and beyond what I had expected. I know now, first hand, why they call it Friendly Manitoba!"

Follow Travel Manitoba blogger Jacquie Crone as she hunts out Manitoba's best outdoor adventures at www.unexpectedmanitoba.com.

Homecoming Manitoba continues all year!

Don't miss the Manitoba Homecoming 2010 Social on May 15 taking place in 60 communities across the province.

Who are you inviting home and where are you taking them? Check out www.travelmanitoba.com or www.manitobahomecoming.com for great ideas, events and reasons to party throughout 2010.

Copyright: Celes Davar

By Celes Davar

My nose leads me around - literally. Of all of my senses, I think that my sense of smell is one of my best developed, and one that I am very aware of. Let's take a quick trip around Manitoba in spring, guided by our senses.

As spring graces us with longer hours of sunlight as well as warmer temperatures, a remarkable transformation takes place – snow melts. Manitoba's rivers, lakes, streams, and potholes melt. The crispness of winter air is replace with balmy winds that seem refreshing. In the country, we smell decaying vegetation giving up their nutrients to a new cycle of life. In the city, the musty smell of streets and back-lanes gives way to elm and manitoba maple buds.

We see bursts of colour in the trees - robins, merlins, the first yellow-rumped warblers, and new arrivals each day as warm-fronts move in. A quick trip to Oak Hammock Marsh reveals returning bald eagles, Canada geese, and a host of both dabblers and divers that are loud and insistent. This is the courtship season - and there is no mistaking it. Compared to August when ducks and geese are unmistakably quiet, spring in Manitoba is full of avian courtship. In the sky we hear Canada and snow geese, on prairie potholes mallards squawk, in nearby shrubs the first phoebes are whistling "fee-bee"; as we travel the Yellowhead highway, we begin to take note (with our windows rolled down) of the beautiful and melodic meadowlarks' tinkling on fence-post after fence-post.

Our rituals of spring include throwing things out, spring clean ups, turning the garden soil, planting seedlings, going for walks, and our first barbeque of the season. Turning on the barbeque, we notice that nothing happens. We realize that we forgot to fill up the propane tank as we went from fall to winter. Quickly we go and fill up the tank, and along the way, decide to get some fresh food from the market - perhaps it is a portabella mushroom, an organic bison tenderloin steak, or a cut of Manitoba free-range chicken. We make a fresh barbeque sauce of our own making - soy sauce, Manitoba maple syrup, fresh mint leaves, a few drops of apple cider vinegar, and a bit of Manitoba cold-pressed canola oil, combined with chili sauce or ketchup. Some sliced potatoes go into a foil pan covered up with onions and freshly-sliced mushrooms. We crack a beer or open a glass of wine and wait. Slowly, it comes – the simmering aroma of the backyard barbeque. And we close our eyes, relishing family and spring.

It seems to me that one of the best ways to experience spring is to touch fresh buds - have you ever slowly, carefully rubbed your fingers on the fuzzy pussy willow buds? Or, touched the sticky buds of an emerging bud of black poplar leaves? How about the emerging bud of growth that the rhubarb puts out early in your garden? Or, the incredible fragrance that is released when you rub a fresh bud of spruce or fir or jackpine? Spring is the resinous season - when the internal pumps of all plants remarkably bring water from deep in root systems into the limbs and buds - and our outdoor world smells completely different.

Have you ever tasted spring nettles? No - not raw. Sauteed in butter and perhaps with a bit of fresh garlic. Nettles are really good for you. They are high in iron and many minerals. There are many ways to experience nettles - nettle tea, put them into soups or stews, or just steamed like spinach and topped with a bit of butter and salt. They are found in a variety of locations. Collect them before they flower in the spring. It is the fresh growing leaves that you are after. Which brings me to why beaver ponds in spring are great places to contemplate the arrival of spring. You can walk around the edge of the pond, with fresh tracks of coyote, raccoon, and wading herons easily visible. If you dare to walk the freshly-packed top of the dam which holds back the water of the beaver pond surrounding the lodge, you'll notice that your feet are crushing fresh mint and nettles. Hold onto that scent! Collect the nettles by using latex gloves or a plastic bag reversed onto your hand. Nettles will sting because they contain formic acid. If you use a plastic bag and collect them, you'll be fine.

Beaver ponds are also great places to listen to the raucous, roiling and reverberating sounds of several species of frogs. Boreal chorus frogs, leopard and gray tree frogs and spring peepers are part of the symphony of spring that seems to come in like a big wave. I have really enjoyed using my iPhone to capture the various frog songs of spring.

One could almost close one's eyes and be guided by the other four senses and know instantly that this is the season of spring, a season for the senses. Manitoba outdoors is not just a place, it's not just seasonal, it's a way for you to journey and celebrate the magic of life on this planet, when it returns in waves of rejuvenation. I look forward to this season with my nose - wondering what familiar encounters I will have. Celebrate spring in 2010 with someone who helps you to "come home to Manitoba" once again.

Celes Davar

There's a new kid on the block, and it's our new blog, unexpectedmanitoba.com. Join bloggers Jacquie Crone and Emily Baron as they experience the province's hot (and cold) spots, hidden treasures, life on the Canadian prairies and more. Watch for ways to share your own stories about travel in Manitoba too! Here's a recent entry from Jacquie, as she took in the sights and sounds at the Altona Winter Carnival:

COMEDY OF ERRORS
I had big plans for this past weekend. I was heading south for a little vacation – to Altona for their 9th Winter Carnival.

The date had been circled on my calendar for more than a month. Imagine my surprise Friday evening when I checked the Town of Altona's web page – only to find I'd missed the whole darn thing by one week. I'd like to blame this mistake on someone, but my finger keeps pointing back at me. On the positive side, next year will be the Carnival's 10th anniversary, I think I'll put it on my calendar, now.

On to Plan B. Saturday morning Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre has a kite boarding workshop at 10:00 a.m. I may not actually work up the nerve to take to the air, but... READ MORE

JUMP TO UNEXPECTEDMANITOBA.COM