Tourism Winnipeg

43 www.tourismwinnipeg.com Winnipeg Itineraries providing some respite from the occasional wind chills. They also have a small skating rink located right underneath the canopy, just outside the skate rental doors. If you have adolescents that like to shred, then pack their snowboard gear and let them loose on The Forks' Arctic Glacier Winter Park, which has the grooviest little snowboard terrain park around. Here they can work on hitting the tabletops, and maybe advance on to doing rail slides (moms, you won't want to watch) – all under the guidance of a certified snowboard instructor. The Forks also has horse-drawn wagon rides that run throughout the winter. Of course, these are ideal for your toddlers, as there is nothing better than getting bundled up on a wagon under the crisp winter air with your bundles of joy. Other hilly action can be found at Adrenaline Adventures, just west of the city in Headingley, MB. Snow tubing tracks are the main name of the game here, with courses which are suitable for kids of all ages. Your older ones will relish the jump covered ones, while little tikes (free for kids three and under) will have fun on the smooth courses, while all of them are accommodated by a tube tow that will brings you back to the top. Their licenced premises (yes, you read that right, you can sip wine, beer or cocktails, while your kids slide) is open both day and night. If that's not enough sliding for you, be sure to put FortWhyte Alive on the agenda, which offers guided programs and fun events suitable for kids of all ages including an awesome toboggan run which is perched above a frozen lake. You name it, FortWhyte has it, including learning about the region's Indigenous and fur trading roots through guided snowshoeing; throwing and archery (don't worry, it's safe); Inuit and voyageur games; and full day activities and kid's camps that will see your little ones learning how to make a fire then roast bannock over the flame. FortWhyte is particularly beautiful in the fall, when migratory meals are on the menu at the Buffalo Stone Café – which is run by award-winning chef Kelly Cattani. The café has an outdoor patio that overlooks a lake that is often awash in all manner of migratory birds. And if birding is on your agenda then Oak Hammock Marsh is a must. Located just north of the city, Oak Hammock is a key location for migratory birds, with thousands of them taking to the sky throughout the fall – which you can experience while paddling with your family in a giant voyageur canoe, or by foot from over 30 km of trails – many of which are situated on dikes out amongst the marshlands. Bridging the great outdoors and the comfy indoors is Assiniboine Park and Zoo. The park's frozen ponds offer up ample outdoor skating for the whole family, while their conservatory is a great place to escape the cold, providing a steamy oasis full of interesting flora and fauna straight out of the tropics. The zoo itself is a real showstopper for the whole family with snow leopards, Amur tigers, and red pandas – which dig the snow (amongst hundreds of other species). Their Journey to Churchill exhibit is arguably the best northern species and Arctic education centre of its kind in the world. It's here you can watch numerous polar bears swim and play in a giant overhead pool through an acrylic tunnel. This is an experience no child – heck, no adult with a sense of wonder – will ever forget; it's truly world-class in every sense of the world. INDOORS Take your inquisitive young minds to The Manitoba Museum. Their dioramas depicting the bison hunt and other aspects of our region's history will rock their world, while their science gallery combines computer simulations, mini-ecosystems and illusions to entertain with hands-on exhibits. The museum also houses one of the world's most advanced planetariums where shows can take your family across the cosmos. Tours of the Royal Canadian Mint are never a dime a dozen, as the kids get to see all the coins they make for countries around the world while also getting to hold a massive gold bar worth nearly a quarter million dollars. In the neighbourhood, you can also have some family fun while doing a team building exercise at Enigma Escapes, whose challenging interactive problem solving games rooms will see you solving the thematic mysteries which will literally set you free. Manitoba Theatre for Young People, located at The Forks, does a pretty incredible job putting on productions that hold kids of all ages in rapture, often utilizing mediums like puppetry. This season they'll have seven productions, including Peg and the Yeti (Nov 4-14) – which details a girl's journey across the globe to Mount Everest where she befriends a Yeti; a musical adaptation of James and the Giant Peach (Dec 3-27); The Power of Harriet T (Feb 3-14) – which tells the story of Harriet Tubman and the Adrenaline Adventures: Nilo Manalo The Manitoba Museum: Cory Aronec

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