We visit the Mennonite Landing occasionally, but we have never seen it in winter… until THIS winter.
We were on our way home from Winnipeg and figured we’d stop in. It was one of those really pretty days too — when the fog left a stunning hoarfrost on the trees and the sun was setting all pink in the sky.
So we stopped at the Mennonite Landing, figuring we might go out onto the river if it looked safe.
What an enchanting riverside.
The memorial stone is still there but the guest book is gone. Perhaps it is overwintering somewhere and will be back this summer.
I love how the stone is nestled in the trees.
And then, for the first time ever, we stepped out onto the frozen Red River at the Mennonite Landing!
It’s a whole new perspective on a place I’ve seen many times by now. (But it never gets old.)
Being here, on the actual river, in this place, was meaningful for me because it’s just another way I can stand where I know my ancestors have stood… though they were on a boat at the time, in August 1874.
Andrew and I don’t really boat… and just waiting for the river to freeze and then just walking out onto it seems a little more straightforward for non-boaters like us.
The Mennonite Landing is at the confluence of the Red and Rat Rivers. It was a thrill for me to walk across the snowy ice and scramble up the bank on the other side because in all my other visits I’d looked at the opposing bank but never thought I could approach it.
The Rat River looks like an enticing little river to follow. And we might have, except this was an impromptu expedition and we were not dressed appropriately and it was getting dark fast. (This was probably at 4:00 pm! Ha.)
I’m grateful to live where the rivers freeze, so that I may walk upon them. There’s always more to explore.
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