Touring Thompson

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Today was an “off” day, giving us time to recoup and recover from our adventure to Churchill.  We were glad to see the sun for a bit, which brought warmer temperatures.  We hit the main attractions in the city, including the Howling Wolves Rock Sculpture which sits right on the main road through town.  It is 800 feet long, and the total weight is 18,000 lbs.  It’s the largest rock sculpture in Canada, and is made from Indiana limestone!!  We also captured the “Wolf Sketch”, a 86x64 ft. mural on the side of a 10 story building.  The wolf’s eyes turn and follow you as you drive by.  It is quite impressive, and can be seen from a mile away.    At the Heritage Museum, the docent told us about a special coin that was minted for the 150th anniversary of Canada.  It is a tooney (two dollar coin) with the aurora borealis in color on the face…it is supposed to glow in the dark.  We went to the post office to buy a full set that includes the coin, but they were sold out (too many visitors from the Heritage museum), so we went to a bank and asked if they had one.  The teller said someone had called a week ago and asked her to set one aside, but hadn’t been back to pick it up, so she gave it to us!  It’s a pretty neat looking coin.

We found out a lot of interesting info about Thompson from different places we visited, and then after dinner heard a great talk from a local guy who has been instrumental in having the city named as the “wolf capital of the world”.  There are 49 wolf statues at various spots around the city.

An interesting fact is that 99.9% of North America lives south of Thompson, Manitoba!  The city is the third largest in Manitoba, and was named after John F. Thompson, president of the mining company that discovered a major nickel ore deposit.  Today, Thompson has the largest nickel mine in the world and produces over a million pounds of nickel each year.   Thompson is also in the midst of a boreal forest.  I’ve never heard of a boreal forest and had to look it up—in a boreal forest region, the sun is never directly overhead.  This probably explains why we can’t get a tv signal…the angle to the satellites is too flat.  The boreal forest is also a great habitat for wolves.  We also discovered that Thompson is a testing site for jet engines and automobiles.  Rolls Royce and Pratt Whitney both do testing here.  It first started as winter testing, but has expanded to year-round.

We were treated to a yummy home cooked meal by the campground at their lodge, then enjoyed a great sunset.  We’ll be looking for the northern lights tonight, and  leave tomorrow morning.