Ipanema in Manitoba

A lot of Twin Citians head north to the lake on summer weekends. In Winnipeg, we do as well, but our lake is a lot bigger and is a legitimate long weekend destination for any Midwesterner.

A quick glance at a map, and you can see why Lake Winnipeg looms large in the Manitoba consciousness. The province is known as the Land of 100,000 Lakes and Lake Winnipeg is far and away the largest; in fact, it ranks as the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Its stretches of sand and scenery are on par with tropical beaches on oceans thousands of miles (and dollars) away.

On scorching-hot days when kicking around in the city just doesn’t seem feasible, like a mirage, the shimmering waters of Lake Winnipeg roll around in my head. The magnetic pull is so palpable I can almost smell the suntan lotion. There’s simply no stopping the urge to jump in the car and head north.

Once on the road, you’re presented with two disparate choices on opposing shores. If you head to the east side, you’ll end up at Grand Beach, where you can lie on a matchless stretch of sand once ranked by Playboy as one of the top ten beaches in North America (in contrast to those rocky Lake Superior foot scrapers). If you pick the western shore, you find yourself in Gimli, a quaint Icelandic fishing village with a smaller beach but no less beautiful coastline. Both Grand Beach and Gimli are equidistant from Winnipeg and less than an hour’s drive.

Lake Winnipeg’s water is alluring, relatively clean, and rather warm. On an early fall Sunday last year when the mercury rose to uncommon highs, I frolicked in the lake for hours.

Here’s a quick once-over for the uninitiated: