A day in nowhere
May. 18th, 2007 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plonqThe first thing that I did today was sleep in until almost 9. I normally don't like to sleep in that late, but the past few days have taken a toll on me and my head was feeling a little tender. The reason for the latter ailment became apparent when I finally crawled out of bed and began to tidy up my room for the day. As I was loading up the bar fridge with the leftover beer from last night I discovered that I had drunk two more cans than I'd thought. That would explain why I wasn't feeling much pain when I went to bed. I just hope that the room cleaners assumed that I'd had a guest or two when they went to empty my garbage can...
Once I had everything squared away, I debated briefly over breakfast and finally settled on a large coffee from the Esso station across the parking lot from the hotel. They have an assortment of gourmet coffee blends, and enough turnover so that the coffee is actually pretty good through most of the day. I took it back to my car and sat behind the wheel for about 20 minutes, sipping hot coffee and contemplating the road atlas of Manitoba. My original plan had been to strike out for a walk, but my head wasn't quite up to it yet (feeling much better now, thanks), and the temperature had taken a turn for the cold since yesterday.
I considered driving over to Yorkton, or perhaps up to Duck Mountain park, but the thought of spending hours behind the wheel of the car didn't really appeal to me either, so I eventually decided to strike out toward what I assumed was downtown Russell - ostensibly to find another coffee outlet (but apparently none of the major outlets have discovered small-town Manitoba yet). One doesn't have to look very hard to find the city centre in a town this size, and a few minutes later I had parked my car and was hoofing my way up the 4-block main strip. Aside from a Chinese buffet that I mentally marked for a later visit, nothing caught my eye and I contented myself with stopping at the local Royal Bank to take out some more cash. In typical small-town fashion, the bank was more of a social hub than a place to just do business. The bank was crowded with people who knew each other, and were catching up on the latest events and gossip. When I compare that to the sterile environment in a similar institution in a larger city, I can really start to understand the appeal of a small town.
I hopped back into my car and glanced at the time. My adventures in Russell had managed to exhaust nearly 30 minutes of my day. I turned off Main Street and found myself at a T intersection with Route 83. A direction sign informed me that there was some place named Roblin to the right. Meh. I'd never been there, so I turned that direction and started driving. Roblin turned out to be a town that (felt) marginally larger than Russell, but with a more scenic setting. I parked at one end of the main strip and started walking again. My stomach was giving subtle hints that it wanted something more than coffee, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to dip my toe into the waters of small town cuisine. Two blocks later I found a place that literally screamed "Small Town!". Over a nondescript doorway in an unremarkable stretch of the block was a painted sign that read, "Downtown Diner And Takeout".
Small town diners are always a bit of a crap shoot. My experiences have run the full range from good, to bad, to largely forgettable. "Well, at least the hamburger had meat..." I experienced a moment of trepidation when I found that the place was empty aside from one other table, but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that I had got there ahead of the rush. I was right. By the time I got my meal, the place was packed, and customers were turning away to find somewhere else to eat. I ordered their lunch-sized taco salad with garlic toast and a coffee. While it may be that I was just hungrier than I'd thought, that was one of the better taco salads I have had in awhile, and it was huge. The coffee was surprisingly good too. I left there content with both the quality of the food, and the value for the dollar. If I am here for any length of time it may warrant a repeat trip.
Once I had everything squared away, I debated briefly over breakfast and finally settled on a large coffee from the Esso station across the parking lot from the hotel. They have an assortment of gourmet coffee blends, and enough turnover so that the coffee is actually pretty good through most of the day. I took it back to my car and sat behind the wheel for about 20 minutes, sipping hot coffee and contemplating the road atlas of Manitoba. My original plan had been to strike out for a walk, but my head wasn't quite up to it yet (feeling much better now, thanks), and the temperature had taken a turn for the cold since yesterday.
I considered driving over to Yorkton, or perhaps up to Duck Mountain park, but the thought of spending hours behind the wheel of the car didn't really appeal to me either, so I eventually decided to strike out toward what I assumed was downtown Russell - ostensibly to find another coffee outlet (but apparently none of the major outlets have discovered small-town Manitoba yet). One doesn't have to look very hard to find the city centre in a town this size, and a few minutes later I had parked my car and was hoofing my way up the 4-block main strip. Aside from a Chinese buffet that I mentally marked for a later visit, nothing caught my eye and I contented myself with stopping at the local Royal Bank to take out some more cash. In typical small-town fashion, the bank was more of a social hub than a place to just do business. The bank was crowded with people who knew each other, and were catching up on the latest events and gossip. When I compare that to the sterile environment in a similar institution in a larger city, I can really start to understand the appeal of a small town.
I hopped back into my car and glanced at the time. My adventures in Russell had managed to exhaust nearly 30 minutes of my day. I turned off Main Street and found myself at a T intersection with Route 83. A direction sign informed me that there was some place named Roblin to the right. Meh. I'd never been there, so I turned that direction and started driving. Roblin turned out to be a town that (felt) marginally larger than Russell, but with a more scenic setting. I parked at one end of the main strip and started walking again. My stomach was giving subtle hints that it wanted something more than coffee, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to dip my toe into the waters of small town cuisine. Two blocks later I found a place that literally screamed "Small Town!". Over a nondescript doorway in an unremarkable stretch of the block was a painted sign that read, "Downtown Diner And Takeout".
Small town diners are always a bit of a crap shoot. My experiences have run the full range from good, to bad, to largely forgettable. "Well, at least the hamburger had meat..." I experienced a moment of trepidation when I found that the place was empty aside from one other table, but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that I had got there ahead of the rush. I was right. By the time I got my meal, the place was packed, and customers were turning away to find somewhere else to eat. I ordered their lunch-sized taco salad with garlic toast and a coffee. While it may be that I was just hungrier than I'd thought, that was one of the better taco salads I have had in awhile, and it was huge. The coffee was surprisingly good too. I left there content with both the quality of the food, and the value for the dollar. If I am here for any length of time it may warrant a repeat trip.
