Life as an Artificial Lifeform

On Day 4 we took off from The Pas (and yes I liked that town) and went to Flin Flon - not very far away. First stop was the trainyard in The Pas - you have to understand the trains here are long - really really really really really long. Mostly just dragged by two of these super locomotives - how they do this is a mystery to me. Anyway the trainyards are unsupervised and unfenced - so anybody wants to "have fun" with a 3 km long train may go to The Pas.

About half way to Flin Flon we came to a place where I don´t quite remember the name but it came to existence because it was a portage - the Cannery Portage to be precise (the town probably was named similar). A portage is where there is a watershed - meaning there are two rives/creeks flowing in different direction not far away from each other - so you take your canoe and carry it from one river to the next so you can enjoy more free riding down the water. When first entering the town we where almost ready to swap the volvo to the bombardier snowmobile sitting around. Brian took a test drive but since snow levels where not high enough we stayed with the volvo for the time being.

Just wanting a bit lunch at the lake we met this photofriendly husky who barked at us very loudly but stopped and posed ones the camera was directed to him. So he gets his wish of a published photo I guess.

Oh and people living in this house sure ain´t getting wet feet anymore.

This is the memorial for the Cranberry Portage - a very important point - you can go to the Hudson Bay from here all down river and very far inland on the other side. Was used by the First Nations and then later by the hunters and settlers.

Leaving this place Flin Flon was (finally) coming up. This is kinda the first impression.

The mine and its smokestack rules the city everywhere

Yes real people living here who also seem to wear clothes.

As every city out west the obligatory watertower and 9000V on the multitude of powerlines

And they have culture too!

But the industrial side of town rules the impression

With a huge open pit mine in the middle.

Cute houses.

Old empty houses.

More cute houses.

Oh and did you know that in Flin Flon you can find the home of Rock'n'Roll? Well I didn´t either but it went bankrupt and was empty - seems that Rock'n'Roll is dead (or homeless).

The youth in Flin Flon (and The Pas) uses the rocks that line the streets for their graffitty playground - not sophisticated and strictly forbidden but to be seen everywhere.

The decorating commitee (oh yes that became a running joke with all these oversized statures in all these small towns) likes santa claus.

Tourism is apparently a bit slow in Flin Flon. The guy looking over the sign is actually Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin. The guy who gave the name to the town - purely fictional character - I direct you to the wikipedia entry for more information about this - its a funny.

Smokestack peaks out everywhere I mentioned that already.

The media and the church caters to the big industrial complex.

We were blessed with another super nice sunset - like pretty much every day on our journey so far. Here is the main red mine building.

Some textures we liked.

There is something about raised structures that I find appealing.

Powerline yeah :D

Flin Flon looked like the moon - there was only forest all around it but the city itself is enormously bare rocky. The trees must have been logged for the mining business.

This smokestack was captivating sorry to bore you with more.

And ähm more powerlines :)

A memorial I just liked the light on it don´t ask me what the brave men and woman of Flin Flon actually did.

Typical typical street in nice light.

I am a romantic sunset sucker.

And old buildings with lots of texture.

But yeah more sunset.

Just the perfect CD cover for some death metal or too hard to listen to dubstep :P

We went to see the Flin Flon Bombers ice-hockey match. They won handely in some league that I can´t remember. Was my first live ice-hockey match I have seen - couldn´t have lost my ice hockey virginity at a more authentic place. And yes the guys are rough.

The queen reigns them all.

Flin Flon wasn´t the best stop on our trip sadly - we didn´t find many locals and couldn´t figure out where the afterparty to the icehockey match was so we went on the next day. Still a surreal town for sure.