Hmmmm my mom grew up in Kenora, but I'm pretty far from Manitoba - I'm right across the border from Port Huron MI, about 1 hour out of Detroit. When I go over, its usually to Target for cool seasonal theme things that we never seem to get in canada (did you know they had easter bunny shaped marshmallows?!?), and actually a lot of healthy food items we don't get over here. We usually hit Gap or Old navy as we don't have these in our town, and sometimes browse the toys r us or walmart, but really they are pretty much the same. Once in a while we go to the Chuckie Cheese as there isn't one of those for a good 350k from us, and the kids love it! The mall over there has a huge indoor carousel that costs only $1 to ride, and also an indoor play area, and the shopping carts are all shaped like little fire engines etc. It's just a fun place to visit every once in a while. Not to mention the price of gas is a DEAL, I can fill up my van for the equivilent of $60 can. when it costs me $80 here. Not that we drive over just for gas (although a lot of people here do, its literally 10 minutes away), but when we are over we do fill up. Shoes are way cheaper too, we have a payless here, and my DD's shoes for 1st communion were priced at $17.99 here, and over there the same shoes were $9.99. OK enough on my rant about the US, its a great place to visit, but Canada is a great place to LIVE:thumbsup: