"Wagons Roll!": Heading West

July 14 :  Enjoyed our drive through western Saskatchewan into eastern Alberta.  The flat landscape slowly became bucolic, gently-rolling hills.  Loved the almost English look of the green, scrub-like pasture land with many, many cows.  We even saw a buffalo!  Stopped to wash the poor car in Swift Current and do a bit of shopping in Medicine Hat, of which we both really liked the look.   The highlight of the drive was easily Cypress Hills Provincial Park where we stopped for lunch and a walk.  It’s actually an interprovincial park between Saskatchewan and Alberta.  What a great park!   Lots of campsites with trees, a pool, mini-golf, convenience store, and all the wonderful nature you could want.  It was delightful; almost made me want to go back to camping.  We drove to Lookout Point, where the elevation is 1275 m (as you can see in the pictures):  what an amazing view!  It makes you feel so small, and peaceful. ...

July 13:  In a mood more for nature than city buildings, we headed down to Wascana Lake this morning. What a gem!  It is a lake with expanses of parkland in the centre of the city, with the Saskatchewan Legislature, art gallery, arts centre, playground, small marina etc. within it.  The University of Regina is also nearby and it is a lovely campus:  clean, modern stone buildings with lots of green space.  The weather gods were with us, for it was warm, sunny and breezy:  a perfect summer day.  The park was full of joggers, walkers, kids at a day camp, and tourists Parking was free, plentiful and unlimited and there was only one tacky food truck in the whole place; nothing but tastefully developed nature.  If I were a Reginan I would be there frequently!  (Yes, that’s what they’re called.)  It is glorious and reminds me a little of the burst of nature in the city that Dow’s Lake in Ottawa is.   We mostly explored:  the pa...

You can see for miles and miles! July 12:  Left on the later side and stopped (uncharacteristically) for a delicious lunch at Prairie Firehouse restaurant in Brandon.  Nice town.  Headed back out, rejoicing when we crossed our second border (though we couldn’t get too close due to road works, unfortunately). Stopped in Indian Head to take Andrea out to a delicious dinner at a sketchy-looking Punjabi restaurant.  Tell me how an Indian restaurant survives in a community of 1,500?!  Arrived in Regina at 8 p.m., where we plan to stay a couple of nights.  Woo hoo!  Two nights in the same place! When we first encountered the wide, wide spaces of southern Manitoba and now Saskatchewan, it freaked me out a bit.  It was SO flat, I almost felt suffocated.  I grew up in Chatham which is also flat, but I’ve never experienced the feeling of vast expanse that the prairies give.  After a couple of days I’ve really come to rather like it. ...

July 11:  We asked for a late check out and went to see the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Wow!  What an impressive place, as much for its architecture as for its displays.  To quote the website:   Inspired by Canada’s majestic natural domain – grasslands, deeply rooted trees, towering mountains, northern lights, snow, icebergs, water and sky – Antoine Predock’s masterful design is evocative of numerous natural elements. Predock has described the building as “carved into the earth and dissolving into the sky.” It was extremely well set-up and was an example of impressive engineering, doing without pillars in the Contemplation Garden, for instance.  It has very few right angles, as you can see from the pictures.   In the Contemplation Garden I liked that the lowest gallery dealt with human rights not only throughout the world but throughout millennia, with history dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.  I would highly reco...

July 10:  We’re in Manitoba!  Woo hoo! From a great day to not-as-great.  We ran into roadworks in both Ontario and Manitoba which both slowed things down and made them tedious.  What should have been a relatively decent 4 hour drive or less took 5, and we both had headaches and no energy when we arrived.  Add in the stress of driving into the downtown of an unknown city.  Anyway… Really liked Kenora; so pretty on Lake of the Woods.  It reminded me of Haliburton but much bigger. It’s so interesting seeing the changes in landscape.  After the hills, rocks and deep green evergreens of northwestern Ontario, we segued into deciduous and FLAT.  Oh my goodness, southern Manitoba is flat!  I guess it is part of the prairies!  It made for boring boring driving, though. After some relaxation time in the hotel room, we headed out for dinner at the Keg  (yum yum white sangria!) and to see the Manitoba Legislative Buil...

July 9:  Forgot to mention yesterday:  we passed well over the 1000 km mark, so we’re a quarter of our way across the country!  You also know you’re northerly when the sun doesn’t really set until after 10:30.   It was nice to chill a bit this morning.  We went into downtown Thunder Bay mainly to see the Sleeping Giant, and a comforting sight he was, too. Also drove into the campus of Lakehead University just to see it.  We’re getting into a groove with the packing of the dishes, food, car, etc.; we’ll be a well-oiled machine by the time this trip is over.  Drove four hours through to a Best Western in Dryden:  true luxury after yesterday’s long drive.  And so is the hotel!  We’ve been largely in motels (which frankly look sketchy from the outside but are perfectly clean and nice inside) so tonight is a treat.  Pool, hot tub and sauna!  Good night for a swim!  The town is nice enough but the downtown is horrible! ...