Three Prairie Provinces in 9 days and counting

We left High River on August 1 at 9am and got Robin to the Calgary airport an hour later. And off we went! After a short stop at the CrossIron Mall for breakfast and pit stop, we drove east to Beiseker where we viewed the new old sod hut and train cars; then a panorama of old barns and canola on our way to Stettler.

Stettler! Just as we remembered it with one important difference: the bakery was open! The grin on Jim’s face told the story. We found our B&B (the Phoenix) easily and checked in with Dave and Barbara-Lynn Goodwin. The room is lovely with attached bath (we got an upgrade). Dave suggested we have supper at The Other Side, which we did and it was good – and lots of it (the leftovers will be lunch tomorrow). Good night’s sleep although it was warm. Good breakfast of yogurt/berries/peaches and sausage and eggs. We left Goodwins a box of Hawaiian Host Macnuts and were off to find the bakery and thrift shop, then an oil change.

      

World's biggest lantern, Donalda AB

            Heading north we stopped at Donalda, a little village that has died a lot since our last visit. The world’s largest lantern was still there, and the museum and the art gallery where we bought a cow for the ranch. Really. But the antique store and ice cream shop were closed and gone. Next stop, Heisler for a picnic lunch in their town park. Not many people around and those we saw were mowing lawns. Off to Holden to find lots of empty storefronts and a silly little thrift/grocery/clothing shop with a handy bathroom. Next stop Vegreville and I found our hotel on the first try. The Hotello by Pomeroy is new, clean and comfy. In fact, I had the best sleep of the summer! We had dinner at Vito’s and it was another full plate of good food. The free breakfast was simple: bagel and a cup of crunchy things with red sweet stuff and yogurt. We found the world’s largest Easter egg, browsed the antique mall and were out of town by 10:30.

August 3.

                  Small villages all along our route on Hwy 45. We detoured through Myrnam and saw two Hutterite females, a guy on a mower, several beer stores and a café, and off we go again. The landscape is wonderful, rolling hills dotted with farms, forests, sheep, cattle and every low spot filled with water from recent storms. The land is lush, very green and miles of crops including corn. This road is definitely one less travelled – very little traffic and lots of opportunities to pull off and take photos. The tops of the higher hills provide huge views in every direction. We drove through Dewberry and ended up in Marwayne’s campground for our picnic. The nice lady at the village office let us use her restroom. It’s still cloudy but warming up at 1:20. It’s another 40 km or so to Lloydminster so we’re not in a rush to get on the road.

 

World's largest tomahawk, Cut Knife

Lloydminster – the Schizophrenic Town on the Border 

Maybe it’s because Lloydminster sits on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border and is neither Albertan nor Saskatchewanian. Maybe it’s the two L’s in the name. Whatever the reason, Lloydminster is the Bizarro World of road trippers. Let me cite 3 short examples:

#1

“The soup today is broccoli cheddar,” she said as she seated us.

I ordered the soup. A few minutes later a bowl of brown glop was placed in front of me and identified as harvest mushroom.

“I thought the soup was broccoli cheddar,” said I.

“It is,” was the answer. “It hasn’t changed yet.”

I looked down at the glop. It showed no inclination to change anytime soon.

“Would you like me to take this back and wait until it changes?”

I nodded.

A few minutes later a bowl of creamy broccoli soup was set in front of me. I ate it quickly just in case it decided to change back into brown glop.

#2

The open sign was out, the door was open, the lights were on but when I walked in the lady said, ”We’re closed today.”

#3

There’s a 52^nd Street in Lloydminster. Well, actually there are a number of them, not quite connected to each other. And one 52^nd Street turns into 54^th Street with no announcement at all, kind of like soup.

We braved the oddities of the town and spent two nights in Lloydminster. The motel was funky and old but comfortable and clean so no complaints there. The weather was good, not too hot and a nice breeze to keep away the mosquitoes when we biked around the Bud Miller All Seasons Park – lake, community gardens, mural, art center, lots of good bike paths. And train whistles in the distance. Bakeries and thrift stores next on the agenda.

Biggest, Longest, Tallest. The world's biggest lantern and tomahawk; Canada's longest baseball bat; the world's tallest border markers. Well, who wouldn't stop to take a look and a photograph?

World's tallest border markers

August 5

Saskatoon is a lovely city on the South Saskatchewan River. The day was warm and brilliant so we drove to the river park, off-loaded our bikes and toured for 2 hours. The bike trails are wonderful: no traffic, just a few other bikers and joggers. We visited the farmers market and wished we had an RV to fill up with fresh veggies and fruit. Just as well we don’t, though, it would be filled with baked goods first. Jim found a delightful bakery right next door to a delightful antique store so we were both delighted for an hour.

Canada's longest baseball bat, Battleford

August 7

Next stop, Prince Albert on the North Saskatchewan River. This is a much smaller city but still friendly and easy to navigate. Our motel was on the south side so after checking in we drove around for a while, getting a view of the whole place including the casino, prison, downtown, and the Mann Art Gallery. We picked up some curry and had a picnic in Mair Park next to the river, all alone as usual. Naturally I found the thrift store and Jim found the advertised bakery but – dang – it was closed up and gone.

                  We toured the Mann Gallery and discovered a local artist named Grant McConnell. His paintings and drawings are cleverly humorous with a satirical bite.

Tuesday July 9

We’re up early and heading off to Flin Flon on Highway 106 – something I have looked forward to for a long time. It’s paved all the way so should be a good trip. Some cloud cover but looks like it’s going to clear soon.

                  The 200-mile trip that would take normal people about 3 hours to drive, took us a good 6 hours. We stopped several times, including a lunch break at Ballantyne Lake.  The mosquitoes are so large, so plentiful that the kind folk of the little settlement have built a “screened-in” picnic shelter. On closer examination it appears the kind folk believe the mosquitoes will never notice the six-inch space at ground level nor the wide-open space at roof level that aren’t involved in the “screened-in” process. Still, we appreciated the effort, ate quickly and jumped back in the Jeep.

  

Flin Flon sunset

                The highway was mostly good, with patches of lumpy fixes and bouncy frost heaves. We reached Flin Flon around 4 and immediately found our old hotel – The Royal – on Main Street. Now, there’s a relic of glory times past. The walk up three flights of stairs in stinky stale air was not too welcoming but the room was clean, cool and had an interesting view of the alley out back. We drove the town easily, walked the path around Ross Lake, parked near the 777 mine to enjoy the 7 o’clock (am and pm) underground detonation, got to know the downtown area well, did a little shopping and enjoyed the heck out of Flin Flon.

Disaster averted!

When we got into the hotel I went online and found a notice that the hotel we had booked in Churchill has shut down. I immediately tried to book somewhere else through all the travel sites but everything was booked solid. Well, here we were, holding prepaid nonrefundable tickets on VIA Rail from Thompson to Churchill and back; plus prepaid nonrefundable hotel rooms in Thompson - 2 nights before and 1 night after our train rides. And VIA and Hotels.com wouldn't let us solve the problem online - we had to phone. But Jim's cell doesn't work here and the hotel's phone wouldn't allow toll-free or calling card calls. What a mess. I didn't sleep all night. The next morning we went to the Flin Flon Tourist Info place and explained our situation. The wonderful lady there gave us their phone and said, call anyone, anywhere - it's on us! So I got on their wifi and got all the details of our reservations and Jim phoned VIA first. No way they were going to refund, even when he explained we had no place to stay for 2 nights in Churchill. Nope. We even called the research station, hoping they would have a couple of spare bunks. Nope. Jim was about to call the Thompson Hotel to see if our reservations could be refunded or changed when I got another message from the defunct hotel, suggesting we phone the Polar Inn to see if they had a room. So he did - and they did! Whew. What a relief. For a while it looked like we would lose about $650 and NOT see the polar bears to boot. 

A side trip to The Pas

Pisew Falls near Thompson

On to The Pas (pronounced “Paw”), a bit out of our way but we have two extra days to fill before our train leaves Thompson on Monday evening. And we're glad we took the time. We spent a couple hours at the Sam Waller Museum and could have spent many more. What a fabulous record of the indigenous people for thousands of years, and their interaction with white people for the last 200 years. The history in this museum certainly made a rather colorless town much more vivid to us. We found a lovely wooden bowl in the gift shop, created by artist Ron Scott. 

                  A little time in the casino wasn’t too productive, so we were off to Thompson, our next stop on the road to the polar bears.

End of the road

The highway from The Pas to Thompson is a lonely one. In five hours we passed – or were passed by - maybe two dozen vehicles, all in a hurry to get somewhere else. We took our time as usual, stopping at Pisew Falls and Reed Lake. The rain started at Ponton and we drove into some heavy stuff as we arrived in Thompson. We’re here on a weekend, so most of the stores and attractions are closed, giving us a good break to catch up on laundry, emails, and blogs.

Tomorrow we board the train for our 17-hour excursion to Churchill and the polar bears!