Saskatchewan ... part 1

First of all, our hearts go out to family and friends who have been flooded out in Calgary over the past several days.  Shamir has had houses on the Bow River in the past and some or all of them may have been flooded out in this recent devastation.  There, but for the grace of God ...

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Saskatoon.  A beautiful city indeed.  From the obligatory classic CN hotel, the Bessborough, to an unexpected statue in the middle of downtown … a huge bust of  Mahatma Gandhi! 

Though not as severe as in Calgary, the rain was torrential at times, waves upon waves ... When we were leaving Batoche, a historic site NE of Saskatoon, we had to turn back from one of the back country roads, and instead take an even smaller one ... which then crossed the South Saskatchewan via a single crossing back and forth ferry.  

It seems that most cities/towns begin on or near a river, lake or ocean, mostly because travelling by canoe was the way to get someplace fast...  Plenty of water for drinking and farming. The beginning of a general store, a church, government building of some sort not far behind on Main Street (just like at home, always a reminder wherever we go) much of Canada got settled this way. But, then again, the towns start to look the same as we drive through ... hoping to catch a glimpse of something special here or there. Saskatchewan has the worst roads we have driven so far.

Instead of sightseeing, we found a quiet library where it was warm, lights to read with, electricity to charge things up. Comfortable chairs, maybe better than home. Great place to sit and reflect and write down our impressions so far.

Did people travel as we do for adventure, or did they travel to get away from the limitations of the time or difficult situations?  Nowadays, if we really want something badly enough ... and we put our minds to make it happen ... dreams can come true.

Prince Albert is on the North Saskatchewan River, a wonderful quiet town, one of the gateways to the north. It is famous for having elected three prime ministers of Canada ... John Diefenbaker being the best known. Sir Wilfred Laurier was also elected there -- as well as being elected in Quebec during the very same election - you could run in two separate ridings at that time! He gave up the Prince Albert seat and served from Quebec.  Mackenzie King was also elected there, and did represent the riding.  The only one who actually lived in P.A. was "Dief the Chief," however.  We toured the house he lived in for ten years and donated to the city to be converted into a museum.  In the home were a sofa and a four poster bed which had belonged to our first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.  It felt like we had touched our history and it became real,  how Canada became a country.

Prince Albert National Park was a treat because we spent lots of time in nature watching wildlife ... including these amazing swarms of swallowtail butterflies.  Again, we were quite lucky with the weather ... but the mosquitoes made our bug zapper (looks like an electrified badminton racquet) compulsory equipment!  And in the van, if a bug did get through and bite us ... we had our amazing Therapik (which we got from Lee Valley) which took the sting out of the bites surprisingly quickly and naturally.

We had hoped hoped to hang around Good Spirit Lake, but the stormy weather drove us to Yorkton, our last stop in Saskatchewan.  We were relieved to find a Walmart.  Whaaat???  Well, you may or may not know that many (though not all) Walmarts allow recreational vehicles to park overnight in their parking lots.  We have now used that resource in a few different towns and cities. Sometimes, it's a relatively quick, safe, and easy solution as to where to overnight when it's dark and we're tired.  It's surprising how relatively pleasant some of the Walmart locations can be, such as this one, with a large open field on the other end of the parking lot.

More on Saskatchewan to come, but since we're so late with this one, here's what you get for now!

June 16, Father's Day. About Alberta ...

Now, honestly, just because we've come from Vancouver doesn't mean the rest of the country has to take revenge and dump rain on us wherever we go.  Since we left Kamloops, we've had some greater or lesser level of rain everywhere -- Jasper, Hinton, Edmonton (though we had a day of good weather there), Vegreville, North Battleford, and now Saskatoon!  But at least Saskatchewan is is indeed the "land of the living skies", as their license plates proudly proclaim.  Comes with the advantage that you can see the weather developing around you, and sometimes take evasive action.

When we left Edmonton, for example, we stopped in at Elk Island National Park.  Since we made the wise investment of a one year full Parks Canada pass, we can stop at our leisure at any National Parks, National Historic sites, etc.  While we were at the info desk asking about the park, the staff person asked if we knew about the tornado warning.  Whaaaaa??  We hadn't turned on the radio, and had no idea.  It threw things in quite a tizzy as the City geared up just in case, as well as all the communities to the east.  Even the wildlife showed some confusion -- this moose ran around the parking lot, as if trying to decide what to do.  He left shortly after this photo.


The bison didn't seem the slightest bit concerned, though.

We hadn't originally expected to stop in Edmonton, having visited 3 years ago.  But we decided we should at least say hello, especially since it was Christopher's birthday, and Daisy is expecting in just a few days!  And after we visited with them, we reached Victor Fung and family, and were coaxed into staying in town a couple of nights.  Gave us a chance to get to know them better, and to deal with some of the mundane chores of life on the road, as we continue to learn what we need, and how to make life easier.  Things are feeling pretty comfortable now, I daresay.  We enjoyed a wonderful Indian meal at the New Asian Village with Victor and Xu Ji, as Alexander and Angela enjoyed one of their year-end badminton pizza parties (they belong to several clubs!).

Nope, this isn't a photo left over from our India trip a few years back -- this is in the heart of Edmonton - a wonderful place to eat, if you're ever in town ...

Surrinder: Vegreville, an hour or so east of Edmonton, was a special destination I'd looked forward to visiting for years.  The Pysanka (giant "Easter Egg", built in 1975 as part of the RCMP's 100th anniversary celebrations) was a wonderful reminder of Grandma Kalina Makovichuk (the kids' great grand-mother) whom I had the privilege of getting to know along with the whole clan in the 1970's.

Some of the stories I had heard came back and I could sense their presence in the land.  It was a hard life, and some of them tried to leave it all behind.

Shamir: In addition to the fascinating history here, with many ethnic groups forming a community ... the actual technical details of the Pysanka were amazing.  Read a bit about it at the right.

So ... it's Father's Day today -- happy Father's Day to all the dads, grand-dads, steps-dads and the like out there.  We've had a wonderful, van cooked breakfast of turkey sausages, fried eggs, toast, peanut butter, and two different jams (Thanks for the meal, Surrinder, and thanks for the jam, Phyllis!). Time to go out and explore.  We'll start off with Saskatchewan next time.

Cheers
From the Road ...

The Canada Trip - starting off!

Surrinder here: At long last, we are on the road ... beginning our journey! It took much effort and many days of preparations to reach this point. We'll share some of the preparations and van customizations in future blogs ... so, stay tuned!

We were given a grand send-off by the students and Headmistress Asifa of Jubilee Montessori in Surrey.  Asifa (Shamir's cousin) did a similar overland car trip across the country 8 years ago, and enthusiastically made suggestions and recommendations as she went through her scrapbook.  The pictures say it all!

We took the Yellowhead highway north to Jasper ... it felt so good to be on a road I had never been on before. The road choice did not disappoint! We saw two deer and TWO grizzly bears near Mount Robson National Park. The bears seemed quite content munching on grass and dandelions. We felt blessed to have watched them for about an hour by the road in two different locations.

At the end of  the day, there was the rainbow I had been expecting! We are now on Mountain time which is one hour ahead of Pacific time ... it was past 10:00 PM and it was still light out! I am feeling pretty grateful for this opportunity to just roam ... possibly like some gypsy ancestors from the past!

We're in Jasper today, and went to Medicine Lake (not to be confused with Medicine Hat, which is also in Alberta ...).  A rare photo of the two of us ...

So, all of you might wonder why this trip across Canada? I really don't have any burning questions that need answered. But, I am curious about how and why we became the second biggest country in the world. It doesn't quite make sense in my own mind ... so, maybe this is something I might be able to figure out or not? Trying to find the words to describe what I feel about Canada is difficult because in a sense I owe everything I am to this beautiful country.

Today, June 9, is Derek's birthday, I believe it will be a great year for him and Bree!





Shamir says ... Here's a picture of Surrinder, blogging away just minutes ago!