Our morning started around seven with us having a breakfast of leftovers. Because of the distance from the closest Tim Hortons, we had to wait until we got underway before we could get our morning coffee. We headed to Cosmopolitan Park as previously planned, but found that the path wasn’t the easiest to walk on. We decided, instead, to walk along the sidewalk beside the park. We were able to get a great view of the Hotel Bessborough, which is a CN hotel in the Château-style.
I’m not sure where in the park all of the birds were hiding though, because we didn’t see a single one. We did, however, see a flower that was new to both me and Mum. It was a purple prairie-clover. Thanks to my good friend E, I now have an app to help me identify flowers. And, thanks to using the Live feature on my iPhone camera, I was able to get the bee in the exact place I wanted it in the picture. (I’ve never used either before.)
After our walk, we headed to U Sask and drove through the campus on our way out of town. Although it was still mid-morning, the temperature was already in the mid-20’s and creeping up. We were both glad for the air conditioning in the car as we drove along the flat, open countryside. There was, as there always is in Saskatchewan, a wind blowing across the fields. The crops of grain and bullrushes in the sloughs, bowed slightly in the breeze.
Just before we reached the Quill Lake area, we passed flooded fields/sloughs on either side of the road and the wind was blowing so strongly that there were waves with whitecaps. We both found it quite interesting and I would have loved a picture, but with narrow shoulders and that much wind, it didn’t seem like a good idea to stop on the side of a 100-km/h highway.
About a kilometre past that we came upon another pottery place. We stopped, of course, and Mum grabbed a blue/green bowl to complement the one she had bought in Valemount. We talked to the potter for a few minutes and Mum mentioned that she liked the house that the potter owned. It turns out that it was built in the style of an Eaton house and it was turning 100 next year. We had never heard of Eaton houses and we were told that they were houses that could be ordered from the Eaton’s Catalogue and the kits were shipped out from Winnipeg on the train to wherever the homestead was.
We continued east, searching for a way to get close to the shores of Big Quill Lake. We thought we had a chance in Kandahar, but what we thought was a road, turned out to be a person’s driveway. It is hard to tell with some of the roads in Saskatchewan – they are all narrow, gravel roads that should only be used by trucks (in my opinion). We continued on to Wynyard where we saw a sign for the Quill Lake Area Interpretive Centre – our luck was looking up. We parked the car, only to find out that ithe centre was closed. A sign on the door stated that if we went to the town hall, they would open it for us. We asked at the town hall if they knew of any way to get close to the lake and we were told we could take the next Grid Road north for about 20 km until you get to where the lake has flooded the road. Grid roads in Saskatchewan are like Range roads in Alberta – gravel cow paths. Since that was out of the question, we asked where we could find a picnic table in town so we could have lunch. We were given a map of the ‘town’ that showed all the parks, and were told that they weren’t sure which one had tables. We finally found one at Pelepian Park, but it was being used, so we decided to just sit on a bench in the shade and eat some leftovers. Once done, we were off again, heading east.
Our next stop was in Theodore, where I saw a grain elevator beside the highway. I love the old-style elevators and try to get a picture whenever I can. Normally there are obstacles in my way such as trains, hydro wires etc., but this one was perfect. Some of you may notice that this is a Centennial Elevator, witness the 1967 Maple Leaf on the top of the building. I also got my annual random cat picture which I used as the featured photo for today’s post.
By this time, we were less than an hour from Yorkton, and I still needed to get a good shot of the prairie landscape. Driving along highways at 100 km/h, does not make it easy when you are trying to find a place to pull over and get a good shot – by the time you see the shot, you are several hundred metres past it. I ended up pulling over just before Yorkton and took some pics, but I think I will try to get some better ones when I am on the return journey on quieter roads. I have posted a couple below, but they really don’t do the beauty of the Prairies justice.
We arrived at the hotel, and chilled in the room for an hour or so before we headed to dinner. Mum and I both were craving steak so we walked a couple of blocks to Mr. Mikes. It is a chain of restaurants that I have gone to before on the Island, but it appears that the menu is different, or has changed since my last visit. Not only were the prices a good 15% higher – making a steak out of the question – my go-to Black & Blue Burger wasn’t on the menu. We shared a spinach dip to start and Mum had the Perogies and I had the Bacon Cheeseburger.
After walking back to the hotel, we did our wiki-research and Mum turned in for the night. Once I finish this post, I will be doing the same.
Tomorrow we head to Winnipeg, with a stop at 100°W to get a picture of me with my Hip shirt on.
Thank you for reading and sharing our adventures.
Talk to you soon.
L