This morning we awoke at 6:30 and had breakfast at the hotel. Since the coffee wasn’t the greatest, I walked to Timmy’s to get us some real coffee. Although Google Maps said it was only 650m away, it turned out to be over 1km each way. Needless to say, I was regretting not taking the car by the time I got there. Thankfully the rain held off, other than the occasional drop here and there.
After our coffees, we headed west on the Trans-Canada until we reached Gull Lake, then went south towards Shaunavon. Just as we headed south, we got stopped at a railway tracks. The lights started flashing, just as we approached the tracks – 147 trains cars later, we were able to proceed. By this time, the rain had started. It wasn’t raining very hard, but it was enough to make it somewhat miserable.
We arrived in Shaunavon and found the Info Centre in the downtown. Although the stop had been mainly for a bathroom break, we decided to explore the small museum that was attached to the centre. They had several displays of animals and birds from the surrounding area. They had everything from badgers to pelicans to rattlesnakes and a bison. I was also able to verify my Western Meadowlark and Wilson’s Phalarope sighting from the day before and also determined that the non-descript brown bird I had seen was a Merlin. Three new birds for my life list :). We also learned that this is Hayley Wickenheiser’s hometown. Hayley was a member of the Canadian woman’s hockey team from 1994 to 2017.
Next on our list was Eastend. Eastend is a sleepy little town whose claim to fame is being where the first full T-Rex was discovered. There is also a small T-Rex museum there which we decided to explore – thankful for a respite from the rain.
After the museum, we continued west, hoping for clearer skies. The rain would occasionally stop, allowing us a nicer view of the Cypress Hills. We were also able to get some pictures of a pronghorn and a white-tailed deer.
Just beyond Robsart, we headed north toward the Cypress Hills Park. I was able to get a couple of pictures of the beautiful surroundings before we hit a wall of fog – and I mean a wall.The fog was so thick that I could only see a couple of hundred metres in front of me. It was also raining quite hard, which filled up the ruts on the road. It was like driving through one big puddle for twenty minutes.
We eventually arrived in Maple Creek and stopped for a quick bite to eat before we continued west on the Trans Canada. We arrived in Medicine Hat less than an hour later. Although it was still raining, there appeared to be an end in sight as small pockets of blue started showing through the clouds.
After relaxing at the hotel for an hour or so, we decided to go to a family restaurant just across the highway, for dinner. Mum got a pepper steak and I got a sirloin. Mum thoroughly enjoyed her dinner. I, however, had issues – my first steak was medium well, not medium rare and when I got the replacement steak, I found a hair on my second bite. By that time I just decided to give up and I ended up finishing up some other leftovers back at the hotel.
Mum and I watched So You Think You Can Dance and then she turned in for the night. I turned to my blog, but after getting disconnected several times and having to rewrite a few paragraphs, I gave it up as a bad joke and decided to wait until morning to finish.
Thank you for sharing our adventures with us and I will talk to you soon.
L