Venturing Into The Great Unknown

We awoke before 7 – much to my body’s chagrin after not enough sleep. I have decided that doing two blog posts in one night is just crazy-talk and hopefully will not happen again on this trip. We had a hot breakfast at the hotel and then I walked to the nearest Timmy’s a few blocks away to get some larger, and tastier, coffees. After I returned, Mum and I chatted for a bit about the day’s plans and then headed to High Level Diner. Last year, Mum and I went to both Sugar Bowl and High Level Diner to get cinnamon buns and High Level was Mum’s favourite. While she popped in to get one to-go, I stayed at the car, trying to get some of the hundreds of dead insects off my front grill – it was a losing battle. With cinnamon bun in hand, Mum and I headed east out of Edmonton.

Our first planned stop was Vegreville, however we ended up stopping at the Ukrainian Cultural Historical Village in Tofield to check out the gift shop. I found a cute, red pysanka made of wood that was perfect. We also took a couple of pictures as we walked back to the car. We hadn’t paid the admission fee as we were just going to the gift shop, so I didn’t want to take too many.

We arrived in Vegreville around noon and I was able to get my picture of the world’s largest pysanka. We also popped into the visitor’s centre, and I got a free Vegreville pin for answering a survey. For anyone who knows me, you know that I answer surveys for fun – getting a pin was just gravy. I also noticed that they had Matryoshka dolls for sale and I got a small set for myself as I have always wanted some. As we walked back to the car we were swatting away wasps like crazy – I don’t know if it’s the time of year or area, but I’ve never seen so many wasps at one time. There must have been fifty buzzing around the front of my car, seemingly feeding on the dead bug carnage on my grill.  Needless to say, I was not impressed as I hate things that fly and sting. Luckily we made it in the car without being stung or getting any in the car and we were off again.

We stopped for a picnic lunch in Vermillion, at Heritage Park. I swear the wasps followed us as we swatted several away as we ate. There were a lot less than there were in Vegreville, but still more than I would have liked. Thankfully, it was a quick lunch and after changing from my jeans into shorts (it was in the high-20’s), I took a couple of pictures and then we got back on our way.

My next plan had been to get a picture of me in Lloydminster, as I stood with one foot in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. That plan got shelved when I realized the border ran straight down a four-lane road. I decided to make do with a picture of the border sign that I took through my windshield while waiting at the red light.

Once in Saskatchewan, the landscape started to flatten out and we enjoyed the change in the topography. I am sure that after a few more days in the prairies I will be wishing for trees and hills, but for now it was a welcome change. The remainder of the drive to Saskatoon was uneventful and we arrived around 5.

There are no Food Network restaurants in Saskatoon, unfortunately, so I took to the internet to see what was in walking distance of our hotel. I found a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Rose that was only a 10-minute walk. I knew Mum loves Vietnamese and I haven’t had any myself for quite a while, so it seemed like the perfect choice. It was. We shared some vegetarian spring rolls (wrapped in rice paper) for an appy and Mum had a bowl of chicken and beef pho. I had a small bowl of Thai hot & sour soup and a Vietnamese salad with stir-fried chicken. Everything was divine and I will definitely go back the next time I am in the area.

After walking back to the hotel, we did some Wikipedia and IMDb research before Mum turned in for the night and I started my blog post.

Tomorrow we plan to walk along the South Saskatchewan River in Cosmopolitan Park and do some bird watching before heading to Yorkton. I am excited about the birding as there were several pelicans spotted in the park less than two weeks ago. Wish us luck!

Thank you for sharing our journey and I will talk to you soon.

L

We awoke to smoky skies just before 8 and had a breakfast of leftovers in the hotel before grabbing gas and heading north up Highway 5 (Southern Yellowhead Hwy). Although we weren’t able to see much of the landscape, we were able to see the North Thompson River as we followed along the east bank of the river.

We stopped near McLure Ferry Road, which is just north of Kamloops, at a local fruit stand and grabbed some lovely cherries and nectarines. Just past the fruit stand, there was a pull-off with a historic plaque about the Overlanders of 1862. Although the plaque didn’t really interest us, I decided to take some pictures of the surrounding hills to show the smoky atmosphere as well as the remnants of a previous fire. The sun was a pale orange-pink as it fought to be seen through the smoke.

We continued north, hoping for a decrease in the smoke, and just as we were arriving in Blue River for lunch, a young black bear ran across the road not that far in front of us. Unfortunately I was unable to take a picture as I was driving and had no notice. We stopped at the Husky for lunch. My daughter and I stopped here almost a decade ago and we had both enjoyed our meal. This trip, although the food was good, the restaurant had gone downhill – over half the things on the menu weren’t available and the service was beyond slow.

We noticed that by this point, a lot of the smoke had cleared and the mountains finally started to appear. This made me excited as I had planned this route so I could get a picture of Mount Albreda’s glacier. I took a picture when I was on the trip with my daughter but didn’t have a great camera at the time. This time I was ready with both cameras and my iPhone. It turns out that my iPhone did a much better job than my point-and-shoot and I am glad that I was able to get a great picture.

Not long after we stopped to take that picture, we arrived in Valemount. It is a quaint little village that seems to survive on heli-skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. It is also being used currently as a place for the firefighters to stay as they battle the local forest fires that are ravaging the area this summer. We checked into the hotel and Mum took a short nap while I went for a short walk. After Mum awoke, we decided to take a walk at the Cranberry Bog just south of town. It looked like a nice easy walk, however, we were unable to determine how long the loop actually was so we turned back after a kilometre. It was a nice walk regardless and I was able to take some pictures of the local flora.

After our walk we drove around the town and saw a sign to a local potter as well as a trading post. Since it was almost 6 on Sunday evening, we figured that both would be closed so we headed to the Info Centre to see what else was around the area. The girl at the centre was quite helpful and let us know that the potter left his wares out for people to buy on the honour system. We decided to go take a look and also stopped in at the trading post as we passed by and saw the open sign was on. The trading post was your stereo-typical touristy-like gift shop, and although they had some nice things, we left empty-handed. We continued on to the potter, and after navigating a considerably long driveway, we arrived at his workshop. Mum bought a small bowl that she could use for dip and we chatted with the potter whose son happened to live in Victoria.

We headed back to the hotel and decided to walk across the street to the Moose Pub for dinner. Mum had the Wild Mushroom Bisque and a Greek salad and I had the Beef Dip.

By the time we finished dinner, it was getting late and, due to the lack of good WiFi, I decided to postpone blogging our day.

We turned in not long afterwards, excited about all the wildlife that we hoped to see the next day.

Thank you for sharing our adventure and I will talk to you soon.

L