Rewind day 4: Just drive

We drove from Calgary to Brandon in a single, very long day.

There was a bit of traffic in downtown Calgary as we left.

Some stats:

Burned out semi: 1
Rolling tumbleweed: 1
Geese downtown: 1 flock
Total distance: 8875 km

Day 5: On tornado watch

It isn’t a proper trip to Saskatchewan without a tornado warning, is it?

We stayed with friends in Brandon Manitoba and after an amazing waffle breakfast, set off for Saskatchewan.

We drove all the way to Regina.

There we stopped at the RCMP museum. The older kids checked out the exhibits.

Kid #3 tried on the mini uniforms. Kid #4 crawled into the back of the simulation police car and announced: “I’m a villain!” That one’s going to be trouble.

Our next stop was Saskatoon to stay with friends. But of course, there was a tornado watch in place.

About an hour from Saskatoon we hit a storm. It was intense. In a big prairie sky, the storm was all lightning.

The cows huddled up next to the fences. Some of the cars pulled off the road.

In the two days we were in Saskatchewan, seven tornadoes touched down in the province.

But we made it, just a bit late for a homemade lasagna dinner and Saskatoon berry pie, in Saskatoon. It was perfect and delicious.

Some stats:

Near prairie dog collisions: 1
Herd of bison: 1
Deer: 3
Total distance: 3350km

Day 4: Wheat Kings and pretty things

It’s hard to make good time when you are driving behind a line painting truck.

But that’s the middle of the story.

We woke up at Sandbar Lake Provincial Park in Northwestern Ontario. It was beautiful and the bugs and frogs had mostly disappeared.

We packed up our tent and went down to the beach where we hunted for seashells. There was a flock of American Black ducks in the middle of the lake.

Then we set off for Manitoba. After a while, the treeline switched from Boreal forest to Manitoba woodlands. When we passed the 7-11, we knew we were close. But then, we got stuck behind a line-painting truck on the single-lane highway.

We crossed the provincial border and stopped by Fort Whyte Alive! in Winnipeg to see their herd of bison. They also had an outdoor prairie dog coterie. And though not part of the official display, we also found a family of Canada geese.