Wake up in one province and experience the sunset in another!
Hello, Alberta! It's so nice to meet you as I've heard so much about you! Thank you for your welcoming pink sunset - Dave and I raced to get to the border before darkness (well, "raced" might not be the word when one is referring to good old Roberto)!
It was a day of driving for the most part (and what a hot one it was - 33 degrees when we stopped in Moose Jaw), but we did manage to make a couple of really cool stops, some planned and some totally spur-of-the-moment.
After leaving our rv park that was just outside of Regina, we continued to travel west on Highway 1. Using my app "Gas Buddy" (does anyone else us it? I love it) we discovered that gas was 98.9 cents in Regina, so that's where we headed. We meandered through much of Regina (in some tight lanes, thanks to construction). The gas station was tiny, but Roberto managed to squeeze through and filled him up we did! What was a neat surprise was that the gas station was across from Mosaic Stadium, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders! It is an open-air stadium that has green splashed everywhere in honour of the beloved football team. How cool would it be to go to a game - the atmosphere must be intense as I believe the capacity is 40,000!
On the road again...and our next stop was Moose Jaw. On recommendations from my Kenora cousins, we stopped in at the Moose Jaw tunnels, where there are two excellent guided theatrical tours. One tells the story of the hardships of early Chinese immigrants - you follow in their footsteps through Burrows and Sons Laundry in the dark, dismal and cramped tunnels that are found under the streets of Moose Jaw. The work they endured was unbelievable. So much suffering and so much mistreatment. Definitely an eye-opener!
The second tour was a more lighthearted one as you relive Al Capone's bootlegging days; it is presented in a comical manner. Our group was told we were bootleggers in 1929 who had come to Moose Jaw to buy booze from the Capone organization. The witty actors had excellent comedic timing and their banter with our group made the tour very interactive. At one point, Gus, one of Capone's goons, pointed at me and told me my name was "Bodybag" - because my task was to open the doors while in these oh-so-hush-hush tunnels. Yes, the first person to open the door was always quite vulnerable in these kind of situations - especially with Tommy guns being one of the weapons of choice! Needless to say, we all survived!
If you ever go to Moose Jaw, you MUST check out both of these tours! Thank you to Sarah & Derek and Jeff & Cheryl for letting us know about them!
Our next few stops focused on one of the beacons of Saskatchewan agricultural history - the old grain elevator! As we travelled down Highway 1, we stopped at three different elevators, both to get a closer look, and to take some photos. Their visual presence is unmistakable on the Prairie landscape!
We stopped for a quick bite to eat in Swift Current, where Dave regaled me with stories from when he and his family had driven out west and came upon the Swift Current Rodeo. It definitely whetted their appetite for the Calgary Stampede, which they would also experience that summer. Dave shared that his dad decided they would spend one night on the wide open Prairies in their camper trailer - and the wind and rain they experienced was something he will never forget! I would ask him for a couple more details about this memory but he is sound asleep as I type this. If I have made any mistakes with the information in this paragraph, I will correct it tomorrow when Dave is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!
We are now cozy and comfy at Anne and Russell's. Can't wait to visit with them and explore Lethbridge tomorrow as we arrived here in the dark.
It's hard to believe tomorrow will make it a week that we've been on the road - time is flying, even though Roberto does not!
Love from Lethbridge! xoxo
