We did our first road trip of the season last weekend - to exotic Saskatoon! "Why on earth would you want to go to Saskatoon?" I can hear you asking. Stuart wanted to take part in a Flames of War tourney that was happening there on Sunday. Originally, he was going to go with the boys, 'cause I thought I was booked to help The Onigiri Company, but they decided not to attend that event, so we decided to make it the first camping of the season.
We packed everything up and were on the road by 3pm on Friday. The traffic getting out of the city was already ridiculous, but once we turned east, it was pretty smooth sailing. I was vaguely surprised to find that Saskatchewan seems to have mostly single lanes, even for the "main" highways. I guess Alberta has been using all that gas money to twin things? It sort of prepared me for Saskatoon though, which is basically a really big small town. I didn't tour the whole city, of course, but there was no sign of the frantic building which is a hallmark of Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer. It was clean, but kind of shabby.
Everything we saw in Saskatoon was like that actually. Many of the small towns appeared to be in the process of disappearing... whole main streets of empty businesses and for sale signs.
Anyway, we had no trouble finding the campground, even though we arrived around 10pm, just a little after dark. We checked in, got the tent set up without a problem and hit the air mattress for some shut-eye. The only complication was that the party crowd next door had gone off and left car parked in what was supposed to be our spot! Stuart solved that with his polished driving skills - he just backed the car passed theirs and tucked it on our pad. He's so handy to have around! And despite my fears, they didn't make too much noise when they got back.
They did leave all their food and booze and trash lying around their site though, so the next day, Ursa and I got to do lots of work on "leave it." I would have been more tempted to let her eat all their hot dogs, if I hadn't have been the one dealing with the results at her back end. ;) We were up again at 7am, so that we could get ready and drive Stuart across town to the Dragon's Den, where the tourney was taking place. Not that "across town" took more than about 15 minutes - but we wanted to leave time for getting lost, etc.
After dropping him off, Ursa and I stopped at Timmy's for tea and then back to the campsite for breakfast. Most mornings, sleep wins out over other concerns and I usually have a quick breakfast. It was nice to linger over my food, read my book and wave at all the folks who saw Ursa and did double takes. We've been doing this low-carb diet thing for about 5-6 weeks now and we're both dropping some weight. So I had to laugh when I got a text from Stuart, asking if I could buy him a belt somewhere. A little google mapping and we were off.
I swear I just meant to dash into the Winner's for a belt, but I haven't been shopping in soooo long and I actually had a little money. So I ended up with a dress, a pair of sandals and the belt. Even with PST, it was a good deal! We went by the store to drop off the belt and then set off to find the dog park. Saskatoon is not big on signage, but we managed it with only one wrong turn, quickly corrected. It was actually a fairly nice park - built around a hill, with a swamp at the bottom and several treed areas. Ursa happily said hi to a number of dogs, while I did the BRT Ambassador song and dance for the masses. (I was also tempted to start a "discussion" on whether or not hair and fur are the same thing, but I virtuously refrained.)
After our walk, it was back to the campsite for lunch. Ursa held the attention of several little kids through the simple expedient of eating her chicken. Even I find it kind of fascinating to watch her work her way through a whole bird! After eating, we both settled in for a long afternoon nap and then I finally had a shower. Free showers at a campground! With water pressure and hot water and everything! I might have stayed in a little longer than strictly necessary... Then Ursa and I went for another long wander. The campground was set next to an industrial area, in a little recreation complex with a golf course, multiple baseball diamonds, an arena, etc., so we poked about in there. The sun was out, there was a breeze and nobody around, so we enjoyed our quality together time very much!
Then it was time to go pick up Stuart and meet our friends for dinner. We ended up at an all you can eat sushi place just a few blocks from the Dragon's Den. It was surprisingly good for all you can eat, and we ate a lot - yummy! It was really nice to visit with them and as they are moving to Kelowna sometime this summer, I think we'll have to visit them there as well.
Stuart made breakfast on Sunday (yeah, sweetie!) and then we packed up camp and headed out. We decided to take the less main route to Medicine Hat and if we'd thought about it, we would have realized that "not main" in Saskatchewan means apparently not maintained at all. So there were no shoulders and a lot of rough bits, but also barely any traffic (passing two trucks in five minutes was like rush hour traffic!) so we enjoyed it. We got to Cavan Lake and had our tent set up at his cousin's site well in time for dinner. Stuart's aunt and uncle were there along with both his cousins and their significant others. They and their friends partied until about 3 am, but we packed it around 10. Fortunately, our tent was down the way from the main party action and quiet time is 11, so it wasn't too bad. Stuart's uncle plays bass in a casual band with some friends and they play pretty well for a bunch of old farts! ;)
Monday morning we packed up the tent again and had waffles with the family before heading into town. We had lunch and a nice visit with Stuart's paternal grandparents - we both thought that his grandpa was a lot more lively and talkative than our previous visits, which was nice. Then we took Ursa for a walk in the off leash park in the coolie before finally climbing back into the car for the last push home. Sometimes the drive between Medicine Hat and Calgary seems long, but in direct comparison with the other routes of the weekend, it felt quite reasonable! More traffic, which was frustrating after the empty roads earlier, but no one was doing anything irredeemably stupid. We got home in time to have dinner, unload and unpack and do some much needed cleaning in the house.
Good trip.
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