If I knew the road was like this.... I would have said no!

I'll get to the reason for the title of this post a little later on as I'll start from the beginning.  Last night we camped at Besant Campground in Caron, SK.  It was a nice quaint little spot and we had a good site.  Around 9:00 pm, we heard a train go by and the entire tent shook.  The tracks were probably 50 Metres away from our site.  The train proceeded to go by at 2 hour intervals all night.  The kids can sleep through anything but Tanya and I were awoken each time.  The rumble of the train isn't as serene as the Loon that was singing at 3:00 am while we were in Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba.


It was quite windy when we woke up and the Coleman stove was having some challenges in toasting our bread so we went with half toasted toast and fruit for breakfast.  We were on the road around 9:00am to attend the Sasktel Kite Festival in Swift Current.  I had read about this before we left PEI and it seemed like a great family event.  Prior to attending we stopped at the Safeway to replenish our food supplies.


While in Manitoba I was chatting with the cashier (something I try to do wherever we are to find out what the locals like to do) and he suggested I sign up for the Safeway Membership when he heard where we are going.  Now when I buy groceries I get the club member prices which is discounted so I am always interested in seeing how much I save.


Up until now, I have been doing the grocery shopping myself (or with David) while the girls go check out some other supplies we may need.  Anyhow, yesterday at the church service we attended, Andrea and David went to the children liturgy and received a treat bag which included a Safeway cookie club card.  The kids wanted to come in today so we all shopped together and then they got a cookie.  They were amazed that when they got their cookie, the bakery lady gave them back their cards and said it is valid at all Safeways for a free cookie.  I know that from now on there will be no entering the Safeway by myself anymore.  Natalie didn't have a card but got the cookie anyhow.

Two flying frogs

The kids with their faces painted

We finally got to the Kite Festival and it was awesome.   There were kites of all shapes and sizes floating through the air and a number of tents set up with activities for families.  There was no charge to enter but you could purchase some tokens to participate in activities if you wanted.  We bought some tokens and the kids got their face painted and received tattoos.  We also got some snacks.  It was incredibly windy and cool on top of the hill where the festival was (which was good for flying kites) but we were well dressed.


After that we attempted to find a location that has free wifi so we could post yesterdays blog posting.  Usually we can find a spot, either the Safeway, Days Inns or libraries have the service but we had no such luck today.  Eventually the tourism office in Swift Current opened and we were able to sign on there.  While there I asked the guy about Fort Walsh which is located in the Southwest corner of Saskatchewan and was the first outpost for the Northwest Mounted Police in Western Canada.  This was something that interested me and I wondered what it was like.  He told me it was very interesting and it was open until 5:30 pm and if we left right away that would give us about 2 hours to explore the fort which would be enough time.

The frontier lands

We jumped in the van and off we went.  Once we got close to Miller Creek, we needed to get off the highway and take a secondary road to the Fort.  This was an absolute stunning ride through what I would describe as the frontier plains that you would see in the movie Dances with Wolves.  Rolling green hills with cattle free roaming and wild life in every direction you looked.  Falcons and Hawks were patrolling the skies, prairie dogs along the road, we spotted a deer in the field and a number of new to us birds.


My co-pilot probably wasn't thinking the same thoughts as we ventured further and further into the remote land and often questioned if I was sure I knew where I was going.  Things got a tad bit tense when we were about 10 km's from the Fort and a sign was posted "Trailer drop off zone due to steep inclines and many curves.  We proceeded to climb a mountain by switching back and forth up the side of it until we got to the top.  Interestingly, Cypress Hills Provincial Park boasts the highest point between the Rockies and Newfoundland but many people don't think Saskatchewan has any mountains because of the reputation of being so flat.  At the top, I was asked how many more KM's and I said "six" which lead to a sigh and eyes glancing out the other window.  This is when the title quote came out.


A little further down the road was a sign that said watch out for free roaming cattle and sure enough around the next turn was herd of cattle with four or five of them standing on the road.  I beeped my horn to move them along but they weren't in any rush to get out of the way.  Eventually we got by and started the decent to the Fort because of course it would be in a valley.  We arrived at the Fort safely although one of the passengers wasn't as excited as the others to be there.

Our newly sworn-in troops

Once at the Fort, the kids were asked if they wanted to be part of a special children's program to which they said yes.  They got done up in the NWMP (now RCMP) reds, with hats and wooden shot gun and learned about the Fort.  Eventually they needed to arrest three people for breaking the law and Tanya, another visitor and I were brought to court where we were tried for our unruly behavior.  Tanya got 2 years in prison, I got 2 weeks and the other guy was set free.

The welcome sign in Miller Creek - very neat

We ventured back to Miller Creek, no problems with the drive again, had supper in a community park and drove the short 45 minute ride to Medicine Hat, AB.  We checked into a nice campground,  Gas City Campground.  The kids played on the playground equipment, had a small campfire and then off to bed.  The kids are usually done in when they hit the pillow and tonight was no difference.  I'm sure it was less than a minute before all three were sound asleep.


Tomorrow we start to explore Alberta and will get to Edmonton later in the week to visit with Tanya's brother Rodney, his wife Joyce and their children.  Thanks for all notes.  We understand some people are having trouble "commenting" to the blog.  If this is you and you want to send us a note, just sent it to our regular email or Tanya's hotmail account if you have it.   We check those daily.


Later,
Francois