Cross Canada Trip Days 4 and 5

Day 4: Winnipeg to Moose Jaw

8:43 am - Well, we spent the night at HoJo's in Winnipeg. We really wanted to take in the city and get a feel for the culture, so we drove thru downtown, checked into our hotel, checked out Shoppers Drug Mart & Subway, then... went to bed. Okay, so we only did things we could have done at home. Now we are back on the TransCanada Hwy and shockingly it is still flat and boring. But, we were able to check the odometer again. Don't tell Loon, but she is a touch off. Shhh. She is still dealing with the windshield crack. Oh and breaking news - there are hills in Manitoba. And if there isn't, then I am hallucinating.

9:35 am - I am not sure why, but we felt compelled to detour through downtown Brandon. As Manitoba's second largest city, it is still smaller than Chatham. Having not taken any pictures yet today we found a strange sculpture at the University and then were on our way. Also of note is that the only police we have seen in Manitoba were in the Tim Horton's drive through.

Brenda mounts the Explorer.

11:19 am - Saskatchewan greeted us with no fanfare, just roadwork. Both of us were disappointed with the lack of photo ops. Apparently Saskatchewan is not big on signage.

4:26 pm - We stopped at the Creekside Pub and Brewery for lunch in Regina. It was easily the best meal of the trip to date. I also had a strawberry flavoured beer which was pretty tasty.

Cam highly recommends the pizza.

4:26 pm - Bye bye Vagina, I mean Regina, Hello Moose Jaw.

4:29 pm - The Royal Saskatchewan Museum was a nice way to kill a couple of hours in Regina. They had some pretty cool dinosaur fossils. And you can't beat the price - admission is a voluntary $2 donation and parking is free. Brenda notes that it is curious that 2006 is their 100th anniversary and it did not seem to be celebrated in any way. Tourism out west could definitely use an Ontarian's touch; it's hard to find anything and they are missing all kinds of marketing opportunities.

Cam with a Big Bone.

Brenda, Whitney and Mac the Moose.

Day 5: Moose Jaw to Calgary

7:44 am - Well, Cam and I have been awake for hours now as it is almost 10am in Ontario. We might want to learn to adjust to the time change because I don't want to be up at 5am all the time.

Brenda ponders the moose.

9:19 am - It hadn't ever occurred to me but I guess Brenda and I have been spoiled by our less traditional families. I'm sure part of the reason we were up at 5 this morning is becuase we were sleeping on different floors. We got to spend some time with Elmo the dog whose Prozac prescription has clearly run out before we arrived. We had a pleasant visit the night before with Brenda's Uncle Bill and cousin Whitney. Whitney seems to have a good head on her shoulders and does a good job looking out for her Dad. Bill took us out for dinner to a place famous for pizza in Saskatchewan, of course, none of us ordered pizza.

9:53 am - The road is still straight and flat. It is still raining, are we following a slow moving weather pattern to the west, I don't know. We also have fog today, hooray for us! Since we hit northern Ontario service centres have been so few and far between that most of them don't even advertise the price of gas. I guess they figure we're stuck with them.

Welcome to Alberta?

1:42 pm - We are just on our way out of Medicine Hat. We stopped to fill up the Loonmobile and ourselves and also swung by a giant tepee. I am consistently amused by the towns that embrace something silly or just really big as their cultural identity. White River, Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat, I salute you.

Small Brenda, Big Tepee.

3:07 pm - For some reason we don't think of Alberta as a prairie province, but some of the driving stretches here are brutal, there aren't even any trees in some spots.

Go Flames Go / Flammable?

Big drinks at Moxie's, Calgary.