Buffalo Pound Provincial Park, Moose Jaw, Canada
What is it about Canadian roads - eh? In both Manitoba and Saskatchewan there appears to be one main road through the towns and all other roads are either dirt or gravel. Even many of the parking lots for stores, gas stations, motels, etc. seem to not be paved. Ned and I have driven through some pretty off beat roads in some of our poorest states, (need I say Mississippi, Alabama or Arkansas?) and they all have more paved roads than we've seen so far in Canada. Makes me really appreciate the infrastructure in the U.S. Just sayin'.
Our drive out of Crooked Lake Provincial Park took us through the very picturesque Qu'Appelle Valley with rolling green hills and the eponymous river running through it.
We headed out this morning without having breakfast. Our master plan was to take Ned out for a scrumptious Father's Day brunch. It took us about 2 hours to reach Regina where we assumed there would be a plethora of choices. Well, yeah there are choices if what you want is every fast food chain that exists in the U.S. We drove through several neighborhoods and let's just say the city doesn't rate aesthetics high on their list. We did eventually find Korean, Japanese, Russian, Chinese and Middle Eastern eateries, but it seems that not one single breakfast restaurant could be found. We finally came upon a Humpty Restaurant which was basically like the worst Denny's ever, but with rancid food. I kid you not. I would describe my mushroom and spinach omelet, but if you're reading this while eating breakfast I wouldn't want you to lose your appetite. (Brown juice running out of plasticy eggs?) We also knew we were in trouble when the waitress brewed a special pot of decaf coffee for us, and it looked like tea when she poured it. Poor Ned, I promised him I would make it up to him before the trip was over and he'd get the Father's Day brunch he deserves.
So, after that little sojourn we decided to tour the Royal Canadian Mountie Museum. The architecture of the building was stunning, but I'd only rate the museum as so-so. We visited all 6 galleries and watched the movie, but mainly got the impression that it was more about chest thumping and recruiting. It just seemed to lack substance. Heck, the Potash Interpretive Center was way more instructive than this. We did enjoy ourselves and there was some history given, but not in a deep or compelling way.
Next stop Moose Jaw. With a name like that I was expecting it to look like Deadwood, South Dakota or some other frontier town. Nope, another city that seems like one big strip mall. We did check out the few blocks of the historical downtown and seriously thought about taking the underground tunnel tour, but decided we'd had enough of cities and just wanted to head back to nature.
Buffalo Pound Provincial Park is located about 30 minutes outside Moose Jaw and was our destination for the night. After inquiring at the tourist centre the best route there we headed off in ignorant bliss. Yep, a few miles out of town and we were on a very rough road. Some enterprising private campground owner posted a sign mimicking the Provincial Park and called his campground Buffalo View. We fell for it and turned down a rutted out, long and steep drive into something that looked like a Canadian version of Deliverance. The owner kept asking us if we were planning on staying (while he was feeding a half dozen or so deer and the peacocks were running around), but we just shook our heads, turned around and skedaddled out of there. Finally, headed towards the real Provincial Park the road wasn't much better. Basically, it was a flooded farm with a high dirt road down the middle. There was plastic being held up by wooden stakes that was supposed to keep the water from flooding the road. I was scared to death that we were going to land in the water and be stuck. I'll include a picture.
We eventually, safely, made it to a really nice campground. We got a great spot tucked away and are making good use of our awning with the picnic bench dragged beneath it. This afternoon it's been periodic rain and sun. Ned grilled up a nice meal of bratwurst and asparagus, accompanied by a Scottish style heavy ale from Calgary. So nice to sit outside to eat and still be dry. We have the added bonus of very few mosquitos too. Tomorrow we finish our drive through Saskatchewan and head for Alberta.
