Saskatchewan June 15 - 21, 2009Jun 21, 2009
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Bessborough Hotel built 1928 - 1932
View of Saskatoon from river
Dakota Dunes Casino entrance
| On our way Monday morning, we stopped in North Battleford to make a donation at the Casino and have lunch. The warm weather continued and it was 31 C when we arrived in Saskatoon in the early afternoon and drove to the Gordon Howe Campground, a city park. This was one of the nicest campgrounds we have been in with each site surrounded by bushes and lots of trees and green spaces. I did the wash while Jim set up and tried to get the satellite up but he had no luck as there were too many trees. On Tuesday we went to the visitor’s information to get maps and directions and did some shopping. We found that Saskatoon was very easy to find our way around and very pretty with the river and lots of trees. After lunch we went on a boat tour of the Saskatchewan River going under 4 bridges and getting a different perspective of the City. The only disappointment was they gave us a brochure to read about the things we would see rather then have a guide narrate but it was enjoyable. After dinner, we went to the TCU Centre to see Carol Burnett who did a terrific show. She started out with a video of scenes from her TV show about questions from the audience, then came on stage and took questions, half way through she showed more video of all the people she had sang with, then more questions ending with video of favorite scenes from the TV show ending with her as the cleaning lady singing her trademark farewell song. It was a very enjoyable evening and I’m glad Jim read the bulletin board at the campsite and phoned for tickets. Wednesday we rode our bikes on the trails by the river but ran into some construction and had to detour around and ride on the busy streets which were a little scary but we made it back safe and sound. After breakfast we went to the Dakota Dunes Casino and had a fun 3 hours including lunch but didn’t come away with any of their money. We checked out the campground that evening with a walk around but didn’t see any one from B.C. On Thursday, we started out in a bit cooler weather 20C heading to Manitou Beach and arrived just before lunch checking into the Regional Campsite, another nice treed park. After we ate we headed to the lake for a swim but it was a little cool and there was a lot of algae along the shore so we opted to go to the Manitou Springs Spa that has a large pool filled with the lake water that is heated. The water is 91% pure water, but has a specific gravity 10% higher than regular water due to a higher concentration of salts and minerals. The added density greatly enhances buoyancy and makes it impossible for people to sink. Jim had a great time as this is the first time he could really float. After having coffee at a delightful little coffee shop filled with unique antiques we headed to Danceland. This is a dance hall build in 1928 with a 5,000 square foot horsehair filled maple dance floor and it reminded us of the old Bluebird Inn that burned down several years ago in Cranbrook. We were lucky as there was a gathering of the Saskatchewan Pattern Dance Association and we spent an hour watching the dancers doing a variety of old fashion dances. Home for drinks and dinner and a thunderstorm but the water is needed in the area. As we were leaving on Friday, the wind was blowing quite hard and as we drove along the lakeshore it looked like a bubble bath as the wind was whipping the water into great big suds. We traveled onto Yorkton where we found another city campground just off the highway. It was a little rustic but welled treed with lots of birds around. Yorkton is about the size of Cranbrook with lots of big box stores and easy to get around. We treated ourselves to dinner at the York House which was good. We headed to Winnipeg on Saturday stopping at the Visitor Information in Russell on the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and they had a large statue of a bull called Arthur. We enjoyed our ride along the Yellowhead Highway and thought it was scenic with lots of ponds, swamps, creeks and many trees as well as lots of green fields and cattle. We stopped at a bakery in Minnedosa and got fresh buns and a delicious Danish (almost as good as Ivy-Lynne’s) for our lunch and looked around at this older town with a lovely beach that looked really inviting as the temperature was 27C. We arrived in Winnipeg in the late afternoon and found the campsite in the southeast corner of the city next to a water park and amusement park. We are just off highway #1 so hope we don’t have too much trouble getting around as we need a magnifying glass to read the map of the city. We wish each Dad a Happy Fathers Day and we’ll do another entry next weekend. |
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