If you check my online bio on any number of sites, it almost always mentions my love of travel and road trips. I am happiest when exploring. I got to do a little exploring this past summer and I returned to some favorite Canadian places. The highlight of a 5000 mile (8046.72 KM) road trip was sharing the beautiful geography with my son and driving to Calgary for my nephew’s wedding where I got to see my two brothers for the first time in over a decade.
We entered Canada near Estevan, Saskatchewan from a small border crossing in North Dakota. I stopped to forward my cell calls to my Skype number but the signal kept dropping. It took days and several panicked messages before I realized that the line somehow forwarded to a non-existent number instead. Don’t expect to get cell coverage when you travel the backroads! (Update: Verizon now has a Canada plan that allows you to make calls from inside Canada for a much more affordable price! Unsure about the other carriers)
Our first Canadian stop was Tim Hortons in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan where we learned that Timmy’s is now teaming up with Coldstone Creamery. There was no resisting, ice cream – or the picture with the giant moose!
I’ve driven across the prairies several times but somehow had remembered it flatter than it was. The rolling landscape drops to sunken rivers with partial views of trees. Everywhere you look there is hay, horses and cows. I didn’t get to see any of the old wooden grain elevators I recalled dotting the skyline… they’d been replaced by metal cylinders. I hope some remain off the beaten path.
As we drove into Calgary we were greeted with the most intense storm and were surrounded by crazy, frightening and fabulous flashes of lightening, a perfect welcome describing how it felt to see family after so much time – ELECTRIC! Next time I hope it doesn’t take so long.
