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20030829 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 29, 2003
Friday
Start: Little Loon Regional Park, Glaslyn SK
End: Waskesiu CG, Prince Albert National Park, SK
Miles: 170
Hi Temp: 72.1
Lo Temp: 43.7
We tiptoed around the place today in getting it ready to move - the folks next door weren't up yet. It was a beautiful morning, so I took a couple of pictures. Then we woke them all up when we started the diesel truck and departed.
We headed east on SK-3, refueled in Spiritwood, and continued to Prince Albert (the city). There, we stopped in the store called "Canada's Superstore" for groceries. PA is a pretty fair-sized city with all the usual chain stores.
As we crossed more of the plains, Dolores reminded me of the joke she'd heard; the place is so flat you can watch your dog run away from home for three days.
There was a lot of wheat in evidence today; it's harvesting season. Most have cut the grain, a few haven't yet.
We left PA on SK-2 headed north. After an hour, we refueled again just outside the park entrance on SK-264. We paid our admission fee to the park, then went to the trailer park and paid the fee for camping. The camping charge was a little higher than we've been paying, but the place has full hookups and great sites.
There's a little town of Waskesiu (land probably grandfathered private when the place was made a national park in 1928) nearby. Between the campground and the little village, there are hundreds of little tiny cottages with walkways between them going to the water.
In the village, there's a post office, park nature center, four or five little motels, two inn's, and eight or ten little stores.
After we put the trailer in its place, we went "downtown" and walked around the village. We stopped in most of the shops, and D bought a tee-shirt in (of all places) the post office. The tee-shirt she bought has the image of a Canadian stamp on it.
I was reading at the picnic table outside while sipping an ale, when I heard something go zipping past. I looked under the trailer and saw a red squirrel looking back. He probably thought I was harmless until I turned a page or somesuch.
We noted the times of a beaver pond walk and a live presentation by park personnel tomorrow; in-between those, we'll drive a couple of the park roads and hike one of the trails. We're considering staying another day; it's a peaceful nice place.
20030830 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 30, 2003
Saturday
Start: Prince Albert National Park, Waskesiu CG, Waskesiu SK
End: same
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 70.0
Lo Temp: 48.4
We woke up to a beautiful morning, mostly sunny with a few fluffy white clouds.
After breakfast, we hopped into the truck and drove out of the campground. Elks. Just outside the campground proper were about ten elk eating in the woods next to the road, including one with good-sized antlers. We took some pictures and drove on.
We headed out the Kingsmere road along the north side of Waskesiu Lake, about 30 km long, taking it easy and looking for more animal life. We got to the end without seeing any. So we turned around and drove back, taking pictures here and there. We stopped at a loop trail and hiked it, still without seeing any animals. We did see some neat ferns. The forest itself was very different from those in Virginia, all birch and black spruce.
Then we came back to the trailer and had lunch. We loafed for part of the afternoon, then took the truck out the Narrows road along the south side of Waskesiu Lake. We saw a couple of groups of people having fun at the lakeside and more interesting forest. We decided not to do another hike (lazy).
We drove slowly back to town and stopped at the little grocery store for a few things. The little village was full of people on this Saturday evening of Labor Day weekend. Bunches of people were walking back to the little cottages from the beach and games area. Another group was gathered at the ice cream stand.
We came back to the trailer and put the things away. Then we made a little dinner of chicken and dumplings.
Now we've finished processing the photos and we're going to settle in.
20030831
August 31, 2003
Sunday
Start: Prince Albert National Park, Waskesiu CG, Waskesiu SK
End: same
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 72.9
Lo Temp: 43.5
We decided overnight to skip our trip to Flin Flon and to stay here another day. We'll do Flin Flon another trip. We must be losing our eagerness to explore the wilds.
So we took it easy for the morning of another beautiful day here. We went downtown and looked around briefly, then had lunch on the deck overlooking Waskesiu Street at Pete's. Then we walked around for a while and made reservations at the inn for dinner.
Then we went on a ride southward on the "scenic road" inside the park. We saw one elk crossing the road ahead of us. We cruised through a campground on Sandy Lake and found it to be a nice place. We went on until the road left the park and headed southwest. Finally, it intersected with SK-2; there, we turned left and used it to return to the trailer. On entering the park again, we found another elk crossing the road; we took a picture and went on to the trailer.
This campground is great. There's plenty of room between sites, and all the sites have full hookups. There are three environments - open, partially shaded (us), and fully shaded. Those in the open are closer to the main street and could easily walk over to the beach. The fully shaded sites have long pull-through sites and lots of shade. Our sites in the partially shaded group also feature all pull-throughs and a lot of room. The shower and bathroom buildings are in good shape and are well maintained. We'll have to come back here sometime.
At the correct time, we went downtown again. We were given a nice table in the inn, which was full and very busy for this last full night of the season. Dolores had mussels, then steak with crab and asparagus. I had the beef barley soup, and halibut crusted with something and fennel. Very good.
Then we walked to the truck and returned to the little house in the big campground in the national park.
