20070717 Saskatoon SK (Sixteen West RV Park)
310 miles
Cool AM, warm PM

We got a good start and knocked out the trip in less than six hours.

Down off the hill, onto Canada 1 to Swift Current SK, then SK-4 north to Rosetown, SK-7 to Saskatoon. Temperature was much nicer than down below - 86*F max.

The drive was uneventful and the terrain was flat, so there's not much to remark on.

Saskatoon, on the other hand, seems to have most streets under construction. We got directions to go to Home Depot and the Mall. The route to Home Depot was straightforward, but construction (closed lanes) made it longer than normal. The route to the Mall was closed, requiring an ad-hoc re-route, but we got there & got groceries. Coming back to the park, the two right lanes (of 3) closed, so we took another ad-hoc re-route to the north and came out ok.

We put the groceries aside & went to dinner at J. B. Peppercorns Steak & Seafood. D had ribs, I had a Jambalya, both good. We got back to the house without getting killed (there is a segment of the population that ignores traffic laws).

We're comfortable in the little house as the sun is setting. The campground is full. Canadians like their RV's and use them to hold family reunions in various locations. We saw one trailer come in and park next to another; when the parking was done, there were hugs and handshakes all round.

Now it's time to catch up on internet chores.
 

20070718 Saskatoon SK (Sixteen West RV Park)

Cool AM, warm PM

We wandered to the south side of Saskatoon to the Western Development Musleum. This is a huge building partially hidden underground so that it doesn't appear large from the front. 

Inside, it has three large galleries side by side with a large area under cover but outside across the back of them all. 

The leftmost gallery holds an exhibition of old cars, and a streetcar, and a huge mural showing the development over time left-to-right.

The center gallery is a replica of an old farm town main street. The building fronts all hold items that might have been in the stores they portray. There are a few places that have people-sensors that trigger action; for instance, the church organ starts playing as you enter the vestibule. It took us a long time and a bunch of pictures to get through it.

We bought a few things in the gift shop, mainly for our neighbor who is collecting our mail and watching the house.

After that, we tried to take a ride into downtown but along the riverfront. We saw where "Taste of Saskatchewan" was being held, but it looked too busy to suit us. Then we got caught in the wrong lane & got forced to turn right, onto a bridge, and wound up in the east part of Saskatoon. While working our way back to something we knew, we stumbled into a mall and stopped. D wanted to look in on a craft store. I went to Canadian Tire and bought a few things for the trailer. Then I looked in on Future Store and bought a noise-cancelling headset that was on sale. It's probably not much good, but cancellation can be turned off and then it's a regular headset.

We met near the truck and went on to lunch at Wendy's. Then to the beer store for some Rickard's Red, and then to the trailer. We took it easy the rest of the afternoon. We did a small dinner in the little house and did computer chores, such as changing our itinerary slightly for the six days between leaving Canada and arriving at Menomonie.