Day 262 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Another day in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I’d love to hear a toddler trying to spit out that mouthful. It is fun to say. So, anyway we were spending two nights in Saskatoon so today was a local sightseeing day. The boys were excited because we weren’t driving anywhere (far) today. Huh, just wait for the next 2 days, we’d make up for that. Today we started the day with a traditional motel breakfast coffee and donuts. They are offered more as a bonus rather than breakfast and we were told that the donuts went out at 6 am. By the time we got there about 8 am it was slim pickings with only the small glaced donut holes left. We would get better tomorrow since we’d be up early.
A very casual start out the door today; it was after 10 am before we headed to the Western Development Museum on the other side of Saskatoon. We went there because the museum got a great write up from LP. I had a local map with a discount ticket on it so off we went. Wow, we were not disappointed. First it only cost us $12.50 to get the 4 of us in and being a weekday there were very few people to share it with. We were there for hours; there was so much to see and do and the presentation of everything was so well done. As you walk through the doors there is a huge replica Canadian street scene of 100 years ago in front of you, complete with every kind of shop and service you would expect of the time complete with thousands of antiques to give authenticity to the scenes. Then there is the adjoining film show set in a Canadian rail car focusing on an immigrant family moving to the prairies. You then follow this family throughout the rest of the display which showcases Canada in progressively modern times. Then there is the room full of old farm machinery and the room full of cars and miniature trains, and finally the gorgeous gift shop. I don’t know about the kids but I certainly have a greater knowledge of Canadian history than I ever did before and a new appreciation for the life of those immigrants that attempted to make new lives on the prairies. Here are some of our photos that show what we got up to in the Western Development Museum.
The car the boys are sitting in shows how Canadians took out the engines of their cars, when they couldn’t afford to run them during the Depression, and replaced the engines with horse power!
After all our museum fun it was time for lunch. We had thoughts of eating our picnic by the river but when we found a carpark downtown we ended up in the ‘Toys R Us’ carpark eating peanut butter sandwiches instead. We had promised the boys we’d stop in at the store so now we were here we headed in. I did some birthday shopping for Harris and got some Marvel Mighty Beans for a young collector in Australia (Hi Finn!). The store all the same things you’d see anywhere but the snow play section we don’t see every day! You could buy all sorts of things to sit on and slide down snow and a snow brick, a plastic device for making ‘snow bricks’ (of course) rather than sand. Cool.
Since the weather was clear and sunny (but only about 8C) we headed to Kinsmens Park not far away. The boys found the playground and I found the Mendel Art Gallery across the road. The gallery wasn’t anything amazing unfortunately but I could see it would be a great spot for coffee any time of year. Here’s the playground …
It was too early to return to the motel so we headed to Lawnton Heights Mall to get milk for breakfast and check out the shops – it’s a cultural experience you know! We found Starbucks and the young women that served me asked “Is that an Australian accent I detect?”, yes I said. She had spent two months in Australia, and one week in Brisbane, earlier in the year and was quite excited to meet an Australian in Saskatoon. We left the mall with some more winter gear; I got a beanie and thick gloves and Steve got two scarves; plus he got some better headphones for listening to music and for use on plane flights. In all it was a successful day.
Back at the motel I had 45 minutes of peace to update the website whilst Steve tried out his new headphones whilst acting us life guard at the pool for the boys. Dinner was a tin of pork and beans; leftover chicken and salad and leftover chocolate cream pie with strawberries. We attempted to get an early night but I don’t think any of us slept particularly well. We wanted to get up early so we could hit the road early for our drive to Regina in the morning. Our Saskatchewan days were nearly over.
Have fun in Regina. We will have chili, corn bread, salad and some cold beer/wine waiting for Wed.
Hi Harris Happy Birthday for today I wanted to get in early before I leave for work have a great day and hope you and Paddy have great scary costumes for Halloween on
Monday! Enjoy your first American Halloween look forward to you writing a blog about your Halloween experience.
Love Uncle Bob & Aunty Nola xxx
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRIS for yesterday. We remembered yesterday then when we got home forgot to write to you.
Glad you are all having fun and keeping safe. I’d love to have been with you at that museum. It looked pretty cool. Fancy putting Horse Wagon wheels on those old cars during the Depression years. Save a lot of petrol Eh?
You’ll have to ask Dad and Mum if you can find the Creation Science Museum. There’s lots of Dinasauers there I think and lots of fossils etc. It’s surpose to be huge place.
I’ve sent Dad an email about Uncle Al being in hospital.
Thanks Aunty Nola.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.