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JohnBoy’s Travel Blog

Photos and stories of my journey across the US and Canada

I am back in Durham after my big 2025 road trip and have now resumed posts.  I apologize for being so far behind but I have reviewed and prepared pictures taken through August 31 for posting and will post a few things at a time so as not to overwhelm people.  I will continue to review and prepare photos taken in September and will have them ready when I exhaust the list I have already.

Thank you for your patience!

I will eventually (probably the summer of 2026) be creating a number of pdf files which list all my previous posts, enabling visitors to find specific posts from earlier trips (over 1,400 and counting).  I know how to do it, I just need the time.  Lord knows I had plenty of that at home in the weeks leading up to my departure, but it was consumed with other projects, prepping and packing.  I will let everyone know when they are completed and will email them to anyone interested. 

If you use the calendar grid to the right, go back to May, 2025.  Then click on May 13th.  There you will find a post I made which contains 100 links to some older posts from 2018 (San Diego)/2019 (Eastern Canada) to give you an idea what I’m talking about.  You may also use the calendar grid on the right side of this page to go to any other month the blog existed.  I started the blog in the Spring of 2016.  I traveled and took photos for two years prior to that but have only posted a select few, and some of my early posts only included 1 photo (I was a blog newbie) and I need to post more from the tens of thousands of photos I’ve taken.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NEW TO THE BLOG:

Welcome to my travel blog, where I post photos of my trips throughout the United States and Canada.  For details on my intent for this project please click on “About” in the upper right hand corner.  If you have comments or requests please feel free to contact me by clicking on “Contact” in the upper right hand corner.

If you are new to the blog please note that you are seeing the most recent posts first.  As you scroll down you are going back in time.  You may read statements which may not make much sense right at the moment because they may refer to a discussion earlier in the blog.  If you want to find posts for a specific place (e.g. Grand Canyon) enter it in the search box.  You may also use the calendar grid to use the “way-back” function to time travel back to a particular day’s posts.

Enjoy, and PLEASE feel free to share the blog address with others.  Also feel free to copy and save any photos I’ve taken.  You should be able to right-click on them and save them to your device (but if you sell them and make a gazillion dollars, please slip me a zillion or two. We’ll just keep that between us).  The photos are best viewed on a computer or tablet, not a phone.  The larger the screen the better.

Castlegar, BC to High River, AB

August 31, 2025

Today I will head back east to Alberta province and start working my way north. Before I leave Castlegar I want to share something I noticed as I drove into town two days ago. When I had been to town previously I approached from the west and left to the south. This trip I came in from the south and noticed this as I was descending Mount Kelly.

I was looking right down the runway of the West Kootenay Regional Airport, and there was a large mountain on the other side. The mountain in the distance is Sentinel Mountain which, at it’s highest point, is 5,456 feet tall. The mountain I was on when I took this photo is even higher at over 6,400 feet. The mountain in the distance isn’t that far from the end of the runway (looks like about 3 miles on Google Maps).

When I was in town yesterday taking pictures of the sculptures I heard, then saw, this mid-size passenger jet flying parallel to the runway and then bank south to make a turn towards the runway.

You can see it in front of the mountain before it would turn right again to land.

Someone at the Visitor Centre told me that the airport is nicknamed “Cancel-gar” by the locals due to the number of flights that get cancelled due to weather or other issues.

Today I would reverse my route from two days ago and shortly after crossing the Canadian Rockies I will turn left onto smaller roads for the rest of the day. I had a few stops planned in Alberta province and the total drive time was projected to be about 7 1/2 hours without stops.

The town of Creston is about an hour and half east of Castlegar. When I had driven through it previously I stopped to get gas in town and drove past the Kokanee Brewery. They market their product as “Glacier Beer” and, despite being acquired by a much larger brewery, still make their beer here.

That is a statue of Bigfoot making off with a case of Kokanee beer.

I won’t show any more mountain pictures since you just saw them two days ago. Once I got past the Rockies I headed north to the small town of Longview. My plan was to have a fancy steak dinner at a highly rated steakhouse there but that plan fell apart when I tried to make a reservation. The first day I called they had already started serving customers and the recording said to call another time (well excuuuuuse me!). I called back the next day and the recording told me they had shut down for a week so the staff could have their vacation.

So no steak for JohnBoy.

I went to Longview anyway and it was a cute little town:

I didn’t even drive by the steakhouse, which was further up the road, but I did go to an ice cream stand which offered their signature Saskatoon Berry milkshake with fresh, locally grown Saskatoons. Just my luck they were sold out. So no Saskatoon Berries for JohnBoy, either.

I left town and drove east to my next stop. On a very small rural road I stopped to take a photo in each direction. North (left)

East (forward)

South (right)

And west (behind me). You can see the Rockies in the distance.

This is where I was now headed:

If you are familiar with the original Star Trek TV series you know that Mr. Spock is from the planet Vulcan. Welcome to Vulcan, Alberta!

Once fans of the series discovered that there was a town called Vulcan here they started visiting and things kind of took off from there. Now they have festivals here and Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, attended at least one. It has taken on a life of its own…

You will notice that the large starship shown above is NOT identified as the Enterprise (possibly due to licensing issues).

The flower planter located outside the gift shop is a replica of a Federation shuttlecraft.

I thought the place was closed so I put my phone up to the glass on the entrance and took this photo – and then saw people moving around inside. Turns out I got there just before closing time.

I walked around inside for a short while looking at the merchandise, and there were many items and photos signed by the cast of the show. One of the brochures I had picked up back when I was in Calgary alerted me to this town. There was also a menu for a local pizzeria which, when the festival occurs, makes a pizza with a Federation logo-shaped crust.

When I left Vulcan I headed back northwest to the town of High River, where I had a one-night Airbnb reservation. I picked it because it was the largest town near here and with all my stops I knew it would be getting dark soon. When I got there I discovered it also has a connection to a TV show.

The Canadian drama “Heartland” is currently in it’s 20th season. Parts of the show are filmed in and around High River, including Maggie’s Feed Store and Diner. The actual ranch featured in the show is on private property, in a nearby town, closer to the Rockies.

This is a “set” used for filming and is not an actual restaurant. I only knew about Heartland, and this set location, because a friend of mine used to watch the show.

Castlegar Sculpturewalk

August 30, 2025

When I stopped briefly in Castlegar on my way to Cranbrook earlier in my trip I had picked up a brochure about this activity and after looking through it I decided I wanted to come back and check it out for myself. Fortunately it was a nice day, as the sculptures are scattered all over town, though there is a concentration of them in the downtown shopping district.

The artwork in the photo above was featured on the cover of the brochure I had seen. It is called “Dedngon”. Here is another angle of it:

Most of these sculptures are available for sale or lease. The only deterrent to photographing them was that many were backlit by the sun. There were many more than I am going to show you, but I’ve tried to pick the best ones to post. You can Google the name and see photos of many of the ones that I will post, as well as others that are no longer in circulation, or were in parts of town that I didn’t go to. I tried to find all the ones that were downtown or close to it.

The bench above is supposed to represent a tree trunk, with new growth sprouting from the top.

The artwork in the photo above is called “Just Had To Look” and features a small man crawling on a hand held sphere who is peering down into a hole in the surface.

The artwork in the photo above is called “Living Fossil” and is of a swimming white sturgeon.

The artwork in the photo above is called “Don’t Judge Me by My Cover.”

That one is called “Mask of Ooinn” (the first two letters of the last word have characters above them which I am unable to replicate here). It is one of the few sculptures I saw that was not made out of metal. It depicts the chief Norse deity (as stated in the brochure).

“Egghead” was purchased by a local business and is on display outside the public library.

The next two I found in Millenium Park, a large city park east of town and next to the Columbia River.

And the next one is in several parts. It is metal shaped in the form of a curved maple leaf. It covers a bench near the river and has a nice detailed painting inside.

I’ve saved my favorite for last. It is being leased by the city and currently sits out next to the highway coming in to town.

Lethbridge, AB to Castlegar, BC

August 29, 2025

Today will be another driving day. I will be taking Hwy 3 (the Crowsnest Highway) west and will cross the southern end of the Canadian Rockies from east to west. The first 80 miles will be flat prairie and farmland, which I have grown accustomed to while in most of Alberta province. Google Maps indicated it would take about 6 hours, without stops, to get to my destination. Once I hit the Rockies the road will take me through Cranbrook, where I stayed earlier in my trip, and then beyond it to Castlegar. The portion from Lethbridge to Cranbrook will be new to me.

The first item of interest I encountered was as I was getting into the Rockies.

That is the result of the Frank Slide. At 410am on April 29, 1903, the top of the mountain gave way and wiped out a good portion of the town of Frank, a small coal mining town. 70 people perished, either in their homes or in the mines. As you can see, lots of the rock debris made it to where the highway now runs. The photo above is looking left (south) from the highway.

That is how the highway appears now. They obviously had to clear rocks and boulders out of the way to build the road. And this is how it looks now if you look right from the highway:

You can see that with the momentum of the rockslide the debris traveled a significant distance.

OK – so now I’m back in the Rockies. You know what that means…. more mountains!

I believe the mountains above are part of the range I saw as I approached Cranbrook from the west. And I believe the mountains shown below are a little further north in that same mountain range.

OK, that wasn’t so bad was it?

I drove for about 2 1/2 more hours and then crossed a mountain pass which is about an hour and a half from Castlegar.

I believe that photo is dark because there were clouds right overhead shading the valley. It was a bright, sunny day everywhere else.

When I got to Castlegar I stopped in at the Visitor Centre again (I had stopped in briefly when I was coming east and decided that I liked the town enough to some back for a two-night stay).

That is a large metal sculpture of a hummingbird. It is a set-up for tomorrow’s post which will include lots more sculptures.

I did have time after I arrived in Castlegar to visit the “Brilliant Bridge”. Technically it is called the Doukhobor Suspension Bridge National Heritage Site of Canada, and is located in the neighborhood of Brilliant on the opposite side of the Columbia River from the town of Castlegar.

If you look closely at the original concrete stanchion you will see that the bridge was built in 1913.

The original bridge was abandoned in 1966 when a new highway bridge was built not far away. The bridge was restored in the early 1990’s and is now a pedestrian bridge, and a popular landmark in town.

The bridge spans the Upper Kootenay River shortly before it joins the Columbia River not far from here.

Getting back to the official name, the Doukhobors (the Canadian spelling, adding the letter ‘u’) immigrated from Russia to Canada in the early 1900’s. About 7,500 arrived in Canada over a 30 year period, seeking to escape religious persecution. They originally settled in Saskatchewan but later relocated here to British Columbia. (Source: Wikipedia)

There is a Doukhobor Heritage Centre in Castlegar but I didn’t go to it.

Lethbridge, Alberta

August 28, 2025

After having visited Waterton Lakes National Park yesterday I had returned to my Airbnb in Lethbridge to spend my first night here. Lethbridge is the 4th largest town in Alberta province with a population of just over 100,000. People who live here are called Lethbridgians or, are you ready for this, Lethbians.

Today first place I went was the Paradise Canyon Golf Course, as it was listed on TripAdvisor as being a good place for photo ops. Well, it is in a nice canyon but it is a golf course (duh) so I didn’t spend much time there.

Running alongside it, in this long coulee, is the Oldman River which you will hear more about in a moment.

My next stop was the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, which I had passed as I was driving into town yesterday.

No, that’s not a Japanese Darth Vader. It is authentic samurai armor.

After that I drove to the Helen Schuler Nature Centre. I was greeted by this sign:

Oki is an indigenous Blackfoot word meaning hello, or welcome.

Most of the displays in the Centre seemed to be targeted at kids, though there were numerous messages scattered about clearly directed at adults.

The building did have a rooftop deck which was promoted as having a variety of plants, but I can’t say as I was terribly impressed (they weren’t flowers so much as herbs and non-flowering plants). It did, however, give me a great view of another local landmark – the Lethbridge Viaduct, or as is called locally, the High Level Bridge. I had driven under it to get to the Nature Centre.

It was completed in 1909 by the Canada Pacific Railway and is the longest and highest railroad trestle in the world. It spans the Oldman River and reaches a maximum height of 314 feet. At 5,327 feet it is just over a mile long. It is still in use, and I did see a long train traveling over it later in the day.

I drove to a wetlands/nature preserve in another part of the coulee. I walked along a series of paths and on a pier-type walkway, hoping to see some critters but I did not. I then drove downtown as I had picked up a brochure touting a mural contest with some pretty clever entries, but it must have been dated as I only found one – painted on an electrical box in a big city park. The map I had showed lots more…

I got a little uncomfortable as there seemed to be lots of rough looking people hanging out in the park, and there was an obvious police presence, so I decided to go back to my Airbnb and do some trip planning. I had improvised visits to Medicine Hat and Castlegar (my next stop) but needed to look at my maps and plot out some more stops in British Columbia and Alberta and start planning my route to Alaska!

Waterton Lakes NP – Part 2 of 2

August 27, 2025

(Photo credit: Parks Canada)

After I arrived at the hamlet of Waterton Park I turned right onto Akamina Parkway to traverse the 10 miles out to Cameron Lake.

This is the part of our program where I tell you about the wildfire in 2017. It was started by lightning and began outside the Park but worked its way south and consumed roughly 39% of the trees in the Park.

There were several parking lots where visitors could leave their vehicles and hike. I finally arrived at Cameron Lake.

And looking left and right from the pier you can see the damage to the distant trees caused by the wildfire.

As you look straight out across the lake the mountain you see at the far end is actually in the United States, as is a small portion of the lake itself.

There was a large parking lot and a building where visitors could rent canoes and small boats to go out on the lake, and I imagine earlier in the summer swimming might be popular as well. There were rangers available to answer questions or give directions to visitors.

I stood and spoke with some of the other visitors before I left and was surprised to see a small deer calmly walk out of the lake:

I started driving back towards the village.

In the photo above you can see the Prince of Wales Hotel on the left, a small part of the village below and to the right, and parts of both Upper Waterton Lake (near) and Middle Waterton Lake (distance).

In the photo below you can see more of the village at the bottom of the frame and more of Upper Waterton Lake which continues south, well into the United States.

After descending down into the village I would start driving back towards the Park entrance, but encountered this lone bighorn sheep casually walking up the road before I got all the way down the hill.

There was no one behind me so I stopped in the road and put my hazard lights on. My next thought, after not wanting to get run into by another vehicle, was “do sheep with horns react to red cars like bulls might??”

Evidently not because he walked right past me without a care in the world.

When I got further up the road I turned left on Red Rock Parkway to check out that side of the Park. Some of the campgrounds and trails along that road were still closed as a result of the wildfire.

I must say I was very impressed with this Park and am glad some people convinced me it was worthwhile to visit after I had almost talked myself out of it.

Waterton Lakes NP – Part 1 of 2

August 27, 2025

I headed out early from Medicine Hat because I had a busy day ahead of me. My next stop would be Lethbridge, in southern Alberta, but today’s journey would take me well beyond that to Waterton Lakes National Park, in the southwest corner of Alberta, where it lies against the Canada/United States border. In fact, if you hike or travel across the border you will find yourself in Glacier National Park in Montana.

I have previously referred to this Park by two other names – just Waterton, though Lakes is technically part of the name, and Waterton Peace Park, which isn’t correct either. Within Waterton Lakes NP is the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a World Heritage site. All of that was kind of rattling around in my brain and I wish I had done my due diligence and researched the Peace Park part as I would have liked to go see it.

I came very close to not even visiting this Park at all. I knew it was here, and that I would pass by close to it, but several people along my route told me they didn’t think it was worth seeing. The consensus seemed to be “If you’ve seen the US Glacier NP (which I have) then there isn’t much to see at Waterton Lakes”. Now that I’ve been here I couldn’t disagree more, especially if you’re a hiker.

Getting to Lethbridge would take me a little less than two hours. I stopped for maps and brochures at the Visitor Centre and then set out for the Park, which would take me about an hour and a half more. I will go back to Lethbridge to spend the night, and will post photos from there tomorrow.

Getting to the Park would be a very pleasant drive on Hwy 5, through lots of farmland and small towns. I had been in relatively flat Saskatchewan and Alberta and would now be heading back into the southern tip of the Canadian Rockies.

It didn’t take long to start seeing big mountains ahead of me.

The mountains in the two photos above look very similar, but it appears that the two “pyramids” are now further away from the larger, “rectangular” mountain as I evidently had traveled further north and was now looking at them from a different angle. That is one thing that really plays games with my mind because as I drive the view of some mountains I see looks different as I get further down the road and pass by them.

Even after having been to the Park it is difficult for me to determine which of these mountains are in the United States and which are in Canada.

The small lake shown above is Maskinonge Lake, and is located at the point where Hwy 5 would turn left and become the access road into the Park itself. On the map below you will see the road I was coming in from on the right.

(Photo credit: Parks Canada)

The next lake I would see after the entry gate is Lower Waterton Lake:

And the next one would be Middle Waterton Lake:

Perched on the hill above this lake is the Prince of Wales Hotel:

I wasn’t allowed to park and get better pictures of the hotel from their parking lot because I was not staying there, but it is a very impressive building.

Shortly after that I came to a small hamlet of Waterton Park which apparently had about 200 private residences but seemed to be more about restaurants, hotels and gift shops. Hwy 5 ends in the village.

Photos of the rest of the National Park will continue in the next post.

Medicine Hat Curling Centre

August 26, 2025

On my second day in Medicine Hat I had an appointment downtown. I had tried to visit curling clubs in a few other towns in Canada but discovered most of them were not open in the summer (it IS a winter sport, JohnBoy…). Well after wasting time in Saskatoon driving to two different clubs I called ahead to see if the facility in Medicine Hat might be open. The phone was answered by the General Manager, Bryden Smith, who was in his office doing paperwork. He said I was welcome to come down and he would give me a personal tour!

It was in a large, ordinary building which I had actually driven past several times. I met him at the arranged time and the first thing he explained was that they were just now preparing to reopen the facility after it had been shut down for two years. Curling required a very precise surface and 2 years ago they had problems with the foundation under the “sheet,” or surface of the ice. They had to rip up the flooring and redo the foundation under it and were just getting ready to put down new equipment needed to maintain the ice surface.

Bryden took me to a second floor observation area overlooking where the sheets, or playing area, would be. There was a bar and restaurant along with tables for members and guests to gather. It also had an area for club trophies and photos.

The rolls you see above are made of flexible tubing which will cover the entire surface of the floor and will circulate a brine solution to freeze the water which is then sprayed on top of it. There will be 8 “sheets,” or lanes, used for competition. This facility used to have 12 sheets but with the problems that developed they decided to downsize to 8 and put up a wall to convert the other part of the building to a fitness center for the town.

Players glide stones, or “rocks” down the ice hoping to stop them in the center of the “house,” or target, at the other end of the sheet. Multiple rocks are thrown during an “end,” or inning, and strategy comes in to play as players try to knock their opponent’s rocks out of position or try to help move their own player’s rocks to better positions.

Rocks are made of granite and can weigh between 38 and 44 pounds. The handle is used to launch the rock and give it a subtle twist, or curl, just before releasing it. Each team uses a different color. Two players with brooms called “sweepers” accompany the rock towards it’s destination and, if needed, can use their brooms to try and influence the trajectory and speed of the rock (without touching it).

I believe it is a very misunderstood sport, and requires much practice and precision. Think of it as bowling, but with a heavier ball and a longer lane, and you need the ball to STOP where the 5-pin is. Oh, and all of this is done on ice. Players wear special shoes – one a “slider” which, as the name implies, enables them to slide on the ice, and the other, a “gripper” which gives them traction to change direction or stop.

Curling has it’s own vocabulary and there is MUCH more to it than I have tried to explain.

This facility has hosted provincial, national and international events.

There are special tools to shave the ice to precise specifications, and the brooms the “sweepers” use in competition MUST all have a standardized brush head that conforms to the rules. As with many sports, the equipment used is sometimes “tinkered with” to try and obtain a competitive edge but the organizers of professional competitions do their best to maintain a fair and level playing field.

Bryden spent a whole hour explaining everything to me and showing me around the facility, and I wish I had taken much better notes. He used to compete, and is obviously eager to get others interested and make sure they have a great facility to practice their skills and enjoy the camaraderie.

Here is a photo of their new and improved playing area:

(Photo credit: Tourism Medicine Hat)

Later in my trip I will actually be able to go to a local curling club, as my Airbnb hostess in that town plays in a league and had a match the night I was there. From the moment the first player launched the rock towards the house it was clear that this game is a lot harder than it looks!

Medicine Hat, Alberta

August 25, 2025

It was time to bid Saskatchewan a fond adieu and head back to Alberta province. Google Maps told me it would be a 4 3/4 hour drive southwest to Medicine Hat, just across the provincial border. I had stopped there briefly on my way to Moose Jaw and decided I would go back and spend more time there.

The trip consisted mostly of driving through open farmland. One place I noticed a pattern in a field which reminded me of similar sights elsewhere.

I had previously attributed the color pattern to different crops but I now wonder if it was crops and dirt (though the dirt here seemed freshly tilled).

It was an uneventful drive to Medicine Hat.

I went down to a city park near the river and found a man ready to go out on a paddleboard with his dog.

The dog was obviously ready to go.

I drove across town to the Big Marble Go Centre, a large multi-purpose complex with both indoor and outdoor activities.

There were some squared off spaces between the wall pillars and each had a unique wrought iron scene depicting life and industry in the area.

And atop the building was this back-lit bird.

There were pickleball and tennis courts outside, as well as numerous fields for sports activities.

Inside was a whole host of activities, from an ice rink, aquatic center and indoor courts which could be transformed for various uses.

They even had a climbing wall, though it was more for kids than adults.

And I found this to be an interesting idea:

On my way to The Go Centre I noticed another sports facility for kids and adults alike.

I also spotted a nice church near town. I am often impressed by religious buildings as they are generally well designed and maintained.

I decided to treat myself to a beer after my long travel day. I selected a place that was listed in TripAdvisor and they offered an alcoholic root beer on their menu which sounded interesting. I was disappointed to learn that they were out of it so I “had” to settle for a regular brew. And they didn’t even have any bar food to offer – only chips.

And as I was leaving I saw a sign giving a possible reason for the scant offerings:

Yikes! A 4 hour window. Well better that going out of business altogether, I suppose.

My 2nd day in Saskatoon

August 24, 2025

The first thing I did on my second day in town was go to the Remai Modern Art Museum. It was one the few things I could find open on a Sunday. When I went inside the lobby there were perhaps hundreds of suncatchers hanging down from the second floor ceiling.

Some of them were attached to motors which caused them to slowly spin in place and their reflective surfaces would create flashes of light. The others were just hanging and would occasionally move slightly just based on air movement.

Frankly I wasn’t too impressed with the museum itself (I am a big fan of modern art and I think this is the first time I left a museum truly disappointed). I did spend some time up on the second floor speaking with a woman who worked at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, located in the northeast part of town. She and another volunteer had on colorful Ukrainian garb and were there to encourage kids to draw colorful pictures.

First, she informed me that the museum itself was closed today. That was on my agenda for later in the day but since she works there I took her word for it. She did tell me about another Ukrainian Heritage Site near Edmonton, which I would be close to later in my trip. Unfortunately that turned out to be a disappointment too as I learned when researching it later that they had lost their main building in a wildfire earlier in the year and the whole place was shut down indefinitely.

I have noticed lots of Ukrainian flags as I have driven around all three provinces I have visited and can only surmise that people from Ukraine have come to Canada to run farms, or otherwise live and work in Canada. Agriculture is a big part of their upbringing and I’m sure they sought a more peaceful place to apply their skills and raise their families. I am sure they have other talents as well and now work to support their local communities here.

It was a nice day and I spent some time down by the river and in some of the many parks located around town. The South Saskatchewan River runs past the city and there is a long park along its banks which was a very pleasant place to spend some time.

South of town I found this elaborate pagoda.

Even the inside had lots of fine detail.

Next I set off to find two curling establishments.

Unfortunately it, too, was closed. I then went to the second one.

It was not open either, and a large sign outside indicated that leagues would start in mid-September (I was here in late August).

I am making this post on the day of the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Italy. I already have my Roku device set to record some of the curling events. You will see more about curling at my next stop.

I drove back into town to walk around the city. I found this custom car parked in front of the hotel that had supplied me with a city map.

It did not have a license plate so I can only surmise that it was brought here on a trailer – perhaps for some kind of custom car show. It was a very interesting vehicle.

Regina to Saskatoon

August 23, 2025

The wind and rain in Regina had moved out overnight so I had a nice sunny day to drive the 2 1/2 hours northwest to Saskatoon. I was surprised to learn that it is the largest city in the province, with a population of over 320,000.

I drove there on Highway 11 and there was not much to see besides flat farmland and a couple of small towns along the way. There was very little traffic and it was a pleasant drive.

I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye and I turned around to go back. This is one way to block unwanted traffic from your property:

When driving through farmland like this it is not uncommon to find these in small towns which are located along railroad tracks:

That is a much smaller version of a grain elevator, allowing local farmers to store their crops for transport by train to larger elevators elsewhere, and eventually to processing plants.

I spotted something else along the highway as I continued to drive northwest:

That hollow outline of a bison wasn’t very big. I practically had to get down on my hands and knees to get the desired effect of the blue shy behind it.

When I have driven through farmland in the US it is also not uncommon to find family farms with interesting names.

Kind of hard to read but the name on the barn is Riskan Hope Farm. I’m sure a lot of farmers would agree with than phrase.

As I approached a lake next to the highway I saw a large white spot down near the water. I turned around and went back, turning in on an access road, and sure enough – it was a large flock of white pelicans, along with cormorants and ducks.

I’ve made posts about white pelicans in the past when I was in Colorado. They are huge birds, much larger than brown pelicans, and they behave differently.

I stayed where I was for quite a while and occasionally one would walk out in the shallow water, turn right, stop, and then take flight. It was almost like a jet taxiing onto a runway and getting permission to take off.

It happened several times while I was there.

I continued on up the road and stopped again when I saw signs directing me to Saskatchewan International Raceway. I am a race fan but am not that familiar with tracks in Canada and certainly didn’t expect to find one with a lofty name like that in Saskatchewan. I pulled in and explained that I just wanted to go in and take a few pictures. It was a Saturday and it was obvious from the number and types of vehicles in the parking lot that something was going on.

Turns out it is a sanctioned IHRA (International Hot Rod Association) 1/4 mile dragstrip.

I finally arrived in Saskatoon and was kind of surprised to find a large, modern town (I hadn’t looked up the population before I got here).

There were two huge murals right next to each other as I crossed a bridge into the downtown area.

The red lily is the official flower of Saskatchewan.

I parked the car so I could walk around town a bit. I went to the Visitor Centre only to learn that it is closed on Saturdays (I’ve never understood that). I was able to get a city map in one of the big hotels in town.

That is the view from the bridge I crossed coming into town.

I saw a sign somewhere along the way advertising a racetrack a few miles north of town. Sure enough, there would be a race at 5pm so I headed that way to check it out.

That is the Southerland Automotive Speedway (sponsored by a local car dealer) and is a 1/3 mile, paved oval with a seating capacity of a little over 3,300.

Afterwards, I drove back into town and had dinner. My Airbnb was in a nice residential neighborhood. The couple that lives there was away but had given me access to the basement apartment while they were gone. I headed there to make a plan for the next day.