Tag: travel

Regina, Saskatchewan

August 21, 2025

After my stay in Moose Jaw I would drive about 50 miles east to Regina (pronounced rej-EYE-na), the capital of the province and it’s second largest city. But first, the view from my bedroom window when I woke up before sunrise:

Kind of hard to see in a photograph but the crescent moon is in the bottom center and above and to the right are two planets (I don’t recall which ones).

I drove over to Regina and the first thing I saw when I arrived in town was Mosaic Stadium, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders football team.

Next I drove downtown to, where else, the Visitor Centre. Frankly I was surprised that about all they had there was a map of the city.

I drove back to the stadium to get a closer look. Outside were three flags.

On the right, the British Flag, on the left the Canadian flag and in the center the Saskatchewan provincial flag.

Next to the stadium was Confederation Park, a small, grassy fenced in area with several benches and tables. There was also a display of indigenous art:

Next to the park and the stadium was the convention center, and in the parking lot a group called Cirque Italia (Water Circus) was setting up a large performance tent:

It was a nice day so I drove back downtown and walked to several city parks. In one of them I saw an enormous jackrabbit (technically a hare).

I could tell he was big (he reminded me of my cat, Bigfoot, who weighed 16 pounds). Well, jackrabbits don’t get THAT big but his back legs were long and when he got moving he could really make tracks. I saw another one in another part of town.

The next day I had to do laundry. The Airbnb I was staying in had a combination washer/dryer – something I had never seen before. I don’t know what the attraction was, other than taking up less space, but it took FOREVER.

I had done some research overnight and decided to go to two government buildings – The Legislative Building and Government House.

That is the Legislative Building, looking back from the gardens in front of it. And this is the view from the front of the building looking towards downtown.

And the statue of the horse and rider you can see in both photos is Queen Elizabeth II, riding her favorite horse – Burmese.

In another part of town I found Government House.

It is the official residence of the Lieutenant (pronounced Left-tenant in Canada) Governor of Saskatchewan, who is the Crown’s representative.

The weather was going downhill and I had a driving day the next day so I went back to my Airbnb to get my clean clothes out to the car and rest up a bit.

My day in Moose Jaw

August 20, 2025

It took all day to get here and I arrived just before nightfall so I spent the next day exploring Moose Jaw. As I often do, I started at the Visitor Centre.

Above is a version of the Snowbirds jet. The Snowbirds are Canada’s precision flying team (like the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels in the US). They are based at CFB Moose Jaw, a large military base a few miles south of town. Moose Jaw has a reputation for clear weather in the summer so it is a perfect training ground for pilots to practice their skills.

And that is Mac the Moose, here for obvious reasons.

When I went inside I was greeted by a more lively mascot of sorts. Say hello to Cheese the cat.

Get it? Mac and Cheese?

This was one of the displays in the Visitor Centre.

It promotes a tour of real tunnels underneath the city. There are two theories for the existence of these tunnels. One is that they housed Chinese-Canadians who were forced to live underground. There is no real proof of that but is there is documentation for Chinese business owners having lived here many years ago.

The second theory is more widely embraced. Chicago mob boss Al Capone is alleged to have used the tunnels for hiding alcohol, prostitutes and promoting gambling here during Prohibition. Again, no documented proof of that but it has kind of taken on a life of its own. Many of my Airbnb hosts thus far have mentioned it if I told them that I was planning to come here.

Other displays featured the importance of the railroad (two different national rail lines pass through here), agriculture in the community, and promoted various sports teams, notably the Moose Jaw Warriors hockey team.

And of course, the Snowbirds.

Note that the Snowbirds logo is featured on the hockey player’s uniform above, as is part of their logo as well.

Moose Jaw is a nice town of a little more than 33,000 people and it seems to have held that level for at least 10 years. It is the 4th largest city in Saskatchewan. People who live here are called Moose Javians. Seriously. Betcha didn’t know that! (Don’t feel bad, I didn’t either).

As I stated earlier, it has embraced the urban legend of Al Capone having a connection to the town, and calls itself “Canada’s Most Notorious City”.

I went to the Temple Gardens Arena in town as it was listed as the location of the Moose Jaw Curling Centre. The day I was there, however, it appeared to be set up for hockey.

Moose Jaw did host the 2025 World Men’s Curling Championship, as well as the 2023 World Para Ice Hockey Championship, in this multi-use arena.

As I was driving back to my Airbnb (one of the nicest one’s I have stayed in) I drove through this coulee a short distance from the house.

A coulee is a French-Canadian term for a valley or depression. After my hostess explained that I realized I have driven through lots of them. Those photos are looking left and right from the lowest point on the, otherwise level, road.

Calgary, AB to Moose Jaw, SK

August 19, 2025

Today would be a driving day. I would be traveling from NW of Calgary, near the western edge of southern Alberta province (though it is relatively narrow at the south end), to Moose Jaw, in south-central Saskatchewan province, which is much wider. Google Maps said it would take about 6 3/4 hours without stops, and would be all 4-lane highway. I don’t call it the dreaded interstate because I am in Canada. If anything it would be interprovince, but the highways up here have treated me very well so I have no reason to attach the “dreaded” moniker to them.

This going to sound crazy but I have wanted to go to Moose Jaw since 1977, when the movie Slapshot came out. It was about a fictional minor league hockey team with a bunch of misfit players, and included, what some might call above average hockey rough play which really drew attention to the team. It included the three Hanson brothers and another player whose name I don’t recall. At some point in the movie the fact that the brothers were from Moose Jaw and the other from Saskatoon (or vice versa) was mentioned. Ever since then I have wanted to go to those two places.

This was the view out my bedroom window during the night near Calgary- the moon and two planets.

When my Airbnb hosts in Golden and Canmore learned of my plan to go to Saskatchewan they told me – be prepared for prairie and farmland. Once you get out of the Rockies it will be flat as can be. No worries – the same is true in the US.

Not a mountain in sight.

I stopped for lunch in Medicine Hat, AB, which was about halfway to my destination. The first thing I saw before I got off the highway was the World’s Largest Teepee.

Well, maybe not authentic but it makes a good photo op. There was some indigenous artwork on display.

I stopped at the nearby Visitor Centre for maps and brochures and had a nice conversation with one of the workers there. He convinced me that there was enough here to see that I would add it to my itinerary later in the trip. Because of the possible air quality issues I had downsized my original plan which had included a stop in Medicine Hat.

I had learned of a small racetrack and r/c aircraft flying field north of town and set out to check them out quickly before I got back on the road. Before I got there I saw a sign indicating that neighboring Redcliff, Alberta is the Greenhouse Capital of the Prairies.

I found both the racetrack and the r/c flying field right next to each other but both were closed on the day I was there.

Spectators Welcome so long as there is someone here! I won’t even post a photo of the race track since I couldn’t get very close. For those of you that don’t know me, car racing is one of my interests, and I used to fly r/c helicopters for a few years and always stop in if I see a flying field somewhere.

I also learned that Medicine Hat is nicknamed “Gas City” because of an abundance of natural gas underground, and I passed a few businesses which process it for transportation by rail.

As soon as I crossed into Saskatchewan I started to see evidence that it was, in fact, largely farmland.

Huge silos and grain elevators. And to give you an idea how big this one is, here is a photo with vehicles parked next to it (way down in the lower left hand corner).

Further up the road, another one:

Before I got to Moose Jaw I came to a large lake and noticed a raised observation platform:

The signage indicated that Reed Lake is a seasonal stopover for migratory birds. It is the second largest saline inland water body in Canada.

When I finally arrived in Moose Jaw I discovered that one can even get poutine at McDonald’s in Canada.

Poutine is basically french fries covered with cheese curds and brown gravy. I tried it a few years ago when I was in Quebec (where it originated) but it is not something I should really be eating…

I arrived at my Airbnb in Moose Jaw in the early evening. It was located several miles out in the country south of town, and I was treated to a magnificent sunset and, looking in another direction, storm clouds. It had been a beautiful day but storms were moving into the area. They basically went around us but because of the flat terrain I could see storms far away from where I was.

My second day in and around Calgary

August 18, 2025

The next day I drove south around the west side of town to visit the small town of Okotoks, which is about 45 minutes south of downtown Calgary. I wanted to see the “Big Rock”.

It’s actually 2 big rocks and many smaller ones. The proper name of this site is Okotoks Erratic and these rocks, many of which have drawings or carvings, have deep cultural and ceremonial significance to the local indigenous peoples. It sits a short distance off the road with a gravel path leading to it and around it. There is also a perimeter fence around it which is not to be crossed.

As I was driving back north I stopped in town for coffee and saw this deer casually eating grass right next to the street, seemingly without a care in the world.

When I got back to Calgary I, again, went around the west side to stop at a place I had seen on the way to Okotoks. Several facilities at the site of the 1988 Winter Olympics which were held in Calgary (remember Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team?).

The biggest building at the site is called Winsport, and is a multipurpose sports and training facility for Canada’s Olympic athletes. They also maintain many of the facilities constructed for the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Behind it is the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame.

Also nearby was a building for the gymnastics team. And yes, they do have the original Jamaican bobsled (in Canada they call it a bobsleigh) used in the 1993 movie “Cool Runnings”.

The things that drew my attention from the highway were the three Olympic ski jumps.

After I finished taking photos at Winsport I drove back downtown. I went to a place called Devonian Gardens, which is a large atrium high atop one of the buildings. The plants alone didn’t really do much for me but I was intrigued by a display of wooden masks by artist Tom Ward.

And as I was walking around downtown I figured I’d better get a shot of the Calgary Tower, shaped to resemble the torch for the Olympic games.

It has kind of been dwarfed by many taller buildings downtown but as I was driving past Calgary later in my trip I noticed that looking towards town from the southeast is does stand out pretty well (though I was on a multi-lane highway and couldn’t stop to take a picture).

My last stop downtown was the Wonderland Sculpture.

I wanted to go inside it and try taking a photo looking out but as you can see there was someone working there and had it cordoned off so I was unable to do so.

Calgary, Alberta

August 17, 2025

Today I would be driving east, away from the Canadian Rockies, to Calgary. Rather than take the Trans Canada Highway I decided to take a smaller road which roughly parallels it.

One of my first stops was at a lake where there was a river rafting launch point. I arrived there as the rafters were arriving for their orientation but I was on the east side of a lake, and not the river itself. Looking behind me it was still partly to mostly cloudy but ahead of me were bright blue skies which were welcome after the past two rainy days.

The group wasn’t quite ready to go so I proceeded to drive further east. I came to this rodeo facility not far from the lake. This was the first indoor rodeo venue I have seen, but I know there are many others which sometimes host large, professional competitions.

Further up the road I came to another, larger lake although the signage there indicated it was a reservoir called Ghost Lake.

When I got to the first town on this route I turned off the highway to find a car wash and passed by this Mexican restaurant.

Their motto: Fiesta, Siesta, Tequila, Repeat. Sounds good to me but they weren’t open yet.

One of the reasons I traveled on this road was to make sure I knew where my Airbnb for the next two nights was located. It had a very rural address and I wasn’t sure my GPS would be able to find it. I ended up trying the “Get Directions” function on the Airbnb app and it took me right to it.

I was now northwest of the city so after getting gas I decided it was time to brave going downtown. It was after morning rush hour and the roads were pretty much clear of traffic so I got there with no problem. My first stop was the library, which is in a very modern building.

As I walked up the steps to the main entrance there were some oversized games set up for kids, and others, to play.

I went to the library because that is where the Visitor Centre is located. This was looking up inside the building:

I got some maps and spoke with the two people working there who suggested some specific things to see in the city. Outside the building were several large art pieces which resembled the “bobbing head” science teaching tool.

They did move with the wind but were restricted from coming too far down.

I drove to a modern art museum they had suggested. It was kind of a mix of museum and office building, but it covered three floors and had some interesting things to see.

This is a closeup of how the third piece was constructed:

Back to Banff – Post 2 of 2

August 16, 2025

This is part of the downtown shopping area in Banff:

I drove to a viewpoint called “Surprise Corner,” located along the Bow River across from the big Fairmont hotel. I parked in a small parking area and carefully walked down a rocky, muddy path to where I thought I could see the hotel. Well, the viewing opportunities from that low vantage point were not good at all.

Disappointed, I carefully walked back UP the rocky, muddy path to where I had parked my car, only to find a spiffy new viewing deck across the road!

It was above the hill to my left as I drove up to the parking lot for the old trail.

Surprise!!

THAT is the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel.

Next I drove out Tunnel Mountain Road. I showed you a photo of Tunnel Mountain in the previous post. Tunnel Mountain Road goes around it, not through it. It would take me away from town and to several viewpoints and trails.

The first stop I came to provides a great view of Mount Rundle.

Hard to see from this distance, but there are three distinct “layers” of different kinds of rock, formed over millions of years.

Here are the famous Canadian National Park “red chairs” which are strategically placed through Parks for residents and tourists alike to sit and take some time to soak in and enjoy what there are seeing.

Further up Tunnel Mountain Road I found another viewpoint and trail which would lead me to some “hoodoos,” or natural stone pillars. They are at the bottom of the 3rd photo below, and I could only see the two of them. Sorry, Banff, but after seeing whole National and State Parks with hoodoos in the western US, I can’t say that I was terribly impressed.

It did make a nice photo, though, with them in the foreground, the Bow River in the center and the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel in the distance.

It was still raining and more tour buses and RV’s were starting to arrive in town so I thought I would try my luck across the Trans Canada Highway and up over a mountain to visit Lake Minnewanka.

Back to Banff – Post 1 of 2

August 16, 2025

Yesterday it rained a good bit and I stayed put in Canmore. Before leaving Durham I had booked all of my Airbnb’s through and including Canmore. I now needed to make a decision about going further east, away from the Canadian Rockies.

The largest wildfire in Canada in 2025 was in Manitoba province, which I was not planning to visit. I did, however, want to go further into Alberta province, and then continue east into Saskatchewan. They, too, were battling wildfires, mainly in the northern parts of their provinces. I was monitoring both the wildfires themselves and what the air quality in and between the towns I wanted to stay in was doing. I decided that with one exception, I would go ahead and book stays in several towns that I originally planned to visit. I cut down on the number of nights and went ahead and made reservations. I did not go to northern Saskatchewan (Prince Albert National Park) because the ongoing fire near there was still burning and the air quality was not good. The air quality in the other towns had improved from unhealthy to acceptable, though some smoke would catch up with me later in my trip.

Having done that, today I drove back up to Banff. The rain was still in the area but it was not a washout. Light rain continued off and on all day but I tried to get out and see more of Banff. I drove up high above town to where the Banff Upper Hot Springs are, as well as the Banff Gondola. I could not drive all the way to the Hot Springs because I didn’t have a reservation there. The Gondola was not yet open, and given the cloud cover I wasn’t optimistic that I would see anything from it anyway. As I started driving back down into town I saw a lone cow moose walking along the road. She turned to walk up into the woods but I was able to take some pictures of her.

I continued on down the hill and parked at the Cascade of Time Garden. It is behind a big building which I believe is used for Park Administration.

That is the view from the front of the building looking across the bridge over the Bow River and down Banff Avenue, the “main street” of Banff. The mountain in the distance is Tunnel Mountain.

This is yet another marmot. I spotted it as I walked around to the front of the building. I stood very still after he ducked down into a hole near the sidewalk and after a short wait he reappeared.

I figured I’d leave him alone and walked down to the very front of the property to take a photo of the building.

About this time I saw a large tour bus pull in and start unloading passengers. I walked back up to where I had seen the marmot and he was still there, roaming amongst the flowers.

I went back to my car and drove to the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. I had to park on the street behind the hotel and managed to find a way up a set of stairs on the side of it. I couldn’t get a good shot of the hotel itself as I was too close to it, and I would have needed a key card to open any of the entrance doors.

I knew I would be able to take a good picture of the front from one of my next stops so I walked back to my car and drove downtown.

Kananaskis Country – Post 2 of 3

August 14, 2025

I didn’t mention in the first post that Kananaskis Country is big. It covers over 1,500 square miles, larger than four of the six National Parks I visited while based in Golden. Lots provincial parks, rivers, hiking trails, lakes (large and small) and other publicly accessible areas.

Here are more things I saw as I started driving back from the southern end.

At one point I was pretty sure I saw a marmot run across the road. There was a small park nearby so I pulled off the road, parked and waited. Sure enough two them came out of their burrows and looked around.

The small marmot above is acting as a sentry. I had quickly pulled off parallel to the road near the entrance to a parking area and when I stopped I realized it was right in front of my car (like only a few feet away) looking right at me. He never flinched. The only time he moved was when I got out of the car with my camera, at which point he ran back to shelter to alert his friends (which he would have already done audibly). I waited, trying to hide behind the stop sign post, and in a short while he came right back out and resumed him position (I had pulled my car back into the parking area by then).

It was the same thing the first set of marmots I saw were doing. Looking for danger so they can alert others.

This what I had stopped to take a picture of:

This is a sign I have started to see more and more often. I don’t really understand the significance of it, as the intersection I ultimately encounter doesn’t seem to be any different than other intersection.

Just another Canadian thing, I guess…

Kananaskis Country – Post 1 of 3

August 14, 2025

After reviewing literature I picked up while visiting Banff and Canmore I decided to drive down to an area called Kananaskis Country. To get there I would drive 19 miles south and east on Canmore on the Trans Canada Highway and then turn south on Hwy 40. Kananaskis (pronounced cannon-ASK-iss) Country is accessed via a nice, two lane scenic drive through some beautiful countryside.

One of the first things I noticed as I started driving south was the presence of cattleguards in the road (in Canada they call them Texas Gates).

I see them lots of places but hadn’t really noticed them in Canada until now. They keep cattle from leaving areas where farmers or ranchers would like them to stay by creating slots which their hooves would drop into, thereby preventing them from getting by. They are generally accompanied by signs warning drivers of “Free Range” animals ahead. In this case, cattle are allowed to cross the main road to get to fields or pastures on the other side but are prevented from getting too far on the road itself.

While I was now in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies there were still sizeable mountains along my route. There were some low clouds as I drove south but they would lift later in the day. Once again, many of the mountains were different in appearance than others I have seen Canada.

Can you say moo? This is a prime example of what I was talking about earlier. There were no cattleguards preventing these cows from getting up to the main road but there were some going north and south from here to prevent them from walking off.

This was taken from a rise in the road looking back the way I came. You can see it was still overcast up by the TCH but it was getting sunnier where I was headed. I would drive about 40 miles south before turning around to go back.

These were taken at the point where I decided to start back. It was near a small town which I can’t even find on the map. There were lots of stuffed animals, painted white or faded by the sun, attached to the fenceposts near the road.

There was a sign nearby for Bearspaw Nation, which is made up of several indigenous tribes in the area. These animals are generally a memorial to children of indigenous tribes who died in residential schools, apparently a big problem years ago in Canada and perhaps elsewhere. In some cases they are memorials to children killed in accidents or by illness.

I turned around and started heading north. Guess what I found in the road, right around the same place as I saw them before?

I’ve been telling people who ask about how many and what types of animals I have seen during my trip that I have undoubtedly seen more cows in the road (not only here but elsewhere) than anything else. Eagles and moose are probably next, and after that the numbers are very small.

The first photo of the cows was taken at 1117am. The photo above was taken two hours later. I don’t know for a fact but I am pretty sure they are the same cows. I also saw groups of cows resting in the grassy areas next to the road.

Canmore, Alberta

August 13, 2025

I drove south 20 miles from the town of Banff to the town of Canmore, about triple the side of Banff with a permanent population of around 16,000. Canmore is just outside the southern end of Banff National Park. Golden and Canmore were, by far, the most expensive Airbnb’s on my trip but they are both close to the places people want to be and can command higher prices. Staying in Banff proper would have cost even more…

I went downtown and parked and found that I was in a very nice little town that didn’t feel as congested as Banff. They also had a few blocks of their downtown area blocked off to traffic to form a pedestrian mall of sorts. I walked around and went in a few shops and immediately felt at ease. I also noticed that no matter which direction I looked I could see mountains.

I walked a short distance to a town park located along the Bow River.

Before I checked in at my Airbnb I decided to go to the library to print some documents from my computer. What I found there was totally unexpected.

A multi-story climbing wall! The library is located inside the Elevation Place Recreation Centre which also features a fitness gym, an aquatic centre and an art gallery! The climbing walls seemed to be the most popular and there were not only adults but also some rather young, but fearless, children.

Some of the walls go as high as 45 feet and the are some much lower ones which arced out to give an additional challenge to the climbers (not shown).

I stood for quite a while in the entrance area and marveled at the ability of the climbers. I even went back on another day to watch some more as I found it fascinating.