Finally! Back on the Road
Trip Start
May 11, 2008
1
5
19
Trip End
May 24, 2008
Medicine Hat,
Alberta,
Canada
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Before starting this leg of our journey we had the better part of a day to spend in Regina as we waited for car parts to arrive from Edmonton. So we took in the parliament buildings and parklands around it - beautiful! And it was a nice warm day today so plenty of people were also out enjoying the park. We also went on a postcard hunt - they sure are hard to find! - my mom likes getting them when her family is out travelling
Saskatchewan Parliament Buildings, Regina
. Finally found some in Chapters. After that we drove (all this in a rented Hyundai Elantra) over to check out the University of Regina. Looks nice. About the same size as Lakehead University. We also had a a quick lunch at Earl's before heading back to the Mitsibushi dealership. Once we had our own car back we made a quick stop at Starbucks for a carmel machiato for N and a skinny vanilla latte for me. Boy... getting back in your own vehicle is like finally getting to sleep in your own bed after sleeping in hotel beds!The drive from Regina to Medicine Hat was a first for N. I have done it 3 times before. Nonetheless, I still liked it... the scenery is so different from Northwestern Ontario. It was very windy today and we kept seeing/driving into dust storms. Sure made it easy to visual what the 1930s must have been like! Between Moose Jaw and Swift Current the salt (actually sodium sulfate) flats have really dried out since I last saw them about 5 years ago. And the strong winds had whipped up clouds of salt.
We finally crossed over into Alberta about 7:30 pm (Alberta time) and reached Medicine Hat shortly after 8. Checked into another Best Western. Nice. Once we were settled we walked across the parking lot to Tumbleweed's Restaurant for some Alberta Beef
statue of Queen Elizabeth
. Our steaks were melt-in-your mouth good! The table behind us held 3 guys (in leather baseball caps/vests -biker fashions) and biker-chick-look-alikes. Just as we were finishing our meal, one of the guys got up and went into the corner where a piano stood. He opened it up, sat down, and let into some great boogie-woogie piano tunes! The waitress said he just shows up every once in a while and likes to play. We were really impressed! This was no playing with piano stuff.. the guy knew what he was doing, some of the arrangements quite complicated! A real treat. Well, now its off to bed so we can get an early start - I have never been south of the Trans Canada so I am looking forward to the trip.
