We are now in Regina, using the free wifi at McDonalds.  We were delayed leaving Saskatoon by a day due to tornado warnings and very high winds across the province.  A tree broke in half in our friend's back yard and there were some interesting clouds during the storm.  After the storm was over the next day, we drove to Moose Jaw where we stayed with my second cousin and learned more about the history of the Hilton family, both early days on the prairies and back in England in the 1800s - that is my Dad's family. The sun came out and we enjoyed a tour of Moose Jaw's highlights with my cousins and their granddaughters (6 and 9 - lovely girls).   We visited a burrowing owl centre before leaving Moose Jaw this morning - those little owls are just tooooo cute!

Today we drove to Regina, via Rouleau. Those of you who watch Corner Gas may recognize the name as the town where the series is filmed.  It is one of Shon's favourite shows and it was neat to see the buildings as they are in the tv series --  photo in different post due to technical difficulties (-:

from Regina

 I am not sure just what is happening.  This photo was supposed to be the end of my post but the rest seems to have disappeared!  I will hit publish and see if the rest of the post appears. If not, I shall have to rewrite it.  This is a photo of the Corner Gas tv series set in Rouleau, SK - called Dog River in the series.

And a couple of Saskatchewan photos. Loved this t-shirt at the Welcome to Saskatchewan center and the reading lesson in the classroom at a museum in Battleford.  The bottom photo is a view from North Battleford to Battleford, showing the lush North Sask. River valley.

Saskatoon's weir. They have a 10+ km trail along the river.  Great for walks or bike riding!

Evening storm over Redberry Lake, SK.  There is a pelican nesting site nearby so we enjoyed watching the white pelicans here.

Summer has arrived in Saskatoon and so have we!  It was 25C yesterday and quite humid - awesome thunderstorm late last night!  We are staying with our friend's cousins here - lovely, friendly, welcoming people!!  So far, we are impressed with Saskatoon for its wonderful riverside trail - so much green in the city!   Today we plan to take in a free noonhour jazz concert downtown - may ride our bikes in if more thunderstorms don't appear.
History, culture, scenery - we are enjoying it all on the prairies.  In the Battlefords, we took in the Allan Sapp Gallery (a well known Cree painter) and Fort Battleford Nat'l Historic Park while appreciating the views from North Battleford to Battleford across the green North Sask. River Valley.  As we drive through the prairies, we are amazed by how green everything is at this time of year and by how many lakes, ponds, sloughs, and water-filled field depressions there are - water everywhere!
I will add some photos from as far back as Elk Island and up to Saskatoon to catch up on the visuals from our trip.

Our trail friend - okay, so we weren't this close to him on the trail but this was probably the same one. We took this from the truck as he grazed roadside.

Shon's grandpa had a buffalo (bison) coat like this one from his early days on the prairies.

We found Shon's mom's father's name (Andruchow) as well as her mother's family name (Halkow) on the plaques at the Ukrainian Heritage Village.  Families listed were all early settlers to the east central area of Alberta around the turn of the century.  Canada gave 'free' land (for a $10 fee) to prairie settlers from 1896-1914 so many Canadians can trace their family histories to that period of immigration - including both of my parents and both of Shon's.

An example of an early Ukrainian settler's home.  Often familes lived in such homes for a year or so until they could build a regular home.  The interpreter on the left is actually a Ukrainian girl working here for the summer so her role playing as an early settler came with a very convincing accent!

Here we are in Vegreville, Alberta, home of the  world’s largest Ukrainian Easter egg.  It is right beside the city campground where we are staying.  Three times each summer, their main street is closed for a large market and one of them is tomorrow morning so we plan to bike over there and check it out.  We also want to hit the butcher shop that makes homemade Ukrainian sausage.  

We really enjoyed our time at Elk Island National Park, which is known for its bison (wood and plains) herds and its elk.  We saw the bison but not the elk –  in fact, we came face to face with a bison on a trail.  He did not seem interested in us but we turned and walked quickly back the way we had come!  We canoed on a beautiful lake with plentiful waterfowl, including a flock of white pelicans and took short walks on a few trails – loved the sunset over the lake and enjoyed watching a beaver’s wake as it swam across a pond to its lodge.  This morning, we played 9 holes of golf on the park’s course, first opened in 1936. After lunch at the clubhouse, we drove east a short ways to the Ukrainian Heritage Cultural Center (or some such name).  It is a group of buildings brought from around the region to celebrate the large Ukrainian pioneer community in east central Alberta – which included Shon’s mother’s family who settled in nearby Smoky Lake, AB.

Too many mosquitoes to write more tonight – hope to post this tomorrow at McD’s here in town before we move on to Saskatchewan.  

Next afternoon in Lloydminster – the only town in two provinces as the border goes right through town.  We haven’t seen that yet as we just pulled into the McD’s at Walmart to access free wifi.  The market in Vegreville was a disappointment as there were no produce stands, mostly merchandise like Tupperware, Watkins, Pampered Chef, etc.  We did find the butcher shop though!  The countryside east of Elk Island to here has been beautiful with very green rolling hills and numerous ponds – 4 lane all the way.   Gas mileage has been the same as on the Coquihalla Connector though – surprising to us but maybe the wind???

No photos this time as I haven't downloaded the cameras lately.

Hugs to Neko - hope you are feeling better and enjoyed the camping (you, too, Kynnan) and hugs to Mike - hope your nurse is taking good care of you.

jasper highlights

We are now in Edmonton - loved Jasper with its spectacular scenery and abundant - lived up to its advertising!  Yesterday, we drove the 48 km to Maligne Lake, stopping en route to see beautiful Medicine Lake (the disappearing lake because the water drains out like a bathtub by fall) and the Maligne Canyon with its sheer walls and rushing water!  Also saw elk, bear, bighorn sheep - all with young - and a bull elk by itself.  This morning we drove into the Miette Hotsprings for a soak before our drive here.  No more talk - photos say it better in this case.

jasper

I am sitting at the Bear Paw cafe in Jasper while Shon is swimming at the local aquatic centre.  A beautiful sunny morninng (not in the forecast) so I rode from the campsite into town.  The views around here are lovely with so many turquoise lakes and snowy mountains.  It is elk calving time so lots of warning signs about agressive moms protecting their calves.  We have seen quite a few females in and around the area, including in the campground but none with calves - until I saw a herd of elk crossing the highway as I rode into town.  They were about 100 metres away but I did see a few calves.  No moose or bear sightings yet but lots of squirrels and ground squirrels scampering around the picnic table.  Later today we will drive to see Maligne Canyon and Maligne Lake, maybe even put the canoe in if it is not windy. 
We camped at Valemount the first night then drove the short distance to Mt. Robson on Sat.  Never did see the peak of Robson but did have a lovely hike there that afternoon - after a downpour abated. Our destination was the Overlander Falls where I was surprised to see a photo of Catherine (Carolyn?) Schubert, one of Vernon's pioneers and the only woman in the Overlander expedition in 1862, a group who figured they could make it to the gold fields by land, not ocean.

Mt Edith Cavell with storm brewing

getting ready

We are slowly getting ready for our cross Canada adventure - making packing lists, paying bills, checkiing our blog, etc.  Stay tuned for updates and photos after June 16th.  This photo of our irises is just my way of making sure I know how to upload photos on our laptop.