Bright Lights, Big City, Saskatchewan

Thursday, June 21st – Mossbank, Saskatchewan to Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba - Day 160 

Wake up, pack up. We had someone use our commuter lot in the morning. Other than that the dirt road we slept beside was silent except for a solitary vehicle. The starry skies were brilliant; you could clearly see the milky way arching across the sky. 

We headed north towards Moose Jaw, less than an hour away. A stop for gas and Gen plotted a route to the giant moose next to the visitor centre for a picture. We also got to see a Snowbird plane. 

Jo-Ce had heard about the murals of Moose Jaw and was insistent we looked at them. We drove through the downtown to search for them and found several. Moose Jaw looks like a small town that has grown into a big town. The main strip was active with pedestrians and looked very nice. There were several businesses that alluded to the role of the illegal whiskey trade during prohibition including Al Capone’s hideaway. Earlier we learned that Wood Mountain Regional Park, near Grasslands National Park, hosted a fort that was reopened during prohibition to monitor the activity of illegal whiskey runners. 

 Leaving Moose Jaw, we drove 40 minutes to Regina. We generally look at the top ten things to see and select our favourites. We started with Kiwanis Waterfall Park. When we arrived, we set-up at a picnic table to eat our beans and rice dish. The day before we had the same beans, they were crunchy so we plugged in our instant pot (and my computer) to cook them for a few more minutes. While we were eating, some seniors were playing in a lawn bowling tournament which was fun viewing. We chatted with a few of them. The waterfall was, most likely, the biggest in Regina, a ten-foot high, artificial waterfall built in the park. The kids dipped their feet in for a while before we drove off to the beating heart of rider nation, the Saskatchewan Roughriders Mosaic Stadium. We walked around the stadium taking some pictures of statues before moving on. I really wanted to catch a CFL game in Regina, but the timing didn’t work out. I hear the atmosphere is crazy. 

Next stop was the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Gen suspected that if we went to a museum in Regina, we’d see the dinosaur fossils that were discovered at Grasslands National Park. She was correct. The dinosaur portion of the museum was excellent. You could stand on a platform and hear and feel the vibrations of a juvenile and adult T. Rex roar. Scotty was the largest T. Rex fossil ever found and there was also the smallest T. Rex fossil on display. A lot of other dinosaur skeletons were found in Saskatchewan; many came from Grasslands National Park or the Cypress Hills. We missed the Cypress Hills on our trip, but they were somehow left alone when glaciers were melting leaving a rich fossil history. There were also some very interesting displays on post-dinosaur landscapes on the prairies and the lives of Indigenous people who occupied the prairies for thousands of years. 

With the museum closing, we walked across Wascana Centre park to the lake to see the Legislative buildings and a bunch of rowers paddling along the shoreline. 

 Our next destination was four hours away, Riding Mountain National Park. We drove an hour and a half before breaking up the drive with dinner at the Flamingo Restaurant in Melville. The dinner was delicious with generous portions and great steaks. Unfortunately, Gen thought the wine tasted like brandy, she let the server know and she didn’t do anything about it. When she brought it up to the owner, the owner said, “You’ll pay for it and next time don’t order wine”. It was a black mark on a fabulous dinner. 

Back in the car, I drove the remaining 2.5 hours to Riding Mountain National Park and we settled into a campground in the park. The fan in the shower was on all night and provided grey noise to put us to sleep.