What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Heading Out

We departed in the new Hybrid, aiming to arrive at Sault Ste Marie, a reasonably good day of driving which we accomplished in better time than expected. After checking into the hotel we asked for a recommendation for dinner and were told to check out this place on the waterfront called Docks. My lovely wife and I wandered over and checked out a sailing ship and some statues (Bears! Fish! Moose!). I speculated about the Zombie apocalypse survival potential of a museum ship and then we went for dinner.

A moose in the Sault.

The restaurant was, I am pleased to report, outstanding. We had crab and shrimp stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer; my lovely wife had a Shrimp Threesome (grilled, buffalo and coconut shrimp skewers) and I had a nice steak stuffed with shrimp, crab and cheese, in a rose peppercorn sauce. Mmm!

The next day, we crossed over to the States and then headed west through the Upper Peninsula, which, let me tell you, takes God damned forever. You're constantly dropping to 20 to drive through some podunk little town.

We stopped in at the Geographic Center of North America, which is in North Dakota, you know. There's a very nice obelisk and everything.

We stopped for the night at Grand Falls, ND. We got in late and were checked in by the Old Man of the Hotel Chain.

You are here.

Saskatoon

On day 3 we arrived in Saskatoon to visit Red. Over the next few days we enjoyed her hospitality and the hospitality of that fine city.

(3 tanks of gas to get to Saskatoon, incidentally. Not too shabby.)

Saskatoon isn't what I was expecting. It's not a big city, quarter million or so; definitely feels like a big town and not a small city. It's a very livable city. All along the river is a park area full of trees and greenery, benches and pagodas and such. Very pleasant.

Saskatoon's Superstore. Huge, with integrated underground parking and an attached Superstore-themed gas station. I may have made a trip to get this picture for RJA.

People in Saskatchewan are friendly, and hospitable, and none of them know how to drive. I mean, seriously. Among the skills that are apparently entirely foreign to them include merging onto a highway, using turn signals, navigating a four-way stop, and looking before turning into the path of my car. Fortunately there were no incidents, but it wasn't for lack of effort.

During our stay we visited the parks and drank some very good beer -- Red introduced me to Great Western, who make a very drinkable pilsner and lager. We saw Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan River, an extremely enthusiastic and entertaining presentation of the Merry Wives of Windsor.

Beautiful Saskatoon.

After a few days we packed up and, taking Red with us, we headed west.

Alberta

We headed up to Edmonton for a day to meet up with my lovely wife's cousin, ProGolfer. He welcomed us with a fridge full of beer and a brand new tequila machine and made us feel at home.

The next day we went to the West Edmonton Mall. It has two submarines and a pirate ship, a skating rink, a full water park, roller coaster rides (my lovely wife and Red went on the two they thought were the best), more restaurants than you can shake a stick at, and a show with sea lions.

It's just one of those things that you have to go see. I mean, I could talk about it for a while, but you just gotta go see it for yourself.

After that we spent a few days in Calgary with my lovely wife's eldest sister, her husband, and our niece. She has grown like a weed. She's a little person now, with a great personality, and a great laugh, and a bucket of crayons. She's a sweetheart.

We rented a suite to stay at while we were in Calgary, right downtown. It was decent, although I wasn't in love with the overflow parking.

We went to the mall and visited a Bass Pro Shops which was amazing. If the Old Man ever got out there I don't think we'd ever get him back. He'd just set up shop there and stay. Hoooge!

On our last day there we hung out in the back yard with the family and took turns dragging our niece up and down the hill in her wagon, to her great delight.

At length, though, we had to say our goodbyes and depart Calgary, beginning the long way back East.

Saskitoba

We arrived back in Saskatoon and went out to see the Cirque du Soleil, doing Alegria. I'm not even going to attempt to explain that. You just have no idea, unless you've seen them in the flesh. It was just amazing.

Just, wow.

The next morning we bid Red adieu and left for Portage to visit a whole pile of aunts and uncles. We got toured around town, shown everybody's houses, and ate the biggest home-made burger joint burgers I've ever seen or heard about.

Day after that was Winnipeg, visiting the rest of the Manitoba half of my lovely wife's clan. That night we went to Folklorama.

Folklorama is very cool. It's like Greekfest, but for lots of cultures; there are two dozen or so different pavilions all over the city for a week, and then different ones the week after that.

We started out at the Brazil one. There was beer, and a very interesting and tasty Brazilian stew; lots of dancing involving very athletic and scantily-clad women; and a Capoeira demonstration. Capoeira seems like an incredibly cool demonstration art and an amazing way to stay in shape. You'd get your ass kicked nine ways from Sunday if you tried it for real, but it's really just about looking pretty, and it does that in spades. Very cool.

After that we went to the Tamil pavilion for lots of interesting Indian dancing and good food. They had a great information area set up with friendly experts to talk about their history and culture.

Then we sat up late and talked about all kinds of stuff.

I (heart) Manitoba.

Homeward Bound

The car was well loaded with all the stuff we'd bought over the course of our vacation when we finally pointed our way towards home. Among other things, I had filled my trunk with Great Western and Fort Garry beer, including just about all the special Fort Garry Folklorama Beer I could get my paws on. About 28 liters of beer all together, if I count right.

First day was Winnipeg to Thunder Bay. We stayed at the Valhalla Inn. I highly recommend it.

So pretty.

Driving through the north shore of Lake Superior is always a blast. That's just some of the nicest country we have. So beautiful.

Second day we stopped at the Sault for dinner, returning to Docks'. I just went with my stuffed steak again because it was so damn good. We ended the day in Sudbury.

Incidentally, and I don't want to get all negative here or anything, but Sudbury is just such an incredible shithole. What a grotty, shabby, run-down, poorly laid out, ugly little excuse for a town. When I leave Sudbury I feel like I'm escaping. My lovely wife hit the nail on the head when she said that it just felt like nobody who lives there has any pride in it. It's like that.

But the nice thing about stopping in Sudbury is that we could have a nice and easy drive home on our last day of vacation. Which we did.

In some ways, driving with my lovely wife is my favourite part of this sort of vacation. Just reading, and driving, and talking, and making fun of the funny names of towns and rivers and streets.

So that's about it. 7500 km, 18 days, good memories and good times.