To Drumheller and Saskatoon

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We finished our trip at PIO Peruvian Rotisserie Restaurant, capping off a wonderful week. This restaurant is in a small store in a suburban power centre. It was busy even late in the evening, and seemed to be serving Calgary’s Peruvian community, which is always a good sign. I had a roast chicken with beef sausage and “sunshine rice”. It wasn’t too expensive, either.

So, we may have somewhat underestimated the amount of driving we’d have to do to get from Calgary to Saskatoon. It was worth going, as now Erin has reference material for her story featuring somebody trying to cross a depopulated Saskatchewan on horseback. Indeed, she has a lot of reference material. Strangely enough, though, the trip back from Saskatoon to Calgary didn’t feel quite so arduous, because we knew where Calgary was, rather than wondering where Saskatoon was. It’s interesting to think that just a little bit of familiarity of the route was enough to make the trip easier.

In Saskatoon, we toured the dump. Yes, we came to Saskatoon to visit its dump (it’s part of Erin’s writing research), but we also walked the riverfront, took pictures of the bridges, and then met author Arthur Slade and his daughter for supper at the famous McNally Robinson Booksellers. So, all in all, well worth the seven hour drive each way.

Our drive also included brief stops in Drumheller, Alberta, which really deserves its own day trip. We weren’t able to visit the Badlands, the Hoodoos, or the dinosaur museum, but the entrance and the exit to the city is a highlight of the drive. I was driving along the highway, wondering where Drumheller was, surrounded by fields and pasture and then — BOOM — the road dips into a gully and descends into a hidden world. I complained about the number of billboards on the eastbound trip, but intriguingly, the road leading out of Drumheller to the north was billboard free. Clearly, the advertisers know where most of Drumheller’s traffic is coming from.

As much fun as we’ve had and as much as we’ve seen, we’re still looking forward to coming home, hugging our kids, and sleeping in our own bed tomorrow night. That’s another good thing that trips do: make you appreciate coming home.

Click here for more photos of our drive through Drumheller and Saskatoon.

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