On The Road Again - With The Bison

Friday, July 14, 2006

Saskatchewan!

No one will accuse us of spending too much time in Manitoba. We blew through, spending only one night in the province. This was not entirely our plan – it just happened.

Coming out of Kenora - a lovely little town – you reach the Manitoba border quickly. And I swear, within a distance of 100 metres, the trees that have surrounded you for the last week suddenly drop away and it’s big skies and canola fields. (Darlene assured me that we were looking at mustard. After seeing enough “mustard” fields to coat the world’s hot dogs and hamburgers a million times over, she was ready to agree that that yellow stuff might just be canola.)

We bypassed Winnipeg and headed for Riding Mountain National Park. (That’s not quite true. We spent 30 minutes on the western perimeter in 39 degree heat looking for any place that would give us an Internet hookup. Aesthetics report: Winnipeg can do ugly and congested with the best of Ontario cities.)

Riding Mountain National Park is home to a herd of Bison and we found them at the Lake Audy campsite. When we first arrived they were nowhere to be seen. After pitching the tent we had another drive around and again came up with nothing. And then, on the verge of heading back to the tent, a fortuitous right turn took us over a hill and into the middle of about thirty of them.

And I do mean the middle. They were on both sides of the road and not at all wary of cars. Both of us took dozens of photos and then we got up in the morning at first light, and did it all again. I could do an entire blog devoted to bison but instead I’ll limit myself to the three pictures here.

Before I leave Lake Audy I’ll just mention that my biggest surprise was not the bison, nor the deer, nor the elk – it was the raft of pelicans on the lake. I just don’t associate pelicans with Canada, but I suppose they spend their summer here – there’s certainly enough fish – and then head south in late August when winter arrives. (Joke)

To finish, Dar and I decided that Riding Mountain either deserved another two days or we could just be on our way and that is how we find ourselves in Saskatchewan in Moose Mountain Provincial Park and our big thrill this afternoon is hot showers.