Mitch's Blog 7.0

Mitch's Blog

 

Saturday, August 04, 2007

2007 Vacation: Day 8 Summary

Day 8 Summary
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to Brandon, Manitoba


Day 8 of my vacation started off on a beautiful note in the lovely city of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The weather was sunny and pleasant as I looked around at one of the things the city of 31,132 is known for: its many intricate downtown murals. It really does seem like there’s one around every corner in the city’s historic downtown.

Although I didn’t see it, the downtown murals are topped as a tourist attraction by The Tunnels of Moose Jaw. Just as the name suggests, this attraction consists of a series of tunnels built underneath the city over a century ago. The tunnels represent one facet of Moose Jaw’s unsavory past, since they were once used as hideouts by smugglers and criminals, including the legendary Al Capone.

One of the reasons I didn’t have the chance to see the tunnels was because I wanted to see some things in Regina, a mere 47 miles to the east of Moose Jaw.

I caught my first glimpse Saskatchewan’s capital and second most populous city when I noticed Regina’s skyline appear suddenly on the horizon as I was traveling through farmland on the city’s western edge. The odd contrast in scenery was made possible due to Regina’s lack of suburbs. The city of 179,246 is pretty isolated amid the prairie.

One of Regina’s claims to fame is that it’s where all members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) go through basic training. While the training grounds are largely off limits to civilians, the public is welcome at the northern end of the grounds, where the recently-completed RCMP Heritage Centre is located. I put this site at the top on my list of things to see while in Regina.

The center was put together extremely well. It offered a thorough, informative look into the past, present, and future of the RCMP. There was even a nice gift store with some RCMP swag. All in all, I’d highly recommend anybody visiting Regina to check the place out.

The next place in Regina I wanted to see was the vast Wascana Centre alongside Wascana Lake near the city’s center. This 3000 acre site in the heart of the city provides Reginians a place to enjoy all sorts of activities, including visiting museums, art galleries, walking, running, biking, or even kayaking on the lake that offers a nice view of the city’s skyline.

Although I didn’t have much time to visit all the center has to offer, I did make it to the Waterfowl Park, which is a 576 acre marshland home to all sorts of waterfowl, including Canadian Geese, mallard ducks, swans, and pelicans. I had a great time walking through and getting the chance to closely interact with all the birds.

Another place close to Wascana Centre is the ornate provincial capitol and a small, but dignified, veterans’ memorial across the street from it. Even the capitol grounds were being used at the time for recreation, as a group of people were playing Frisbee next to the building in the nice Sunday weather.

After spending more time in Regina than I probably should have, it was time to get back on the Trans-Can and head east. Since it was getting late in the afternoon, and crossing the border between Saskatchewan and Manitoba also meant losing an hour in crossing the Central Standard Time Zone and Central Daylight Time Zone, I had to hustle through the 224 miles between Regina and Brandon without doing much stopping.

It wasn’t a big loss, though, since there wasn’t all that much to see. The road passes through numerous small towns, some of which still have their classic Saskatchewan Wheat Pool grain elevators. I’m not exactly sure why, but I really enjoyed spotting these “prairie skyscrapers” as I traveled through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They just seemed to have more character than grain elevators in the United States. It’s unfortunate that more and more are being decommissioned and removed.

It was after 8 PM when I finally approached Brandon, the second largest city in Manitoba and my destination for the day.

Pictures:


Downtown Moose Jaw


A street scene in Regina

The following five pictures were taken in the Waterfowl Park at the Wascana Centre











The Regina skyline as seen from Wascana Lake


The Saskatchewan capitol building is opposite the skyline on Wascana Lake

The following four pictures were taken at the veterans memorial across the street from the capitol

Her Majesty the Queen was here in 2005 when ground was broken for the memorial


The World War II monument


World War I monument


Just a few of the many names on the walls of the World War I monument

The following three pictures are of the Saskatchewan capitol building





The flag of Saskatchewan, Canada, and the United Kingdom


The majestic grain elevator in Whitewood


Scenery near the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border

Low-Grade Camcorder Pictures:


One of the murials in downtown Moose Jaw


Welcome to Manitoba

Videos:

At the Wascana Waterfowl Park in Regina

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVmbxwoCwEI

Richardton's Ground Squirrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S_y1UXF_24

Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Previous Posts

2007 Vacation: Day 7 Summary
2007 Vacation: Day 6 Summary
2007 Vacation: Day 5 Summary
2007 Vacation: Day 4 Summary
2007 Vacation: Day 3 Summary
2007 Vacation: Day 2 Summary
2007 Vacation: Day 1 Summary
Back from Vacation
Flood of '97 Series: Conclusion
Flood of '97 Series: Reopenings

Archives

March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
November 2007
December 2007
February 2008
March 2008
March 2012

Current Weather

Click for Brainerd, Minnesota Forecast Click for Grand Forks, North Dakota Forecast

Weather Station

Blogroll

Google Search

Google

Answers

Minnesota Counties

Minnesota Counties I've Visited

North Dakota Counties

North Dakota Counties I've Visited

Links

Subscribe to Mitch's Blog 

Through RSS
Click here to subscribe to Mitch's Blog through RSS!
Add to My 

Yahoo!
Add to Google

Free Image Hosting at Imageshack.us

Mitch's Blog Copyright 2001-2012 Mitch Wahlsten -- All Rights Reserved
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of Mitch Wahlsten and the participants
Mitch's Blog began on December 23, 2001