Day 2
Kilometers: 609
Countries: 2
Memories:
Danny: Pool with a slide!! Free breakfast. The Moose in Moose Jaw.
Grace: The flat driving. Unicorn treat at the Dairy King. Memory she would like to forget: Mom and Dad listening to music of their generation on Sirius XM.
Gordon: Danny playing fetch in the pool with the key card. Crossing the border.
Therese: The dusty haze in the sky from the wildfires, the wheat sculptures, the pretty Canadian money.
Trump supporters: Three who loudly disputed global warming while the news played a story about Death Valley reaching 120 degrees, the hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet. But in 1911 there was a day so hot the asphalt bubbled up. So there’s no such thing as Global Warming. Also a trump/pence bumper sticker in the hotel manager’s office.
Trump anti-dote: A sign on the Canadian Restroom: “All gender identities welcomed here.”
Our drive was two hours shorter today and we also received the gift of an extra hour due to the time change. Still, it took eight hours to reach our destination. Sometimes when you have extra time, you use extra time. One last notable sight in North Dakota was all the class graduating years marked in the hillside in stones. Some years were pretty utilitarian and others were pretty spectacular. One would imagine that there is some upkeep in this clever "graffiti."
A big part of our delay was crossing the border although we didn’t wait anywhere near as long as the line of trucks in the commercial vehicle lane. Most of our delay was taking the “cars” lane and hesitating often because there was no one in front of us and could this possibly be the right lane? After a very pleasant conversation with the Border Agent who apologized for having to ask us if we had any pipe bombs in the car, we were off to Canada.
The scenery was much the same as North Dakota but the vibe and the obvious political leanings made it seem better somehow. I think the only thing more boring than long flat roads leading to pretty much no where but strip mines, oil rigs and hay fields is experiencing all of that with two miles of visibility due to smoke from the fires.
We stopped in the first significant town across the border: Estevan. There we cashed in some US dollars for Canadian money and instantly reflected our yokel status by oohing and aahing over the beautiful Canadian money which contains a clear panel with a holograph of the queen. Each bill is a different color and truly a wonder to behold. Sadly, none of them contain a picture of the Prime Minister.
We made one more stop in a town whose name I can't remember for lunch, taking way too much time to find a picnic table. We ended up in a parking lot across from a river walk with beautiful metal wheat sculptures. It gave amber waves of grain a whole new perspective.
One more quick stop in Moose Jaw to change drivers. I snapped a quick picture of the back of the Moose Jaw moose (moose butt) and we were off. Even in the comfy car, this drive seemed to go on forever. As always, it’s fun to see the hotels and towns stream by that were part of my original reconnaissance that went into trip planning. Because of my research I also know that we were bypassing the world’s largest, easter egg, a replica of the eiffel tower and at least one alien landing spot.
FINALLY we arrived at our hotel and hit the pool. During the entire time of check-in Danny worried that it would be too deep to use the slide but he was pleasantly surprised to find that the depth was just perfect. No one complained about the free cookies in the lobby either.
After a dinner in our room, we had to search for our daily ice cream. The desk clerk recommended a place right next to the Best Western. Much to the kids’ delight the name of the place was “Dairy King”! We all got massive scoops. Grace got “Unicorn Treat” and Dany got Shark Attack. A good time was had by all.
We not find ourselves clean, but up way too late. Tomorrow we reach our first “destination” spot: Calgary. We can’t wait!
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