Winter Family Travels in 2005: Day Twelve

Woke up to cloud and rain, but cleared up with blue sky and large fluffy clouds. Girls went for their morning swim. Small pool with a two story spiral waterslide that gave the girls some thrills. Headed back downtown to go to the RCMP Centennial Museum. Had 20 minutes to look through the museum, then went on a tour which covers the drill hall, chapel and cenotaph. The drill hall was originally an indoor riding arena. The chapel is the oldest building in Regina, but not as old as our house. During the Queen's visit she met the families of the four slain mounties in the chapel. We saw many troops at different levels of training marching between buildings. We learned about the beginning of the North West Mounted Police and their long march to stamp out the illegal whiskey trade and create Fort Walsh.

We left Regina in the sun to drive to Moose Jaw. The land is incredibly flat with clumps of trees here and there. The farms are huge. In Moose Jaw, we went on the Tunnels of Moose Jaw tour 'Passage to Fortune' which told the story of the life of a chinese immigrant. It was very well done and worthwhile seeing. Moose Jaw looks like a very vibrant little city, if somewhat of a touristy place. As we left Moose Jaw, we passed 15 Wing Moose Jaw (home of the Snowbirds) and saw some small jets flying in formation.

We travelled southwest towards Grasslands National Park. We passed many little towns that really don't exist any more, because the farms are getting so big, that the old towns are being abandoned (homes, schools, churches, and stores). We stopped for ice cream in Gravelbourg and met an old farmer there. He offered to put us up for the evening. I think he (and the other farmer) was pleased to see someone from Ontario interested in their part of the Prairies. We arrived in Val Marie at 6:25 PM, just before the park office closed. We got registered and surprised the girl staffing the office that we really wanted to camp on the prairies, not in one of the nearby trailer parks.

We set up camp, had dinner and went for a walk on the prairie grasslands. Over that evening we saw gophers (Richardson's ground squirrel), a pronghorn, a pheasant, a long billed curlew, and prairie dogs.