Leg 5 – the Prairies

There’s just no way to get around it  - Canada’s prairies are FLAT.  From Manitoba…

through Saskatchewan and Alberta…

There are some interesting sights in the grain elevators…

and trains…

and hay bales…

We had a couple of adventures on this leg.  We saw the first animals of our trip; eight or so deer leaping across the road in front of us outside Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  We also got a little lost, went up a side road thinking it was the highway and got stuck in the snow.  The tow truck driver was friendly…

Who would think you could get lost somewhere so flat or mired in so little snow…

Edmonton was very snowy and blowy so we didn’t even get the relief of seeing the Rocky mountain foothills. 

Canada is really just a series of hick towns with a few cities.  The prairies show that off to its fullest.  DD and I have been trying to send a postcard from every province.  Well in Manitoba and Saskatchewan we couldn’t even find a postcard to buy.  When we asked where we might buy a postcard the reply was “Postcard… why you would get that at the post office wouldn’t you?”  We’re not completely out of Alberta yet so I’m holding out hope that they will know what postcards are here.  After all it is the home of spectacular scenery and one of the earliest tourist areas of Canada were in Banff and Jasper in the rocky mountains.

Today we are on to the last leg of the journey, heading north on the Alaska Highway.  The road will no longer be a divided four lane highway, or have passing lanes built in every 10 kilometres or so.  But I’ve driven this road at least once, sometimes twice, every one of the last 30 or so years, so it’s familiar to me. 

Two more days of driving and we should be home.

Janet