Friday, June 5, 2009 – Day 8
Blowing Cannons
We slept only minutes away from Battleford’s popular National Historic site, Fort Battleford. It was only natural that we wake up in the morning and head straight for this National Historic Site. We decided that with all of the Canadian Historic Sites and Canadian Parks we were planning on visiting that we would get an annual family pass that covers unlimited use for a year of all parks and historic sites.The staff members at this site were extremely friendly and informative. Even though there were 2 other bus loads of students that arrived at the same time as we did, they gave us a great history lesson on the settlers and wars in the region with the First Nations people. Our kids especially loved watching the Mountie’s rifle and cannon demonstration. Whenever there is loud noises and lots of smoke, the kids are definitely interested. Three men dressed as Mounties demonstrated the use of rifles during war time and just before we left the kids were able to dress up as Mounties and watch how a cannon was prepared and fired.
Dust, Dust Everywhere (and some Crooked Trees) After a morning at Fort Battleford our family was ready to visit one of the sites we heard about on CBC Radio’s Seven Wonders of Canada contest last year. We were all ready for an adventure to see the Crooked Trees of Saskatchewan. Little did we know how this adventure would unfold. We headed Northeast of Battleford using some basic directions given to us by some locals. They informed us that there would be a sign on the road notifying us how to find the famous Crooked Trees. As we headed along this bumpy highway which was 40% patched up with tar and gravel we admired the flat prairies and farmlands that we were becoming accustomed to since arriving in Alberta. As we zipped along we saw a small sign on the opposite side of the road that said something about “Crooked” something… we turned the motorhome around with a little bit of difficulty and noticed that it indicated “Crooked Bush”… I guessed that was where we were going. To our surprise it pointed down a gravel road. As we started down this road our RV started to smell a bit dusty. I looked behind me and noticed a bit of dust in the back. As we continued on a few more minutes the dust became more and more unbearable. I turned around to see billowing clouds of dust all throughout our RV with the kids all hiding under their blankets in an attempt to filter out the dust from the air they were breathing. I rolled my window down for a bit of fresh air. By the time we drove the 18km down the dusty road to the Crooked Bush our RV was covered in dust, inside and out. It was awful. As we pulled into the tourist attraction we swept out layers of dust from the floor of motorhome and tried shaking a few things off before getting out to see this site. We walked around the small grove of Crooked Trees to see what was so interesting about them. They were so unique as we could see a perfectly growing grove of trees to the one side of the parking area while the grove that had the boardwalk through it had the gnarled and twisted up trees that we had heard about. The trees were spooky looking and so unique. As we continued along on our drive back to the highway so that we could continue on through Saskatoon to Moose Jaw we decided that we would turn the fans on in the back bedroom of the RV and in the bathroom which seemed to be a source of the thickest covering of dust… this was not the greatest idea. While it would drive the dust out of the motorhome, it also pulled the dust through the floor and out through the top of the roof. We later found large holes and gaps under the bathroom counter (above the wheel well) and in the Bedroom. These holes were the source of layers and layers of dust that would billow into our motorhome. Although we found an old railway trestle on our drive back to the highway I would not recommend this trip to anyone unless they have a vehicle that is sealed up properly. That evening after driving a few more hours, we spent 3 hours wiping down every surface in our motorhome and washing out cupboards and drawers. We knew that we would need to do laundry at the next possible moment due to the enormous amounts of dust all over our clothes. Around 9:30pm when we finished cleaning as much as we could manage, we called it a night and finished our drive to Moose Jaw. The following morning our first stop was to a car wash where we vacuumed out all of the carpets. Later in the day we were only too happy to get our laundry washed. In all, this 1.5 hour side tour ended adding about 5 hours of additional cleanup time to our already busy schedule.
Dust, Dust Everywhere (and some Crooked Trees) After a morning at Fort Battleford our family was ready to visit one of the sites we heard about on CBC Radio’s Seven Wonders of Canada contest last year. We were all ready for an adventure to see the Crooked Trees of Saskatchewan. Little did we know how this adventure would unfold. We headed Northeast of Battleford using some basic directions given to us by some locals. They informed us that there would be a sign on the road notifying us how to find the famous Crooked Trees. As we headed along this bumpy highway which was 40% patched up with tar and gravel we admired the flat prairies and farmlands that we were becoming accustomed to since arriving in Alberta. As we zipped along we saw a small sign on the opposite side of the road that said something about “Crooked” something… we turned the motorhome around with a little bit of difficulty and noticed that it indicated “Crooked Bush”… I guessed that was where we were going. To our surprise it pointed down a gravel road. As we started down this road our RV started to smell a bit dusty. I looked behind me and noticed a bit of dust in the back. As we continued on a few more minutes the dust became more and more unbearable. I turned around to see billowing clouds of dust all throughout our RV with the kids all hiding under their blankets in an attempt to filter out the dust from the air they were breathing. I rolled my window down for a bit of fresh air. By the time we drove the 18km down the dusty road to the Crooked Bush our RV was covered in dust, inside and out. It was awful. As we pulled into the tourist attraction we swept out layers of dust from the floor of motorhome and tried shaking a few things off before getting out to see this site. We walked around the small grove of Crooked Trees to see what was so interesting about them. They were so unique as we could see a perfectly growing grove of trees to the one side of the parking area while the grove that had the boardwalk through it had the gnarled and twisted up trees that we had heard about. The trees were spooky looking and so unique. As we continued along on our drive back to the highway so that we could continue on through Saskatoon to Moose Jaw we decided that we would turn the fans on in the back bedroom of the RV and in the bathroom which seemed to be a source of the thickest covering of dust… this was not the greatest idea. While it would drive the dust out of the motorhome, it also pulled the dust through the floor and out through the top of the roof. We later found large holes and gaps under the bathroom counter (above the wheel well) and in the Bedroom. These holes were the source of layers and layers of dust that would billow into our motorhome. Although we found an old railway trestle on our drive back to the highway I would not recommend this trip to anyone unless they have a vehicle that is sealed up properly. That evening after driving a few more hours, we spent 3 hours wiping down every surface in our motorhome and washing out cupboards and drawers. We knew that we would need to do laundry at the next possible moment due to the enormous amounts of dust all over our clothes. Around 9:30pm when we finished cleaning as much as we could manage, we called it a night and finished our drive to Moose Jaw. The following morning our first stop was to a car wash where we vacuumed out all of the carpets. Later in the day we were only too happy to get our laundry washed. In all, this 1.5 hour side tour ended adding about 5 hours of additional cleanup time to our already busy schedule.