Day 5 - expectations maintained

Well Day 5 is now in the books and it was full of ups and downs. Gord had a bad teething day, at least that's what we're calling it. We started off ok. To bed early enough that our 6:30 wake up didn't feel obscene. T did some yoga and Gord and I played and packed. The BnB we stayed at actually had a self-serve breakfast, which sounded weird, but it was nice to eat with just the fam. 

Anyway, we were on the road by 8:00 EST time, 7:00 local time, and we started putting Winnipeg in our rear-view. Sadly, Gord wasn't in the mood for sleep, so T had to work hard to keep him calm. He eventually went down, but she needed to regularly calm him as his teeth prevented him from staying asleep. Eventually he got down, and he kept calm long enough to get to the Saskatchewan border. 3 provinces before he's a year, this kid is good.

Impressions of the prairies? __________________/\_______________________________/\_________. But seriously, we didn't really know what to expect - I mean, we heard all the clichés: it's flat, it's boring, the people are nice. And most of these came try for us. The people are very kind - I'm reminded of the maritimes as the pace feels slower and thus people have more time to help, or just chat. And it is flat. Real flat. There are rolling hills, but you can see far. One thing I'm struck with is how verdant everything looks. These are not the prairies I remember of the US. I remember Nebraska as brown, gold and yellow. This place is green. Fields of soy bran and (young, not yet blue) flax blowing in the wind. Punctuated by fields of Canola, so bright a hue of yellow it looks like it's been highlighted as more important. And I don't want to call it boring, because it isn't. They have a great sense of humour about themselve - the new privincial moto "hard to spell, easy to draw" made us chuckle. And no, the horizon isn't as dramatic as the lakes, pines and shield rock as Northern Ontariio, but there is majesty here. A quiet amd calm that I am sure doesn't stick around for the powerful thunderstorms that come through every summer. We didn't stop at the Saskatchewan Potash Pavilon, or any of the Agricultural Museums that seem to exist in every town, but the place names are fantastic - Moosomin, Wapella, Sintaluta, and Balgonie were some of my favourites.

And then we were in Regina. Because we got going so early, and because we gained another hour when we crossed the border (why does anyone do day-light savings time anymore?) so it was one local time when we we arrived at our Travellodge. To get there we had to pass a beautiful University Campus (University of Regina) and lots of signs claiming that our very own hotel boasted the largest water slide in Regina! After a quick feed and change of little G we headed out for an earlyish dinner. The guide book spoke of a cool pub that sold local beer and had unique food - and Cathedral Free House was everything we hoped it would be. Great beer, amazing food (we three scarfed down the goat cheese Granny Smith salad, the vegetarian Gyoza (dumplings,) and the Summer Sunsation Pizza. Outstanding, if ever you find yourself in Regina, you owe it to yourself to check it out. 

After that we headed home for a swim. I know Gord loves his parents, but if anything comes close to that love, it's his love for swimming. His parents tried out the slide a few times, and we decided to pack up early and get to bed.

Tomorrow will be the longest day of the trip - 764 km to Calgary. But we'll be rewarded with some friendly hospitality (we're staying with friends) and we'll also get to enjoy our first 'off-day' since we won't be leaving Calgary until Friday. The plan will be to pack everything but our clothes for tomorrow and the baby's stuff so we can get rolling bright and early - hopefully on the road by 6:00. Sleep well and we'll see you in Cow-town!

TOTAL FUEL FILL UPS: 3

DAILY WILD LIFE: cows, horses, some beautiful and defensive swallows at the Saskatchewan welcome centre!