Land of Living Skies

First off, let me thank everyone who has commented in the past few days. I'll answer each one of you. I'm having to rely on a free wi-fi signal provided in SK's major centres which, unfortunately, is extremely slow. Combine that with the slowest laptop in the universe (doesn't mean I don't adore you, Bea!) and I'm keeping my surfing to the absolute minimum this week.

I'm posting from a coffee shop in Moose Jaw. The town opens really late, so I have about an hour to kill before I can start doing the tourist thing.

As it turns out, my location just outside of Regina is absolutely perfect. Moose Jaw is just an hour away, perfect for a day trip. Downtown Regina is barely 20 minutes away, so yesterday I was able to go out for the morning and part of the afternoon, go home for rest, then return in the evening to run some errands.

Monday in Regina is pretty much like Monday in Montreal, at least the way it was last time I was there on a Monday: just about everything of interest is closed. Fortunately, I'd done my homework and had a list of a few things that were open.

Joke was on me when I woke up at 7 yesterday. Saskatchewan has its own time rules, the details of which are fuzzy at present, but it turned out that even though I was still on central time, it was a whole hour earlier than I realised! I was pretty shocked when I got my bill at the pancake house and saw that it was 8AM, not 9AM as I'd thought!

The first thing I dealt with was mail. Being in Regina for the week and being willing to extend my stay if Canada Post is a bit slow, I felt that this was the perfect time to have some mail forwarded to me.

Then, I headed to the Regina Cemetery. Cemeteries are usually one of the first places I visit when I get to a new city. You can tell so much about a community by walking among its dead--what they believed in, what they fought for, what they fought against, major calamities, hierarchical divisions... At this cemetery I was must struck by the fact that simple wooden crosses sat next to large granite stones and by the number of graves belonging to soldiers killed during the Korean 'police action.'

Next stop was the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the quintessential natural history museum found in most cities. I found this one to be particularly good, with interactive displays and audio that complemented printed information. I shot an amusing video that I hope to be able to post!

The RSM is located on the shores of Wascana Lake, a beautiful urban playground with paths for running, jogging, walking, bike riding, etc. I walked around there for a spell and went to see if the science museum was open (no). So, I returned to downtown for an hour and checked out a few antique shops (it's so easy to resist temptation when you live in an RV!).

Which brings me to this glorious sunny prairie morning in Moose Jaw. I have a full day of activities planned and tons of photos to share. Stay tuned. :-)