#45 - Visit a Canadian province or territory I haven't been to before

Now this was a hard one as I've been as far west as I can go in Canada and have been as far east as Ottawa, Ontario. That only leaves the northern territories and eastern Canada (Quebec and the Maritime provinces) left to visit - and they are not close by! Fortunately, a dream of a plan (and trip!) came together last minute this summer.

My friend Melinda and I had talked of driving up to Alaska in the summer, but when I began researching it and truly learned how far away Alaska was and how long it would take us to drive there by car, we put it off.

Then in the spring the notion of an Alaskan cruise came to mind. It was an odd thought mostly because Melinda had told me in the past she would never consider a cruise. I filed the thought away with a quick prayer that went something like this, "God, if you want us to see Alaska this summer and a cruise is the method, you're going to have to win Melinda over on the cruise idea." Just a couple of weeks later, Melinda came over to my place for a visit - and she pulled out a brochure for an Alaskan cruise! I'm pretty sure I whooped with joy and said, "Really?" Real it was!

To make a long story short, we tried to find and book something that would work within our small window of opportunity, but weren't having much success. Then we found Audra - an amazing travel consultant - who searched and searched and finally found us the perfect cruise within our time frame.

One of the most exciting opportunities for me was the option to take a day trip into the Yukon from our stop in Skagway at the northern part of the Inside Passage. Sign me up!

We had a beautiful day for our bus ride from Skagway, Alaska through a bit of northern British Columbia (BC) and into the Yukon territory. Here was our first stop - the customary get-a-picture-with-the-sign-to-prove-you-were-really-there stop!

Our visit to the Yukon included stops at a tourist-type village for lunch, at the town of Carcross, and at the very beautiful Emerald Lake.

The return trip was by bus to Fraser, BC and then by train through the mountains from Fraser back to Skagway - something else I've always wanted to do: take a train ride through the mountains!

It was a most delightful trip from beginning to end - I only wish it would have been a bit longer. I'll just have to go back someday...

#4 - Visit a town in Saskatchewan that I've never been to before

On my way back home from Edmonton, I decided to take the scenic route so I could see some new territory.

On Highway 16 between Lloydminster and the Battlefords, I turned south on Highway 21 and headed to Unity. This was a little place I knew nothing about except that my aunt had worked in the bank there for a time. I was surprised that it was such a picturesque drive - there were lush green, rolling hills and beautiful views as I made my way to this small town.

On the outskirts of Unity was a heritage museum. I ended up stopping here for a lunch break and then strolled around the grounds before getting back on the road again. I was impressed by the number of buildings on the museum grounds and know I need to return one day to give it a much more thorough tour.

On my way out of Unity I was very surprised to pass by the Sifto Salt Plant. I had no idea this even existed in Saskatchewan and here it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere!

From Unity I headed east to on Highway 14 to Wilkie and then southeast to Biggar, Saskatchewan.

Wilkie was a pretty little town and again one I'd like to stop in and see a bit more of sometime. I was impressed that it's history was well preserved in old buildings and a museum right in the middle of town. It was also very tidy/well kept town and had a very interesting-looking church I'd like to explore.

 

Next up was Biggar. This was what I really wanted to see! Having been involved in the swimming club as a child, Biggar was one of the towns we competed with at swim meets. We always heard their slogan, "New York is big, but this is Biggar!" and I wanted to see it and the town myself.

After traveling through two very small places I was surprised at how big a town Biggar was. This is another place I need to spend more time in. I drove around the town a bit and found what I was looking for... tada!

I also found the Biggar museum which just happened to have a small gift shop, and I bought myself a postcard with the infamous saying on it. Task complete. Now I'll just have to plan an entire trip around these three Saskatchewan towns so I can investigate them further...

This scenic detour on an otherwise typical drive was enjoyable, interesting and surprising. You just never know what you may find or learn about a place. My goal is to do a bit more of this - take the detours and enjoy the surprises!

#49 - Try another activity that's new to me!

At the end of June I drove to Edmonton, Alberta to visit my sister who lives nearby. One of things we wanted to do while we were together was attend some sort of Canada Day festivities on July 1st.

We looked up all the possibilities in the Edmonton area and decided upon the fun that was planned for Sherwood Park. They had everything from pony rides to zip-lining to a baby stroller car wash (too cute!) to planting red and white flowers in a special Canada Day-themed flower bed.

The activity that caught our attention the most though was riding a segway. This was one of the few adult-only activities offered and where the lines were the shortest - awesome!

We were given a short lesson and then coached around the course by those who were more experienced. It was an odd sensation powering a vehicle simply based on your movements: lean back a bit and off you go, move to the left or right to make turns, and lean forward to stop. We both tried the course twice and quickly became convinced this was not the last time we would be on segways. Who knew they could be so fun?