Day Four

Medicine Hat, Alberta to Fernie, British Columbia 376KM We had a slow start this morning - well it wasn't exactly slow per se but we didn't really get on our way until after 1pm.  The night before we had run-in with what we think was a young coyote.  We faired better than the coyote but there was some damage to the undercarraige of the car.  We took it to the dealership in Medicine Hat first thing in the morning and asked them to repair the damage we knew about and to make sure there wasn't any damage we didn't know about.  A few clips and $50 later we were told all was good and we continued on our journey.  We left town a little after 10am.  At about 50kms from Medicine Hat we heard a noise that told us that the dealership missed something and we had a problem.  We called them and after a couple of hours of waiting by the side of the road, a technician arrived with a replacement part and the repair was made.  Now we were free to go but we had lost a huge chunk of time.  We had planned to visit three places today and now we only had time for one.  We decided to head for the Bellevue Mine and take in the Mine Tour.

Bellevue Mine was one of the many mines operating in the Crows Nest Pass Area.  It opened in the early 1900s and operated for about 60 years before closing in the early 1960s when the railway switched from coal to diesel.  The Bellevue Mine simply stopped operating and the mine was abandoned.  It now operates as a tourist site that shows the conditions the miners worked in and the tools they used as they mined the coal.    

We had a great tour guide but unfortunately I forgot her name and hopefully she forgives me.  She is in the top photo setting up the battery packs for us to use in the mine to power our lamps.  We all had to be equipped with helmets as well.  Once we were kitted out we learned about the early history of the mine and how the tag system worked.  Each miner was issued 2 tags.  One he placed on a board at the top of the mine indicating he was working in the mine.  This meant if something happened in the mine such as explosion or if part of the mine caved in, the rescuers knew to look for him.  The other tag he wore so that if he was found but was unrecognizable, the tag would be able to identify him.  When this mine was operating only men worked in the mine.  Times have changed and women can and do work in mines, but at then having a woman work in the mine was considered bad luck.

The tour was about an hour long and we walked a short distance into mine, but far enough for the temperature to drop from 30C outside to 0C.  It was also far enough into the mine that the light from the entrance couldn't be seen.  

 

When we turned off our lamps it was pitch black and we couldn't see our hands when they were right in front of our faces.

Once we left the mine and returned our safety gear we continued onto Fernie to stop for the night.  In Fernie we found a lovely place called the Red Tree Lodge.  On the recommendation of the person at the check-in desk we ordered pizza for dinner and settled in for the night.

 

 

Day Three

Little Manitou Beach, Saskatchewan to Medicine Hat Alberta 547KM We left the hotel later than usual so we could spend some time enjoying breakfast and one more soak in the water.  We didn't have much time for anything else as we had at least a 5 hour drive to get to our next overnight stop.  We stopped in Swift Current for dinner and had a lovely dinner in a greek restaurant called Akropol Family Restaurant (http://www.akropol.ca/index.html).  The rest of the trip was largely uneventful until we passed Gull Lake and the car had an encounter with an animal.  It was larger than a domestic cat but seemed smaller than the average dog.  Not thinking we didn't check for damage until we arrived at our destination and found out we had some damage that needed attending to in the morning.

Day Two

Traveling from Yorkton, Saskatchewan to Little Manitou Beach, Saskatchewan 254km  Before we left Yorkton we made a stop at the Western Development Museum at Yorkton.  Identifying which site is an important distinction as there are 4 different Western Development Museums in Saskatchewan.  The Yorkton site which focuses on the Story of People is one and then the Moose Jaw site which focuses on Transportation, North Battleford focuses on Agriculture and the Saskatoon site focuses on the Economy.  All of them work to preserve the social and economic history of Saskatchewan.  Here I am in the lobby and gift shop of the Yorkton site checking out the museum guide:

It was a great museum and I enjoyed learning about the people who live here and how their past has shaped the development of the province.  Here I am reading about how hard it was for some coming to Saskatchewan:

After the museum we then continued our journey to Little Manitou Beach.  This is a small salt water lake about 100km south of Saskatoon.  Due to some unique geography, the lake was formed by receding glaciers during the last ice age.  The lake itself is fed by underground springs and is a terminal lake - as in there are no outlets for the lake water to drain from except by air in the form of evaporation.  This means the lake has a very high concentration of sodium, magnesium and potassium salts.  It has a salinity of about half of the Dead Sea it allows people to float in the water. Before I close for today here's a collage of me enjoying the sites in Little Manitou Lake Beach:

   

Day One

Traveling from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Yorkton, Saskatchewan - Approximately 454kms We left Winnipeg around 9:30 in the morning. Here I am at mile -well actually km 0 but km 0 doesn't have the same ring as mile 0:

After stopping for gas/petrol we drove on the Trans-Canada Highway to Portage la Prairie about 80km west of Winnipeg.  Here we made a brief pitstop and picked up breakfast to go.  From Portage we drove a little further on the Trans-Canada and then turned off onto the Yellowhead Highway to Minnedosa. This is a very pretty town in a valley.  Some would say that being in a valley isn't impressive on its own, except we don't have a lot of valleys in southern Manitoba, so this makes it very different and quite pretty.  In Minnedosa we visited Grandma and we had a lovely visit touring the garden patio and looking at all the beautiful plants and flowers they have planted there.  Grandma was telling us how she had been working hard the day before weeding one of the beds with a friend.  We visited for about an hour and left Grandma to have a late lunch.  We returned to the car and raided the cooler for a picnic lunch and headed off to Inglis, Manitoba.   Inglis has the longest row of still standing wooden Grain Elevators in Canada.  Once a frequent sight along rail lines on the Prairies, the old wooden grain elevators (called woodies) are rapidly disappearing.  Some have been replaced with unsightly concrete monsters and others haven't been replaced at all.  The five elevators in Inglis have been preserved and now operate as a tourist site offering tours (guided $10, self-guided $5) through 2 of the old woodies.

 The first elevator has been opened up and the various parts of the elevator on the main floor have large signs talking about their different functions within the elevator.  Here I am at the manlift:

The other elevator and office were left untouched as if everyone and the grain left yesterday so you can see how the elevator actually looked when it closed.  Here I am in the office checking out the old wall telephone:

The interior of the untouched elevator was quite the sight to see.  

 

After we had finished at the Inglis Elevators we drove from Inglis to Yorkton and stopped for the day.  Our rest stop for the night was an older independent and very clean place called the Redwood Motel.  Here I am resting before we headed out for dinner: