Yellowhead

Alberta is probably so excited to see me that it cried with happiness. All day.

Rain was the challenge today. It rained off an on for most of the trip through Manitoba and was just cloudy through Saskatchewan. After Portage la Prairie, we wanted to take the Yellowhead Hwy. It was a road that dad and I have never been on.

In 1877, this would be Northwest Territories. in Manitoba

The Yellowhead Hwy starts at the corner of Portage and Main outside of Winnipeg, MB and continues on through Saskatchewan and Alberta where it forks in British Columbia. At the base of Mt. Robinson, the tallest mountain in Canada, the hwy splits North to Haida Gwaii and South to Hope, BC.

The highway has an interesting history. The Yellowhead Hwy was named after Pierre Bostonais, a Metis fur trader and explorer. He had blonde hair and was nicknamed Tete Jaune which translates to yellow head.

There wasn’t much to see in Manitoba. We saw trains and small lakes, but there were not many towns on the Yellowhead. The towns that were there seemed to have many closed own businesses and run down buildings.

Stormy day

Made it to Saskatchewan

I absolutely love Saskatchewan. It is so flat, the sky is so big, and for the first time, you could feel the enormity of Canada. You could watch two different storm systems pass on either side of you. Towns here seemed to be more prosperous and more plentiful than Manitoba. I realy liked the town of North Battlefords. It was starting to get hilly here and the landscape was stunning. We stopped at the Mountie statue.

So flat…

Mountie statue in North Battlefords, Sask

“Don’t fence me in” A bison made from barbed wire fence. Battlefords, Sask

Dad and I are stopping in Lloydminster for two days. Lloydminster is a cool town. It is right on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In fact, the main road running North/South is the border. They have these cool red border markers that are a neat photo opportunity.  We totally missed the World’s largest Sundial (next time?).

On the border

Sitting on the border. my feet to two different places. (I always think of a Walk to Remember when I do this.)

What is interesting to see here is the difference between the Alberta side and the Saskatchewan side of town. It is growing more on the Alberta side even though there is an agreement between the two provinces for the town.

Saskatchewan might be the most difficult to understand when it comes to time. Although Saskatchewan is part of the Central Time Zone (with Manitoba), the province doesn’t recognize daylight savings time. One of the ladies at the information desk in Lloydminster explained that during the summer, Saskatchewan has the same time as Alberta and during the winter they have the same time as Manitoba.

We are almost at the final leg of our journey, then it’s a whole new adventure from there.