Part 3 of a special guest post by Ben

Canada Day in Canada!  We woke up fairly early so we could spend as much time in Regina as possible.  I let Jack stay in the car while I checked out of our hotel, since he didn’t want to go through the fumes again, though they weren’t nearly so bad as the night before.  We were staying at the Bear Claw Hotel, so I HAD to grab a complimentary bear claw on the way out for me and Jack.

The road to Regina was very, very straight, right along a railroad line.  It was fun to see a new little town every 40 km or so, each with its own grain elevator, and most with their own small museum for some reason.  The only town we stopped at was Sedley, SK.  It was just a fuel and snack stop, but it was a very pleasant little store.  I got some very good beef jerky and Jack got a weird lollypop/toy.

My plan on arriving in Regina was to have the hotel hold our luggage and park the car, however when I went inside to arrange that, they told us they had our room ready AND that we had been upgraded to one of the penthouse jacuzzi suites.   We parked the car and schlepped our luggage up to the top floor and opened our (larger than normal) hotel door to see a huge suite of rooms that were very finely appointed.  Jack was flabbergasted by a hotel “room” that had SEVEN rooms.   We threw down our bags and put up our feet for a few moments and called home.

After we got settled in, we headed across the street to Victoria park for the first of our Canada Day festivities.  The had a small farmers market, a face painting stand and a giant Canada 150 sculpture.  We wandered through the farmers market and got something called a “sparkle” which was a cookie with a huge amount of frosting and sprinkles.  After that, Jack decided he wanted to climb around on the sculpture, since that seemed to be allowed.

Outfitted with flags and pins

Climbing Canada

Soon we were hungry for something other than sparkles, so I convinced Jack to drive over to Coney Island Poutine, so I could get my poutine fix.  It was very empty when we arrived just after 11, and I was afraid they were closed for the holiday, but they were open!  They had a vast array of different poutines and hotdogs.  I got a honey garlic poutine with little rib bites, which was delicious.

yisss

Jack got a hotdog with bacon, and a very special surprise “drink.”  They had slush puppies!  Rachel probably remembers that I was very excited about these last time I was in Canada.  They are still delicious, and Jack is also a fan.  We both agreed they were FAR superior to Icees.

SLUSH PUPPY

As we wrapped up our meal, we noticed that there was a chalkboard wall that we were allowed to write on.  Jack drew a Canadian flag with a blue pine tree on top, and I made a sappy little display.

Fine Art

Our bellies full, it was time to head on to the rest of the Canada Day festivities at the larger Lake Wascana park.  We immediately got stuck in a traffic jam because I overestimated the likelihood of close parking.  Once through the jam, we started wending our way back from the park looking for a spot.  Finally, we got a 2 hour meter spot – good enough!

Once at the park, there was a lot of stuff going on – wagon rides pulled by clydesdales, a buffalo hide tanning demo, a one legged race and more.  We wandered through checking things out, but nothing really grabbed our interest until we got to the lake.  They were offering free kayak or canoe trips around the lake and Jack was immediately intrigued.  After weighing his worry about whether it was too dangerous against the cool factor of rowing our own boat around the beautiful lake – he decided that we should definitely do it.  After a short wait, we got a two person kayak and awkwardly boarded!

Look Ma, Safety Vests

Jack had a blast and felt high confidence in his ability to paddle a kayak.  I still handled the steering, but I think he would pick it up for real very quickly.

After our tour around the lake, I realized we were running out of time on the meter.  I asked Jack what else he wanted to do before we went back to the car, and he chose the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.  It was a small natural history type museum, but it was really cool.  They had a giant 3d map of saskatchewan that I really enjoyed, but they also had very impressive taxidermy dioramas like they have here in Denver.  The big difference was that there was no glass.  I really think that made them seem ten times better.  I could have spent a lot more time in the museum, but Jack got his fill before we had to leave to catch the meter.

Eeek, Wolves!

Flying Squirrel!

The embarrassing thing is, the place I parked was only a couple blocks short of our hotel, so I should have just parked there and I wouldn’t have had to worry about the meter. C’est la vie.

We were a little worn out from the park adventures, so we took a few minutes to enjoy our rooms and relax.  Soon enough though, Jack was feeling snacky and ready for more adventure.  We decided to head north to the cornwall center – a mall.  We explored a small comics shop on the way and I resisted buying some pokemon art.

At the mall, we got some fries from A&W and explored the canadian dollar store equivalent.  There was also a sports hat store, so I stopped in to grab a Saskatchewan Rough Riders had for my Dad, since he used to collect “odd” sports hats.  That team is so beloved in Regina… it was game day and I think 70% of the population had some sort of rider gear on.  People in Denver love their Broncos, but Regina has them beat in fandom.

Sam was enjoying some grandparent time in Grand Junction and got to go see the new despicable me movie, so, of course, Jack had to as well.  We headed south to another mall (which as now closed) and got dinner at a proper pizza place with REAL pepperoni.  After eating, we still had some time before the movie, so we went to a nearby park to play a bit.

After the movie, I had to get us back up north to our hotel, but the problem was – most of the roads were now closed.  We wormed our way up through various detours and finally got to the hotel lot, but it was full.  Luckily, they had a sign that said we could use valet service if the lot was full, so we dashed in and handed off my keys.

It was about time for the fireworks show, so Jack settled in on the bed and waited.  Soon they began, and we had a great view!

Initial Position

The show was long, and Jack was soon starting to cozy up in the blankets.  A perfect fireworks viewing spot!

Enhanced Position

We had been going strong since 6:30, so 11:00 was definitely bed time.  Jack was out almost immediately after brushing teeth.  A long and fun day in Regina!

Zonked