{"id":5817,"date":"2017-07-07T00:33:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T00:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eaumaison.us\/?p=5817"},"modified":"2017-07-07T00:33:12","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T00:33:12","slug":"run-for-the-border-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/2017\/07\/07\/run-for-the-border-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Run for the Border Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 3 of a special guest post by Ben<\/p>\n

\n

Canada Day in Canada! \u00a0We woke up fairly early so we could spend as much time in Regina as possible. \u00a0I 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. \u00a0We were staying at the Bear Claw Hotel, so I HAD to grab a complimentary bear claw on the way out for me and Jack.<\/p>\n

The road to Regina was very, very straight, right along a railroad line. \u00a0It 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. \u00a0The only town we stopped at was Sedley, SK. \u00a0It was just a fuel and snack stop, but it was a very pleasant little store. \u00a0I got some very good beef jerky and Jack got a weird lollypop\/toy.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0 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. \u00a0Jack was flabbergasted by a hotel “room” that had SEVEN rooms. \u00a0 We threw down our bags and put up our feet for a few moments and called home.<\/p>\n

After we got settled in, we headed across the street to Victoria park for the first of our Canada Day festivities. \u00a0The had a small farmers market, a face painting stand and a giant Canada 150 sculpture. \u00a0We wandered through the farmers market and got something called a “sparkle” which was a cookie with a huge amount of frosting and sprinkles. \u00a0After that, Jack decided he wanted to climb around on the sculpture, since that seemed to be allowed.<\/p>\n

Outfitted with flags and pins<\/p><\/div>\n

Climbing Canada<\/p><\/div>\n

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. \u00a0It was very empty when we arrived just after 11, and I was afraid they were closed for the holiday, but they were open! \u00a0They had a vast array of different poutines and hotdogs. \u00a0I got a honey garlic poutine with little rib bites, which was delicious.<\/p>\n

yisss<\/p><\/div>\n

Jack got a hotdog with bacon, and a very special surprise “drink.” \u00a0They had slush puppies! \u00a0Rachel probably remembers that I was very excited about these last time I was in Canada. \u00a0They are still delicious, and Jack is also a fan. \u00a0We both agreed they were FAR superior to Icees.<\/p>\n

SLUSH PUPPY<\/p><\/div>\n

As we wrapped up our meal, we noticed that there was a chalkboard wall that we were allowed to write on. \u00a0Jack drew a Canadian flag with a blue pine tree on top, and I made a sappy little display.<\/p>\n

Fine Art<\/p><\/div>\n

Our bellies full, it was time to head on to the rest of the Canada Day festivities at the larger Lake Wascana park. \u00a0We immediately got stuck in a traffic jam because I overestimated the likelihood of close parking. \u00a0Once through the jam, we started wending our way back from the park looking for a spot. \u00a0Finally, we got a 2 hour meter spot – good enough!<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0We wandered through checking things out, but nothing really grabbed our interest until we got to the lake. \u00a0They were offering free kayak or canoe trips around the lake and Jack was immediately intrigued. \u00a0After 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. \u00a0After a short wait, we got a two person kayak and awkwardly boarded!<\/p>\n

Look Ma, Safety Vests<\/p><\/div>\n

Jack had a blast and felt high confidence in his ability to paddle a kayak. \u00a0I still handled the steering, but I think he would pick it up for real very quickly.<\/p>\n

After our tour around the lake, I realized we were running out of time on the meter. \u00a0I asked Jack what else he wanted to do before we went back to the car, and he chose the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. \u00a0It was a small natural history type museum, but it was really cool. \u00a0They 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. \u00a0The big difference was that there was no glass. \u00a0<\/em>I really think that made them seem ten times better. \u00a0I could have spent a lot more time in the museum, but Jack got his fill before we had to leave to catch the meter.<\/p>\n

Eeek, Wolves!<\/p><\/div>\n

Flying Squirrel!<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We were a little worn out from the park adventures, so we took a few minutes to enjoy our rooms\u00a0<\/em>and relax. \u00a0Soon enough though, Jack was feeling snacky and ready for more adventure. \u00a0We decided to head north to the cornwall center – a mall. \u00a0We explored a small comics shop on the way and I resisted buying some pokemon art.<\/p>\n

At the mall, we got some fries from A&W and explored the canadian dollar store equivalent. \u00a0There 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. \u00a0That team is so beloved in Regina… it was game day and I think 70% of the population had some sort of rider gear on. \u00a0People in Denver love their Broncos, but Regina has them beat in fandom.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0We headed south to another mall (which as now closed) and got dinner at a proper pizza place with REAL pepperoni. \u00a0After eating, we still had some time before the movie, so we went to a nearby park to play a bit.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0We wormed our way up through various detours and finally got to the hotel lot, but it was full. \u00a0Luckily, 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.<\/p>\n

It was about time for the fireworks show, so Jack settled in on the bed and waited. \u00a0Soon they began, and we had a great view!<\/p>\n

Initial Position<\/p><\/div>\n

The show was long, and Jack was soon starting to cozy up in the blankets. \u00a0A perfect fireworks viewing spot!<\/p>\n

Enhanced Position<\/p><\/div>\n

We had been going strong since 6:30, so 11:00 was definitely bed time. \u00a0Jack was out almost immediately after brushing teeth. \u00a0A long and fun day in Regina!<\/p>\n

Zonked<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 3 of a special guest post by Ben Canada Day in Canada! \u00a0We woke up fairly early so we could spend as much time in Regina as possible. \u00a0I 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5817"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5820,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817\/revisions\/5820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eaumaison.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}