Last week I spent 4 days on a mini Canadian road trip to Moose Jaw, Regina, and Winnipeg. The second stop on my trip was Regina, Saskatchewan.
Regina is the capital city of Saskatchewan, Canada, and is the second largest city in the province, after Saskatoon. Regina currently has a population of around 240000 people. Regina was previously the seat of government for the North-West Territories, of which the current provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were formed in 1905, and Regina became the capital city of Saskatchewan in 1906. The site was previously called Wascana (“Buffalo Bones” in Cree) prior to being renamed in 1882 in honour of Queen Victoria. While I was here I took some architecture photographs, and picked up a delicious sandwich from Italian Star Deli.
The University of Regina Heating Plant supply’s heated and chilled water to the University of Regina campus buildings. The pyramid shaped concrete building was built in 1967 in brutalism architecture style, and somewhat resembles a grain elevator. The build has removeable end walls to easily allow mechanical components to be swapped out.
The Saskatchewan Legislative Building was built between 1908 and 1912, and houses the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Beaux-Arts style building was designed by Edward and William Sutherland Maxwell from Montreal.
The Government House, built in 1889, was constructed as the residence for the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, who’s territorial headquarters were in Regina until the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created out of the territories in 1905, and Regina became the capital of Saskatchewan. The building then became the vice-regal resident of Saskatchewan until 1944, when it was vacated until it was returned to official ceremonial use in 1984. The Modified Italianate architecture style building was designed by Thomas Fuller.
Embury Heights is a 14-storey senior housing complex that was built in 1979. It is a very good example of brutalist architecture.
The Federal Building (1975 Scarth Street) is a beautiful historic Art Deco style building that was built in 1936. The four-story building was originally build as part of a nation-wide Great Depression program to create employment and improve and consolidate federal government services.
The SaskPower Building is a 14 story flowing curvature office building that was built in 1963 for SaskPower. The building is a great example of modern architecture, and was designed by Joseph Pettick. At the time of its completion it was Regina’s tallest building.
I explored quite a few other buildings while I was here, before picking up my spicy salami sandwich from Italian Star Deli. It was absolutely scrumptious!
After I finished exploring Regina I continued the drive towards Winnipeg, which took about 6 hours. After checking into my hotel, the Howard Johnson, I drove to One Great City Brewing Company, where I had a delicious pork belly pizza and a few beers, before calling it a night.
Be sure to check back soon for the next installment in this mini series, where we get to explore Winnipeg. Also, I do plan on travelling again Internationally within the next month or so. I will either be going to Morocco & Portugal, or Bali, Indonesia.
If you like the content that I produce and want to donate money towards the upkeep of my site, or buy me a cup of coffee please feel free to contribute towards it. I really appreciate it.
Last week I spent 4 days on a mini Canadian road trip to Moose Jaw, Regina, and Winnipeg. The first stop on my trip was Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Moose Jaw is Saskatchewan, Canada’s fourth largest city. The city has a population of 34000 people and was founded in 1903. Before the city was founded Cree and Assiniboine people used the area as a winter encampment. The narrow river crossing, abundance of water, and wildlife made it a great location for a settlement. Fur traded and Metis buffalo hunters created the permanent settlement at a place called “the turn” at the now present-day Kingsway Park. In 1881 the Canadian Pacific Railway officially arrive, and then the settlement was officially incorporated as a city in 1903. While I was here I took some architecture photographs, and ate at a delicious restaurant called Rosie’s Diner.
I couldn’t find much information on Saskatchewan Courts (W.G. Davies Building), however it quite appealed to me. It seems to have a brutalist vibe to it, with its extensive use of concrete.
The Moose Jaw Court House is a two-story historic building built in 1909. It made the use of steel and brick construction. The building is the older continuously functioning courthouse in the province. The Moose Jaw Fire Hall (138 Fairford Street West) is a heritage property that was constructed in 1909 as Moose Jaw’s first fire hall. The Georgian Revival style building was designed by W.A. Elliot, a Brandon architect, who was also responsible for designing Moose Jaw’s Alexandra School. It was used as a fire hall until 1979.
Moore Gallery (76 Fairford Street West) was designed by Regina’s architectural firm of Storey and Van Egmond. The Classical Revival style building was constructed in 1910, and served as the Land Titles Building from 1910 to 1998, and held the distinction of being the only one of eleven surviving Land Registry facilities in the province to retain its original function. The building was fully restored in 1999. The Walter Scott Building (12 High Street East) is a heritage six-story building faced with brick and Tyndall stone. It is very reminiscent of Chicago Style architecture, and was designed by Regina’a architectural firm of Storey and Van Egmond. The building was originally completed for the Moose Jaw Times Herald, and was the largest commercial office building in Saskatchewan at the time of completion. The building features Turner Mushroom support columns that flare at the top to provide support for the floors above.
St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church is a heritage two-story stucco-clad church that was built in 1900. The local Methodist congregation built this church in 1900, but out grew the building and sold it to the Roman Catholics who occupied it between 1907 to 1913. In 1917 it became an automotive garage for the Central Motor Company. It once again became a church in 1925. In 1927 the church underwent renovated by local architect Henry Hargreaves, and was renamed Knox Presbyterian Church, and again to St. Mark’s in 1967.
While I was here I visited The Tunnels of Moose Jaw. The tunnels are well known to have been used by Al Capone during the prohibition era. The tunnels were originally built to be used as utility tunnels for power and heating. Back in the days steam from boilers was used as heating. Steam engineers maintained the boilers and used the tunnels to avoid the elements (especially in winter). The original passageways ran under main street from the CPR Train Station to the Maple Leaf Hotel. In 1908 the tunnels were abandoned by the steam engineers and left empty. During the early 1900’s Chinese immigrants came to Canada to escape Chinese poverty and seek a better life. When they came to Moose Jaw they were employed as servants, railroad workers, laundry workers, or miners. They often hid in the tunnels to avoid “head tax” because they were unable to pay the tax due to their low wages. They also went into the tunnel to avoid the “Yellow Peril”. There were a lot of racist anti-Chinese people in Moose Jaw, which led to the Chinese escaping to the tunnels to avoid being killed or attacked. Unfortunately, racism still lives in our country, as well as globally. Following the “Chinese Era” was the “prohibition era” where Gangsters and rumrunners came to Moose Jaw and used the tunnels to manufacture alcohol. The Soo Line Railroad ran from Chicago to Moose Jaw and was frequently used to illegally transport the alcohol. It was rumored that the gangster Al Capone frequented the tunnels and the city of Moose Jaw. The tunnels were even used for illegal gambling. I wasn’t allowed to take any photos here, but I highly recommend visiting it. The acting was spectacular.
Capone’s Hideaway Motel is a themed hotel that has a 1920’s antique car perched on top of its sight, and is named after the gangster Al Capone, who was apparently a frequent visitor to the city, especially during the prohibition area.
The Old CPR Train Station, designed by Montreal architect Hugh G. Jones, is a Beaux-Arts style building built between 1920 and 1922. The building consists of a two-story waiting hall surrounded by single-story wings attached on three sides, as well as a six-story clock tower. The building is clad with Tyndall stone and red brick. The interior detailing includes wall medallions and reliefs of stone and terra cotta. The building is a protected heritage building, and currently serves as a liquor store.
While I was here I also explored some other buildings along the main street before having dinner at Rosie’s Diner. I had a nacho burger wrap, which was absolutely delicious, and had a great texture.
Be sure to check back soon for the next installment in this mini series, where we get to explore Regina. Also, I do plan on travelling again Internationally within the next month or so. I will either be going to Morocco & Portugal, or Bali, Indonesia.
If you like the content that I produce and want to donate money towards the upkeep of my site, or buy me a cup of coffee please feel free to contribute towards it. I really appreciate it.
The Western Development Museum (WDM), was established in 1949, and has been in its present location since 1972. There are technically four WDM’s, located at Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Yorkton, and Saskatoon, but the area of focus is Saskatoon. The Saskatoon one is called 1910 Boomtown, and focuses on the boomtown era of 1910’s, as well as features vintage automobiles, trains, farm equipment, and other memorabilia.
When you enter the museum you’re presented with an indoor representation of a typical Saskatchewan town. There’s a long wide street with buildings on either side. I’ll go through every building and highlight a bit of history about them, before venturing on to different technologies that were developed in the 1900’s that made vast improvements into people’s quality of life; from farming techniques, automobile development, home improvements, electricity, running water, etc.
Telephone Operator’s House
Telephones were in place in many parts of Saskatchewan by 1910. The main switchboard in most small towns were typically located in the operator’s home. Shown below is what a typical telephone operator’s house would have looked like.
Harness Shop
Harness shops are some of the busiest shops in the small towns of Saskatchewan during the early 1910’s, since animals were the main workhorse, rather than vehicles. The shop keeper was often the town cobbler, and leather worker as well. Shown below is what a typical harness shop would have looked like.
Livery Stable
Livery Stables were used to provide house and feed for horses, which were the main workhorse of transportation in the early 1910’s. Horses were used to pull buggies, wagons, and farm equipment.
Blacksmith Shop
Blacksmiths had a wide variety of jobs ranging from the sharpening of slows, replacing horseshoes, repairing wheels, shaping iron into tools, and manufacturing replacement parts. Metal is heated in a forge, where bellows forced air through the fire to heat the iron. The iron is then held with tongs against an anvil and then shaped into the desired shape with a sledgehammer, before being plunged into water to harden it. Shown below is what a typical blacksmith shop would have looked like.
General Store
General stores are where the citizens could send or receive mail, buy foods, have a coffee, etc. Most items were loose, weighed and bagged, similar to how the modern day Bulk Barn does things. Shown below is what a typical general store would have looked like.
Real Estate Office and Law Office
The homestead system was based on the Dominion Land Survey (DLS). The Dominion Lands Act of 1872 offered up homesteads of 160 acres for $10 if the settler lived on the homestead for a minimum of six months every year for three years, as well as built a suitable home, broke at least 30 acres of land, and seeded at least 20 acres of land. These new homesteads were keeping the Real Estate / Law Offices in these small towns quite busy.
Dentist’s Office
In the early 1900’s dental services were usually performed by general practice doctor, and a dental office was only established after a community had developed to a considerable size to merit a specialist. A dentist usually began his practice with only a manually operated dental chair, and some basic equipment.
Doctor’s Office
Small town doctors were general practioners that faced a wide variety of medical situations ranging from pulling teerh, broken bones, delivering babies, as well as diagnosing and treating illnesses. Occasionally the illness or accident would be severe enough that the doctor would be required to visit that patient in their home, sometimes travelling many kilometres on poor roads.
Drug Store
Drug stores in the early 1910’s did more than count out pills prescribed by doctors. The usually had to mix out their own medications from raw materials. Mortar and pestle’s, scales, beakers, and a compression device were a common staple tool that allowed chemists to manufacture the pills prescribed by the doctor. Drug stores also carried specialty items such as photography equipment, grooming and hygiene supplies.
Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP) Detachment
Shown below is an example of what the RNWMP detachment in Watson, Saskatchewan looked like. The detachment had two police officers who lived and worked in the building.
Church
Churches are an important part of a community, and most small towns had a church.
School
Most schools in small towns were just a one-room schoolhouse. Most schools were poorly lit, and quite chilly.
Wing Lee Laundry
Many early laundries were operated by Chinese settlers who originally came to Canada to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway’s western section. The laundromats were usually the home and business of these settlers, with the sleeping quarters typically located in the back.
Sterling Hardware Store
Hardware stores offered a wide variety of items ranging from nails to lamps and tools.
Arctic Ice Company
Before electric fridges arrived to the scene food was kept in insulated ice boxes, and were cooled by a block of ice. In the winter months ice blocks were cut from nearby rivers and lakes. The Arctic Ice Company wagon delivered ice door-to-door for home ice boxes. While the electric fridge was invented in 1913, they were not common-place in homes until the 1930’s when they became more affordable, and safer refrigerants such as Freon were invented. Early electric fridges used ammonia, which wasn’t safe for home use because they often leaked.
Railway Station
Railways were critical to the existence of prairie towns. They brought settlers and supplies, and hauled away produce to other markets. Sometimes towns would relocate to be on a rail line so that they could survive.
Farm Equipment
There was a tremendous amount of farming equipment ranging from steam powered equipment, to gas, diesel and oil powered equipment.
Sod House
Sod houses were common place, especially towards the end of the 1800’s, start of the 1900’s. They were chepa to build, warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. This was the first home for many immigrants.
Bennett Buggy
In the 1930’s, during the Great Depression era, money for gasoline had dried up, so people improvised by repurposing gasoline powered vehicles into horse-drawn vehicles. The engines were usually removed, and straps were attached that could be pulled by a horse.
Depression House
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that occured from 1929 until the late 1930’s. It was the longest and deepest depression in the 20th censure. It started in the United States after a major fall in stock prices that began on September 4th 1929, and was worldwide news by October 19th 1929. This was also known as Black Tuesday. Between 1929 and 1932 the world economy shrank by 15%. By comparison, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 the world economy only shrank by 1%. Unemployment also rose to nearly 23%! Unfortunately also during these times the Canadian and USA prairies were also pummeled with severe wind storms which would pile dust against the side of peoples homes, sometimes up to the roof. Dust would even make its way inside the home and cover everything. An example of a depression-era home is shown below.
Rural Electrification
In the 1920’s homes were introduced to the magic of electricity, with the 32 Volt home electricity “Light Plant”. Light plants consisted of a gas engine (sometimes a wind turbine), an electric generator (also known as a dynamo), and a storage battery. The storage batteries consisted of sixteen 2 Volt gas storage batteries, usually split into two rows of eight to save on space. Farm light plants were typically stored in the basement and were installed on a concrete foundation to minimize vibration. The light plants could run small 32-volt appliances such as butter churns, washing machines, tools, and lights. Light plants provided electricity for many rural homes until the 1950’s, when the last of Saskatchewan’s rural farms were finally connected to the power grid.
Implement Dealer
Implement dealers were placed close to railway stations in order to take easily delivery of shipments of steam engines, gas tractors, and other agricultural machinery that was purchased by the citizens in the town for use on their homesteads.
Banks
In the early years of banking, each bank company issued it’s own currency. Banks in this era were built to give the impression of a solid and trustworthy image. Architecture during the 1910’s featured false columns on the front of banks, sturdy dark wood furniture, and wrought iron teller windows.
Craft Parlour
Craft Parlours provided women with craft supplies to make clothing, rugs, quilts, etc.
City Garage
Between the 1910’s and 1920’s cars were often sold by farm implement dealers who often knew very little about them. This often led to the need for a service industry to provide repairs and accessories for them, which spun the need for independent garages.
Boomtown Photo Studio
Photography equipment was not owned by the average citizen so if a professional portrait was required a visit to a city photo city was a necessity. City photo studies typically held a studio camera, a room with interchangeable backdrops, and a dedicated dark room to develop the film.
Fire Hall
Many Canadian homes are built of wood, and are susceptible to house fires. Making matters worse was older homes typically contained electrical wiring that didn’t have electrical grounding, and exposed wires (think rod and spoke inside walls with newspaper as insulation). Fire Halls were as much a necessity as they are now. Firefighting equipment – hand, steam, or compressed gas – stored in small wooden firehalls were operated by volunteer firefighters.
Town Office
Town halls were the centre of business and handled all local administration, and date back to early roman times.
Clock Shop
Clock shops in the early 1900’s were more than a place where people could buy clocks. The jeweler sold and repaired watches and clocks, handled china and silver, and acted as the local optometrist. Keeping time was a lot harder in the early 1900’s than our internet connected devices of today.
Butcher Shop
Electrical refrigeration didn’t exist in the early 1910’s. Food was preserved with ice and kept fresh in ice boxes. Butchers were an essential retailer as many families didn’t even have access to ice block service.
Newspapers
Today we can just look at our iPhones, or turn on our televisions to get the news, however at the turn of the 1900’s news travelled much slower. Newspapers were printed on a daily or weekly basis and delivered door to door. International news sometimes took as long as 1-3 months to reach Canada.
Barber Shop and Pool Hall
Barber Shops at the turn of the 1900’s often contained a public bath area where a person sat on the surrounding rim with his feet in the basin. Water drained through a small hole under the seat. Pictured below is a historic barber chair.
Transportation Gallery
The museum featured a transportation gallery that encompassed all sorts of vehicles from the early 1900’s through to modern times. There were even some electric vehicles and renewable fuel vehicles at the turn of the 1900’s that were quite interesting.
Believe it or not but electric cars have been around since the 1880’s. The very first electric car was developed by Gustave Trouve from Paris, France. Electric cars were widely used between 1881 and 1912, even more popular than gasoline / diesel powered cars. In fact six electric cars held the land speed record in the 19th century, with one of them reaching 106 kph in 1899, which was unheard of during those days. The internal combustion engine took over as the main engine of choice, until roughly the late 1970’s, when the fuel crisis hit. Electric vehicles eventaully started to gain traction again, including this weird looking vehicle called the ElecTrek pictured below. The ElecTrek was developed by Unique Mobility from Denver, Colorado. When it went on sale in 1982 it could reach highway speeds, however could only got 132 km (82 miles) on a charge, and ran on 16 heavy lead-acid batteries, which posed an issue with limited charge cycles and recyclability. The electric vehicle wasn’t quite ready for mass-production again. General Motors (GM)came close in 1996 with the EV1. The vehicle was highly favoured by its owners, however they lived a short life because in 1999 GMended production. There was also another catch because GM never let you purchase them, rather lease them for a 3 year period. Once the lease period was over GM crushed most of the vehicles, and distributed a few to museums. This was a huge blow to the electric vehicle scene. The 2000’s sat quiet, until Tesla came to the picture in 2003 and has since produced over 1 million electric vehicles. I myself own a Toyota Prius PRIME plug-in-hybrid, of which only 50,000 per year are produced. I love my car, and honestly don’t see myself driving a non electric vehicle here-on-in.
What do we have here? Pictured below is a McLaughlin Motors Model E35 powered by straw gas. Basically it was a regular vehicle that could burn straw gas. A gas bag was fitted to the car’s frame, with a hose to pipe the gas into the carburetor, and a valve that could be opened or closed depending on whether the car was run on straw gas or gasoline. The issue with running a car on straw gas was that the 300 cubic feet of gas had less stored capacity than 1 gallon (3.78 litres) of gasoline, so it could only go for an extremely short distance. This was one of the first “renewable fuel” vehicles ever produced.
Steam powered cars were prevalent until the end of the 1920’s In the early 1900’s automotive propulsion technology was highly experimental with gasoline, electric, and steam all contending to be the dominant technology of choice. Steam power was somewhat preferred during the late 1910’s to the early 1920’s because of its simplicity of operation, maintenance, and smooth / quiet ride. By the 1920’s steam was on its way out as gasoline alternatives were becoming significantly cheaper and faster. The vehicle pictured below is a 1926 Brooks steam car, of which only 18 were built. The car had only 38 moving parts, and featured unique technologies such as a flash boiler wrapped in 5 km of piano wire, and a body made of a light-weight composite fabric called Meritas.
Cobalt-60 Beam Therapy Unit
The original Cobalt-60 Beam Therapy Unit was an innovation in healthcare that had a worldwide impact in cancer treatment. Saskatchewan had a very high cancer rate developing between 1924 and 1941, and the government decided they would offer free cancer treatment to everyone living in Saskatchewan, and gave the green light to the University of Saskatchewan to develop the “Cobalt Bomb”. In 1951 the “Cobalt Bomb” was finalized to treat cancer. The very unit on display in this museum treated 6728 patients until it was replaced in 1972. Canada is a world leader in cancer treatment innovation for a terrible disease that kills 83,000 Canadians annually, and 9.8 million people worldwide.
I hope you enjoyed reading about all these fascinating facts as much as I did. If you visit Saskatoon I highly recommend visiting this museum. Be sure to check back soon as I continue my summer hiking adventures, and I also have an upcoming trip to Kelowna at the end of June. It’s also looking fairly promising for me to look again at doing my Eastern Europe road trip in the fall.
If you like the content that I produce and want to donate money towards the upkeep of my site, or buy me a cup of coffee please feel free to contribute towards it. I really appreciate it.
Two weeks ago we decided to take a trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for the long weekend. We took an extra day off to turn it into a four day weekend. During the 7 hour drive to Saskatoon I ended up having quite a few work phone calls, which made for a quicker trip out. For lunch we stopped at A&W in Oyen.
Accommodation was at the Delta Bessborough, a historic grand railway hotel originally built for Canadian National Railway. The ten-story Chateauesque-style building was opened in 1935. The hotel was designed by Archibald and Schofield, who also designed two other hotels for the Canadian National Railway; Hotel Vancouver, and The Nova Scotian. The hotel features 225 guest rooms, three restaurants, a fitness centre, pool, conference rooms, and a massive waterfront gardens. The 8th floor was closed off for renovations, however we managed to sneak up there to check out what the hotel would have looked like before it was renovated in 2003.
After checking in to our hotel it was time to get some dinner. We walked over to Las Palapas, a Mexican place that was recommended to us. On our way to the restaurant we walked through the historic Nutana neighbourhood. Some of the buildings here were built in the very early 1900’s.
At Las Palapas we shared some tortilla chips as an appetizer. For our main meal I had some tacos, and Julie had enchiladas. We both agreed that the food was excellent.
After dinner we walked down the street to Prairie Sun Brewery for some potent potables. I picked up some Pink Himalayan Salt IPA’s, and Julie picked up some ciders. We walked back to our hotel and spent some time in the pool and hot tub, before crawling into bed and watching some Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime.
The next day we woke up around 8:00am and had breakfast at Broadway Cafe. I had eggs benedict with hashbrowns and Julie had a scrambler without eggs. The food was fairly mediocre, however the 1950’s décor was beautiful, and the staff were very friendly.
After breakfast we drove through the neighbourhood of Varsity View to find the few surviving examples of Art Deco homes that were built in the 1930’s. I had heard that Saskatoon had quite a few examples of these homes still around, however many of them were in bad shape.
After driving through Varsity View we parked the car and walked through the University of Saskatchewan campus. The University was founded in 1907. The original building, The College Building, was opened in 1913 (now declared a National Historic Site of Canada). Since then numerous other colleges were established; Arts & Science (1909), Agriculture (1912), Engineering (1912), Law (1913), Pharmacy (1914), Commerce (1917), Medicine (1926), Education (1927), Home Economics (1928), Nursing (1938), Graduate Studies and Research (1946), Physical Education (1958), Veterinary Medicine (1964), Dentistry (1965), and School of Physical Therapy (1976).
Remai Modern Art Museum
After walking through the University of Saskatchewan campus we drove to the Remai Modern Art Museum. The museum was established in 2009, however has only been in its current building since October 2017. The museum has three floors with two different collections distributed amongst them; the two main collections being the Mendel Collection, and the Picasso Collection.
The entrance is beautiful and modern, with nice leather seats, a fire place, and cool light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.
The Mendel Collection is a permanent collection featuring 7700 works by artists including Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, Cornellius Krieghoff, and William Perehudoff.
The Picasso Collection, on the second floor, is also a permanent collection. It features ceramics and linocuts by Pablo Picasso, and features 405 linocuts, many of his beautiful wife Jacqueline. Linocuts, also called linoleum cut, are a print made from a sheet of linoleum into which a design has been cut in a relief. An interesting thing to note is that some of Picasso’s designs included 50 lays of linoleum, and if he made a mistake anywhere along the way, he had to start over again.
After visiting the museum we went and got some ice cream from Homestead Ice Cream. I had Saskatoon Berry and Lemon in a waffle cone, while Julie had Licorice and Saskatoon Berry in a cup. If you’re a lover of ice cream you have to eat here!
Western Development Museum
After getting some ice cream we drove to the Western Development Museum (WDM), which was established in 1949, and has been in its present location since 1972. There are technically four WDM’s, located at Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Yorkton, and Saskatoon, but the area of focus is Saskatoon. The Saskatoon one is called 1910 Boomtown, and focuses on the boomtown era of 1910’s, as well as features vintage automobiles, trains, farm equipment, and other memorabilia. There’s a tremendous amount of content to write about this museum, so I’ll release it in a separate post, and eventually link it here.
After visiting the museum we went back to the hotel for a bit to relax, before heading out to dinner at Bon Temps. Bon Temps is an authentic Louisiana Cajun / Creole style restaurant. I had a delicious brisket served with corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, and a jalapeno corn bread. Julie had scallops served with green beans, mashed potatoes, and a jalapeno corn bread. We also had some adult beverages to go along with our meal.
After our meal we walked to the 9 Mile Legacy brewery, which was unfortunately closing in 10 minutes, so they were no longer serving any pints. I picked up two cans to-go, and we walked back to the hotel and went in the hot tub before going to bed.
On our final day in Saskatoon we went to Hometown Diner for Breakfast. I had a breakfast poutine, and Julie had a delicious chicken bacon club sandwich.
After breakfast we drove to the farmers market, which was extremely underwhelming, so we quickly left. Next up was the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo, which was excellent! The zoo is a National Historic Site of Canada (designated in 1990), and was created in 1966. There were over 30 different types of animals on display including Bald Eagles, Burrowing Owls, Great Horned Owls, Grizzly Bears, Lynx’s, Swift Fox (which escaped!), Dingo’s, Pygmy Goats, Bison, Pronghorns, multiple types of Sheep, Alpaca’s, Meerkats, and Capuchin Monkey’s.
After visiting the zoo it was time to grab some lunch. We drove to Odla, which actually happened to be right next door to the Broadway Cafe that we ate at the other day. Odla is a fine example of farm to table. I had a delicious hamburger, which was the BEST hamburger I’ve ever had in my life, and Julie had a grilled vegetable and quinoa plate.
After having our delicious lunch I drove to Crossmount Cider Company, which was a short 15 minute drive south of the city. The craft cidery is built next to a retirement community and overlooks a man-made wetland area, where you can few all sorts of birds while enjoying some ciders. We decided to both get a flight of sample ciders. The cidery was established in 2014.
After visiting the cidery we drove back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit before going to Thirteen Pies Pizza & Bar for dinner. I had a pizza called The Midnight Meat Train, which included sausage, meatballs, bacon, provolone, mozzarella, jalapenos, and tomato sauce. Julie had a pizza called The White Walker, which included roasted mushrooms, provolone, mozzarella, ricotta, white sauce, prosciutto (added extra), and truffle oil. We barely at half of our pizzas before calling it quits because we were full. We packed up our leftover pizza and started to walk back to the hotel. On our way back we both decided that we would give our leftovers to a homeless man who looked fairly hungry. I also snapped a photo of a very cool brutalism building called the Sturdy Stone Centre. The Sturdy Stone Centre, designed by the architecture firm of Forrester, Scott, Bowers, Cooper and Walls, is a 13 story building that was built in 1977. Floors 3 to 7 are used as a parkade, with the remaining floors used as office space.
The rest of the evening we spent watching more of our Amazon Prime series called The Man in the High Castile, as well as some time in the hot tub, before going to bed.
The following day we had breakfast at OEB before driving back to Calgary. I had my favourite dish there, a breakfast poutine called Soul in a Bowl. Julie had some smoked salmon on gluten-free bread.
On the way home we were supposed to stop at the Saskatchewan Sand Dunes, however due to an immense amount of rain the road to the dunes was inaccessible. I only made it about 100 feet before getting stuck, needing a tow out from a friendly Saskatchewan family.
Well that concludes this series, but be sure to check back soon as I have a trip to Kelowna in a few weeks, as well as plenty of upcoming hikes, including trip to Lake O’Hara in July.
If you like the content that I produce and want to donate money towards the upkeep of my site, my travel, or buy me a cup of coffee please feel free to contribute towards it. I really appreciate it.
Ian Griffin Photography 