This past week after the Stampede, Sheena and I headed to the middle north of Saskatchewan to
join Dean and Laura on their summer vacation.  The trip was our first to Saskatchewan and took us to Glaslyn and Turtle Lake (each are about one hour from Lloydminister and about a six hour
drive from Calgary).  Leaving early in the morning, Sheena drove most of the way to Dean’s parent’s place at Turtle Lake.  Along the way, we couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the area was: filled with trees, fields, lakes and rivers — and actually quite different from our perceptions of Saskatchewan as flat, grain fields as far as the eye can see.  Saskatchewan actually reminded us of parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with similar hills and landscape.  After arriving at Turtle Lake and experiencing a bit of the relaxed lifestyle of cottage country, we were struck by the similarities between our home and theirs, a big change from the hustle and bustle of Calgary (or even popular Calgarian tourist retreats such found in the Invermere area).

For two days, we chilled in the Turtle Lake area, spending most of our time fishing on Turtle Lake  with Dean and his dad’s boat and a bit of swimming.  Sheena and I caught our first northern pikes and really enjoyed the fishing.  Boady was quite fun to watch as he clambered about the boat and played around in the water.  Later in the evening, we had a fish-bake and cooked up our catches as well as a few from another of Dean’s trips on the water. I also tried a beer’n’clam, which wasn’t too bad at all.

For the last day, we headed out to Laura’s old homestead near Glaslyn.  Her father owns a beef

cattle ranch and quite a bit of land.  Later in the day, Sheena went picking Saskatoon berries with Laura’s mother Elaine, while Dean and I took on the task of ridding a few gophers from their ranchland.  Later, Laura’s dad Brian took us on a tour of the ranch and retold some of the history of their ranch.  Sheena and I were amazed, as some parts of the farm would certainly be heritage areas back home.  Apparently, part of their driveway and the old house were used as stopping points along a trail for travelers in the old west — even a few NWMP officers would stop and spend the night at the old stone house.  Other parts of their farm were settled by a Ukrainian family and their machinery and
mud and straw-insulated wood houses were still around for us to see.  We also checked out a few Native cairns which had been laid on their fields quite some time ago.  A lot of history in one place!  Thanks to the Kahls and the Edwards for your warm hospitality, we certainly enjoyed our visit and hopefully will be back again soon.  Photos on flickr too.