Canada/West 2022:
Day 9 - Regina


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Canada 2022: [Day 1 - Holmen] [Day 2 - Trempealeau] [Day 3 - Coon Valley] [Day 4 - Viroqua] [Day 5 - Cloquet] [Day 6 - International Falls] [Day 7 - Winnipeg] [Day 8 - Winnipeg] [Day 9 - Regina] [Day 10 - Grasslands NP] [Day 11 - Taber] [Day 12 - Waterton Lakes NP] [Day 13 - Banff NP] [Day 14 - Edmonton] [Day 15 - Jasper NP] [Day 16 - Bay View] [Day 17 - Woodinville] [Day 18 - Woodinville] [Day 19 - Mt. Rainier NP] [Day 20 - Macks Creek Park] [Day 21 - Craters of the Moon] [Day 22 - Yellowstone NP] [Day 23 - Lewis and Clark SP] [Day 24 - Fargo] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

Thursday, August 18, 2022: We were up and out of the hotel by 8 AM. Debbie got this shot of IG Field on the University of Manitoba's campus as we were leaving the hotel.
Of course we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. By now, we were completely addicted to the Egg BLT Bagel meal.
The weather was already looking bad, so we were very happy that we had replanned this day.
We saw one more polar bear statue as we left Winnipeg behind. These were from the 2005 Bears on Broadway. There were originally 75 statues made, and we were sure that we could find more of them if we stayed longer.
Alas, we turned our back on Winnipeg and headed west along the Trans-Canada Highway, headed for Regina, Saskatchewan.
Maersk!
We passed through large fields of sunflowers, ...
... and these beautiful yellow plants, and the weather started to improve. We were seeing areas of blue sky through the clouds.
It is fascinating that there are so many variations of deer poses in the highway deer crossing signs.
Brandon, Manitoba, is the second-largest city in Manitoba and is an agricultural center and a prominent wheat producer.
On the outskirts of Brandon, we decided to stop for some treats at Tim Hortons.
We drove through the drive through and picked up ...
... two french crullers, two glazed sour cream donuts, and two chocolate croissants. The donuts were good, but the croissants were amazing. Many happy eating sounds were made in the van as we continued westward.
As we neared the border between Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we stopped at the welcome center on the Manitoba side, ...
... to see their red chairs.
Their welcome center was very nice, with trivia cards about Manitoba on the walls, ...
... and a barn swallow nest right outside the window, ...
... with what appeared to be a mama bird waiting patiently nearby. We chatted with a nice staff member named Lukas for a few minutes.
We got one last look at the flag of Manitoba which consists of a red field with the Union Jack in the upper left with a bison and a cross of St. George on the right side.
Goodbye, Manitoba.
Hello, Saskatchewan!
The Trans-Canada highway signs now had a Saskatchewan banner at the bottom.
We went on high alert for moose after seeing this crossing sign, but alas, we didn't see any.
That's Regina in the distance, which means ...
... we are near our first stop: Staples!
We had such good fortune finding that SX740 in the Staples in Winnipeg that we decided to stop at two more in Regina. The online inventory for the both stores had showed one camera in inventory the night before, but as we entered the parking lot, this store was showing it as "out of stock." Tom headed in to see if they still had one, and they did! We now had a primary and a working backup camera with zero defects.
As we drove through Regina, we saw the flag of Saskatchewan (in the middle) on many buildings. It is a split green and yellow flag with a coat of arms in the upper left and a flower on the right.
The logo on the side of this silo looked just like the fields we had been driving through.
Hey! It's the administrative offices of the Canadian Automobile Association. As former AAA members, we were very happy to see this building and to see that they are still in business.
Just before 3:00 PM, we stopped at our second Staples. It's online inventory for the SX740 was also showing as "out of stock," but just like the other store, ...
... they still had one. Hooray for whatever bug is resident in the inventory management software at Staples! Our quest for cameras in Canada was now complete.
We both did a double-take as we drove by this Tim Hortons sign offering a coffee collaboration with Justin Bieber.
As we made our way toward our hotel, we passed the gorgeous Mosaic Stadium, home of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Our hotel for the night was the Meridian Inn and Suites at the Saskatchewan Airport. It was a spacious King Suite, ...
... with a kitchenette and a full size refrigerator. We took full advantage of the full size freezer to refreeze some water bottles to help keep our cooler cold.
The soundproofing on the windows was amazing. Even though we were right next to the airport, we didn't realize that airplanes were taking off or landing unless we happened to see them out the window.
We could see the stadium and the Regina skyline as well.
This was the ninth day of the trip and we were running low on clean clothes, so we took used the hotel's coin-operated laundry services to wash everything we had with us.
After the laundry was done, we had a lovely rice dinner with chicken, ...
... and we settled in to a relaxing evening, ...
... watching the sun slowly sink down in the west.
The aurora forecast app showed that tonight would be our best chance so far at seeing the northern lights, so Debbie set an alarm to wake up around midnight to check the sky. Nothing at midnight. Nothing at 2 AM, or 3 AM, or 4 AM. Ah, well. We tried.

Day 10 >


Canada 2022: [Day 1 - Holmen] [Day 2 - Trempealeau] [Day 3 - Coon Valley] [Day 4 - Viroqua] [Day 5 - Cloquet] [Day 6 - International Falls] [Day 7 - Winnipeg] [Day 8 - Winnipeg] [Day 9 - Regina] [Day 10 - Grasslands NP] [Day 11 - Taber] [Day 12 - Waterton Lakes NP] [Day 13 - Banff NP] [Day 14 - Edmonton] [Day 15 - Jasper NP] [Day 16 - Bay View] [Day 17 - Woodinville] [Day 18 - Woodinville] [Day 19 - Mt. Rainier NP] [Day 20 - Macks Creek Park] [Day 21 - Craters of the Moon] [Day 22 - Yellowstone NP] [Day 23 - Lewis and Clark SP] [Day 24 - Fargo] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

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