I think Monty Python said it best in 'Meaning of Life'. Oh Canada, "Ooh, you are so big. So very, very huge. Gosh...we're all really impressed down here, I can tell you." I'll say one thing though, being out of Ontario makes a big difference. You feel a much better sense of progress, and seeing more than one province in a day is quite nice, albeit disorienting.
Expectations have all been broken down, and built high up. I had high hopes for Manitoba, it being something of a mystery to me. What's Manitoba? There are no stereotypes, stories, no typical 'Manitoban' things. I feel like everyone in Canada could give me at least one fact/idiosyncratic thing/notion of what every province is like...except Manitoba. Newfoundland, there's the accent, Nova Scotia, they've got the Bluenose II (it's on the dime), Potatoes come from P.E.I. (and so does Dion Phaneuf) Quebec speaks French, Ontario has Toronto, the largest city, and Ottawa, the capital, Saskatchewan's full of wheat (and Canola, it's even on their flag), Alberta's got the oil sands, the stampede, Banff, dinosaurs, etc etc etc, and B.C. has beautiful pacific weather, rain, dope, and hippies.
There's an unflattering distillation of Canada.
But Manitoba? What do they have? Now they have the Winnipeg Jets (and the city of Winnipeg is all about flaunting that) they've got James Reimer, they've got a low drinking age (18) and...mosquitoes...
Nothing that really stands definitively behind the notion of 'Manitoba-ness'. You know?
I didn't even get to interview someone FROM Manitoba, despite my best efforts. But I managed the next best thing - I interviewed a guy named Brandon in the city of Brandon, Manitoba.
He and his friend Chris were headed out to Fort McMurray, to start lucrative new jobs and new lives in a new part of Canada. They were experiencing the western road for the first time as well, so we enthusiastically shared stories over coffee, and went on our merry way. Great energy, those two. It was interesting seeing people in the pre-Albertan state. You hear so much about the deluge of folks who head out to the tar sands to work...seeing the eagerness of that up close was quite interesting. So optimistic, and full of hope.
But we were talking about expectations! For Saskatchewan, I had nearly none. Everyone says "Close your eyes when you get into the prairies and open them up once you hit Banff." or "It's nothing. It's flat, and there's wheat." They couldn't have been more wrong.
Now, I had a bit of an unfair advantage in experiencing the awesomeness of Saskatchewan, because I'm lucky enough to have a friend who lives in Saskatoon. However, the charms of the middle province started working on me well before I'd even made it north to meet up with her.
I'd been driving a while, and hadn't had much luck with photos (It is flat...and there is quite a lot of wheat...) so when I saw a sign offering "See Wolseley's swinging bridge", I decided to take a break and check it out.
The bridge was cool, it's over water and all made of high tension wire so it sways underfoot, but the town was a lot more interesting. A population of 1600 or so make it rather small, and somewhat unpopulated-looking. I cruised through, checking out the post office, the old shut-down railway station, some of the houses - and then I saw the Canada Cafe. They promised 'Chinese food, Canadian food, and Pizza'.
WHAT is Canadian food???
This seemed like just the question to fit in with what i'd been asking folks along the way. So I made a point to go in and have a chat. The owner was a little shy, and the waitress she pointed me too wasn't really interested, but Robert Stringer who was sitting down to lunch with friends (and who turned out to be the waitress' father) was more than happy to answer some of my questions.
The owner lightened up after she'd heard that the nature of my questions weren't anything sinister. Robert gave me a lot of tremendous answers too, and between the two of us I think we took some pretty great strides along the path to finding the Canadian dream. I learned so much about Wolseley and its Metis history, and got a new perspective on Saskatchewan, and small town life. It was really enlightening. I also got a pretty interesting answer about Canadian food :) I'll get some of that footage together, but for now you'll have to wait and see.
The rest of the day was given over mostly to driving. The landscape did begin to change, and I took a detour (at Robert Stringer's suggestion) to check out Qu'Appelle valley which doesn't fit in with the geography of the rest of Saskatchewan at all. It's like a chunk of the Muskokas sort of fell into the middle of a canola quilt. Very bizarre.
When I arrived in Saskatoon, I was stunned. It's huge! 250,000 people, crazy construction, modern-looking buildings, beautiful waterfront, and friendly folks. There's a bit of an underbelly to Saskatchewan, but it didn't quite put me off the way Winnipeg did. It was quite endearing. I met up with my friend Catherine who lives here in Saskatoon, and we had dinner and caught up on each other's lives. There's nothing quite as nice as sitting down to a meal with someone you haven't seen in a while, you never run out of things to say, the reminiscing is always more striking, and you both are so enthused you're nearly talking over each other. I got the brief tour/history of Saskatoon, and we sat down at the riverfront for an interview.
Catherine gave me some stellar answers but we were both a bit distracted by the mob of mosquitoes that joined in.
I feel well refreshed, and though i'm a bit behind schedule, i'm heading first to Drumheller, and then on to Banff to camp by Lake Louise. Might not get another video update in until Vancouver. I'll do my best though - there have been some awesome interviews!
Talk to you soon!
-Jeff
Thanks for the sweet words left on my laptop this morning! No problem for the floor, shower, etc. Nice to catch up. Hope the rest of your journey is lovely.
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