SASKATOON

Thursday 26 June SASKATOON

The South Saskatchewan River runs through Saskatoon and the valley in and around the city is named Meewasin, which is the Cree word for beautiful. We had one day to spend in S’toon and focused most of our attention on the walkways and trails along the river bank. We parked our car on the west side and crossed the railway bridge heading towards the University of Saskatchwan. A weir has been built in the area of this bridge and we enjoyed watching the American white pelicans that feed right in the rush and crash of water. They must have been doing some very fancy webbed-foot work, in order not to have been swept off and away. Obviously the fish like to hang out there too, perhaps it’s a good place for them to feed too. The pelicans are very big birds with enormous appetites and wingspans of between 3 and 4 metres. They migrate to places like Mexico and Florida in the winter.
Our walk was a rectangular shape. After crossing the railway bridge, we went south along the east bank to the College Bridge, then north along the west bank, back to the car, taking about an hour and a half. The park system and trails along the river are a great feature and enjoyed by cyclists, walkers and runners in the summer and by cross country skiers in winter.

There is an area along Broadway Ave., an urban streetscape with interesting shops and several restaurants. Our friend Raven had suggested we have a look around there, so after our walk this is where we went to look for a place to have lunch. We found the Broadway Cafe and settled in to watch the local passers-by.

After supper we came back into Saskatoon to have a drive around the university, which is where Raven’s spouse Tom had studied many years ago. It is also where our cousin Chris had come to study agriculture in the 60’s all the way from what was then called Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Raven, Tom and Chris were on our minds as we did the tour. We cut it short though, as that wide-open Saskatchewan sky became filled with enormous black, heavy, ominous-looking clouds, which were being illuminated by flashes of lightning. It suddenly grew quite dark and we decided to make a run for it, metaphorically speaking, and head back to our little home-on-wheels. It was a huge storm and it rained steadily almost all night and all the next morning.