The last Saturday before the big journey, we decided to take a mini adventure to Little Manitou Beach. The lake is located near Watrous and is 3 times saltier than the ocean. It’s super easy to swim because you float it’s so salty. The lake was too cold to swim in but we went the Manitou Springs Spa to soak in their mineral baths. They have 3 pools of various temperatures ranging from 93 to 103 degrees. It was fabulously relaxing. They had a great facility located within a resort. We paid $21 for a day pass. They had a nice gift shop and little cafe that served up yummy french fries right on the patio by the pools. The drive to the lake on highway 2 had endless train cars lined up on the tracks ready for the harvest season. They were mainly grain cars. We stopped on the way back and I climbed up on the Canada box car!
We were able to squeeze in a trip to the Saskatoon Zoo before Courtney’s birthday dinner at Birminghams. The weather was fantastic and be brought a picnic lunch to share at the neighboring park. I got to see grizzly bears, cougars, eagles and bison. They weren't a lot of people because it’s the end of the season. We actually closed the zoo and had to be asked to leave. I plan on volunteering here next summer.
It seemed like I ate a bunch up here during the past 2 months. We were always getting invites to Eva and Pete’s for dinners (Lunch) and took advantage of the free meals. Larry loves his mom’s cooking and she is so happy to feed him! We even had a supper at home for his kids, his parent’s, Aunt Susan and Darryl and his girls. We made veggie lasagna with garlic bread and cesar salad. It was a big hit except for the 2 that were lactose intolerant. Noted. I usually add cheese to my veggie dishes to please the meat eaters. Aunt Susan brought over some delicious peach cobbler. YUMMY!
I continued walking an hour most days. I have gotten attached to visiting certain areas in town. I have a favorite house that I walked past and admire each day, at least once. I never saw who lived there but I was prepared to ask for a look inside. I walked by
Tena Neudorf’s house many times hoping she would be outside and would visit. I never saw her before I left but I did leave her a thank you card in her mailbox.
The very last week was the best ever! It started Wednesday with my usual walk through the cemetery. Larry came with me on this day. I look for snakes here as Chantelle told me this was one of the best places to find them. I had been unsuccessful up until this day. I told Larry that if I caught a snake at the cemetary it would be the best day of my life. One minute later, I spied a garter snake. I caught that sucker!! She stunk on my hands but I didn’t care. We named her Chantelle and brought her back to Larry’s house!
The next day, I went directly to the graveyard and caught another one! I took him home and named him Pete. Now I was out of cages. Friday, Larry and I went on the walk and he caught to biggest snake yet. We took him home and I kept walking. I did go back to the cemetery and found another big snake! By the end of the day, we possessed 4 garter snakes! I did not go back to the cemetery again on friday but walked to the ball diamonds behind the school. This is where I caught the biggest garter snake ever!! I called Larry to come see it before I released it. I couldn’t bring another one home, it was getting ridiculous. I planned on releasing all the snakes on sunday before we headed out of town.
Our last Sunday, we had a little party with Larry’s kids. We had a fire and roasted hot dogs and mostly hung out. Amanda and Alex helped me work on a secret project for my daughter and Riley. I was super happy how it turned out. Later in the afternoon, Larry and I walked with our 4 snakes back to the graveyard. On the way, I caught another one. So when I released them, I had 5 garter snakes in my hands at once! It was a lifetime high. The best day ever!
I had the absolutely best time ever in Hague this summer! We are heading out on our big adventure across Canada, the States and Mexico. First stop Drumheller!