I woke at my cousins house and saw everyone go off to work and school. My goal for the day was just to explore Saskatoon and write blog posts. Nothing stressful.
Rather than typing everything up (I'm behind on posts), I'll just post pictures with explanations of the places I saw this day!
This is THE greasy spoon for Saskatoon...but it was closed on Tuesdays. Foiled again...I found breakfast at the Hometown Diner on 20th Street. That donut was on point!Poached egg scrambler!The Roxy Theatre! Built during The Depression, it's an iconic building for the city. The Big Red Ball is a traveling art piece that is visiting the city and I found it here on this day!
The street in front of the theatre was shut down and food trucks came out. It was a community event for the Big Red Ball visiting town. I chatted with a police office (Doug) about it, and he quizzed me on my trip.
I sure did!The Saskatoon Railway StationHugh Cairns won The Victoria Cross in WWI, the last Canadian so honoured. He performed some INCREDBLE feats of bravery and died of his injuries. This armoury is named for him. That gun is a German WWI gun that was taken as a trophy by Canada and placed here.A really incredible house I stumbled uponMore tree lined streets!Checking out another bakery!
At this point I went to a nearby flag shop and bought a Canada flag for my bike. It was here that I met Ryan who sold me the flag and chatted with me about my trip. He recommended that I visit the weir along the river and check out the pelicans there. He was really nice to me and kind to offer up suggestions! Ryan signed up and is following along now. Thank you for the tips and advice Ryan!
Following the pathways to the river againThe Meewasin Trail goes throughout the city but mostly along the river. It's a real gem for the city!This rail bridge has a pedestrian path along it as well!The weirThese pelicans migrate to Saskatoon for the summer. They fish along the weirThey're massive birds! I spent a good 20 minutes watching them fishThanks again Ryan for the recommendation!Another beautiful bridgeThese bike racks are beautiful, but they were a bit difficult to lock up toShakespeare on the Saskatchewan is doing Romeo and Julliette and As You Like It this yearSaskatoon has a big Ukranian population. This statue honours Ray Hnatyshyn, Canada's 24th Governor General who was from Saskatoon and prominent Ukranian-Canadian!Park along the river, more incredible treesThe BessboroughA band stand built to honour WWI veteransStatue of The MahatmaThis statue depicts a meeting between Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and a newspaper boy who was John Diefenbaker. There's a lot of doubt about whether this meeting ever actually happened beacuse on Diefenbaker didn't tell anyone about it until he was campaigning in Quebec later in his life! But the story was told, and the statue is here!The architecture of Saskatoon was really impressive!The BessboroughLoved the public art!I went over to the Broadway neighbourhood and popped into this shop. It was excellent!Kindergarten kids parading the streets celebrating their graduation!Broadway bike locks were very prettyStopped in for a beer at Prairieview Brewing to catch up on blog posts. The beer was great!Their tap room was reeeealllly nice!Back down to the river, another beautiful bridge I crossed many times while I was there
At this point it was the afternoon and I headed back to Amanda's house to spend more time with everyone. I played outside for an hour or two with Kiyya (Amanda's son and my second cousin!) and we had dinner. I spent time with Velmore, someone who I haven't seen since I was a child and who is a really incredible person. He raised money for The Terry Fox Run for years and raised over $90,000 in his lifetime. It was a real treat and honour to see him again!
After dinner I went with Amanda to her intermural volleyball league games. There were 8 volleyball courts all done with beautiful beach sand. The courts surrounded a bar that was serving up brews. The place was PACKED with people! People playing on the courts, people waiting to play. The teams all waited their turn. It was a completely unexpected place to see in Saskatoon! I spent two hours hanging out with Amanda's team, watching their games, and enjoying the evening.
Jeremy and Amanda!
It was here that I watched the sunset and got to check off something from my "song lyric bucket list": Sundown on The Paris of the Prairies.
Wheat Kings by The Tragically Hip. A favourite song of mine and the one with the song lyric I wanted to expereince
Amanda's team mates were good fun and they asked about the trip. I was impressed by their volleyball playing!
Nice serve!
After the games we all headed home and tucked in.
Saskatoon is a really impressive city. The architecture, the history, the neighbourhoods. It was bigger than I expected (about 320,000 people) but the city also has a lot of character. I'm happy I got to spend some time here and get a proper taste of it!
