Road Trip to Yellowknife, Day 9: Lac La Biche to Saskatoon

Text and images (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2010
Images can be made larger by clicking on them

On our last day of travel, I awoke early at the Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park campgrounds at Lac La Biche, Alberta. The sun was shining, and it was a bit cool, but a lovely morning. As the campground is on a peninsula, I decided to go and explore a bit on my own. The trail was easy to follow down to the beach, where I saw a number of birds, including pelicans. The trail continued along the riverside to another beach. It was a long way, a mix of boardwalk and dirt trails, but the variety of flowers and mushrooms were splendid, and the lake itself was calm, a good sign for the coming day.

When I came back to camp, John and Ian were starting to prepare breakfast and coffee. Ian pointed out he had spent the night with a bug, and it climbed out when he left. He pointed it out on the tent. It was huge, and one I'd never seen before. Later I heard it had quite a bite, so I'm glad Ian was left intact. Looked like something from a '50s radiation drive-in flick.
Starting the final leg of our journey, we continued on Route 55, which temporarily joined with 36 for a few miles, when we hit construction. In fact, we hit road work in spots a lot all the way back. I started taking pictures of the people holding the Stop sign. One saw me do it, and looked really perplexed, like, "wha?"
Back on a solo 55, we stopped off at a Tim's for coffee at Cold Lake (AB). On the east end of town was these sailboat signs. Our side said "Come Again," and on the other side was a welcoming greeting for Cold Lake.

East of the town of Peerless (AB), there was road paving construction.
Even with all the delays, we made it into Saskatchewan in the very early afternoon, and arrived in Meadow Lake (SK).
We stopped for lunch at the Homestead Family Restaurant and we all had, for some reason, pizza. I know you want to ask, so I'll tell you it was no better or worse than could be gotten in Saskatoon, where the consistent "second best pizza" prize tends to go to Pizza Hut. That should put it in perspective. But I digress...

All around the restaurant, I found some interesting things, so I stopped and took some photos, of course. This sign for a fishing store piqued my interest, perhaps for the leeches, or maybe the fireworks (in idea, not practice).
The Waikiki Motel and Inn had a sign on top that make it appear at first like it was the Coke Motel.
Across the street was this storefront, which appears to be the Nifty '50s Diner and Hercules appliance service shop.
Near the "Coke Motel" was the Fidrock Cafe, made to look like a castle, but with stucco on the edifice.
Behind the Waikiki Lounge (I am assuming it is connected in the back to the Waikiki Motel) is this side door to buy beer by "off sale." I'm sure it's legal, but with that door, it looks kinda shady.
Down another road was a string of chain food stores, even more than those that can be seen here. We liked the idea of the local diner, instead.
When we stopped, the car was coated with dead bugs, including a butterfly that had gotten caught in the driver's doorhandle, somehow. When we were eating, we were seated by a window where we could see the car, and could watch the birds have a field day eating the bugs, and thereby cleaning the car. They did a decent job.


Getting back into the car, I saw this sign. There is a strong religious and conservative movement in the prairies. I shuddered at the message.
When we left Meadow Lake, we headed down highway 4, which took up straight south. Along the way we found this attractive place as we drove by.
At the town of Glaslyn (SK), we turned east again, on route 3. The town has a great grain elevator, which has been kept up. Many are falling into need of repair.
Here is what the newer elevators look like, which are replacing the icon ones.
At Willness (SK), we saw one of the unused elevators, which made me kind of sad. They are such beautiful structures. At one point, this must have been a bustling one because it has an addition to it that is as large as the original.
At Shell Lake (SK), we headed south once again, on the major highway that would take us home. It was getting around dinner time, but we did not stop; we were getting relatively close. We estimated our time of arrival would be around 7 or 8 PM.
Route 12 is beautiful, a mix of different types of landscape, and a diverse joining of farms and towns. In fact, Saskatchewan in general is a lovely place.

Off in the distance near Martin's Lake was this decaying barn, surrounded by a field of canola that was behind in its growth due to excessive rain that has been plaguing the province.
Driving down small (though major) roads in farm territory can be interesting at times. This thrasher came by and took up most of the road. We had to pull over onto the shoulder just so it could get around.The road ahead to pointing straight to home...
...but... as the old Yiddish proverb goes, "make a plan and God laughs."
They dropped me off after 10 PM, but not before I had the chance to check the mileage, of course. The day has been 642 kilometers / 400 miles, with a total of 4570 K / 2840 M for the whole trip, door to door (mine... add another mile in total for John and Ian to get home).

Needless to say it was good to see my partner after 9 days, and to have some eats. It was a joy to sleep in my/our own bed.

The journey was wonderful, filled with places I had never seen before, meeting new people, and having a good buddy bonding experience with new friends.

Footnote: Just a week later, John and Ian wanted to know if I was interested in a drive up to Skagway, Alaska, in a couple of weeks. Wow, these guys are motivated, Jack. I had to say no, because I cannot leave the country yet until I receive my proper documents. They still haven't left yet though, so perhaps it was more of a desire; but it is certainly one I can understand. Certainly, more road trips will follow, but perhaps not until next year.

Road Trip to Yellowknife, Day 8: Peace River to Lac La Biche, AB

Text and images (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2010
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

We woke up to a light rain, and we packed up our stuff between the drops, fortunately not getting wet, even with us making breakfast. We sat on plastic bags because the picnic table benches were wet.

We left the Queen Elizabeth Provincial Park at Lac Cardinal, located outside the town of Grimshaw (AB). A quick check on the closed Pioneer Village along the road, we drove through the gateway pictured below. We stopped there for photos. Just outside park by the metal gate was some cars parked in a ditch with protests about the government bringing in nuclear power.


Heading back up Highway 35 and back east on Hwy 2, we went once again entered Peace River. We stopped into the Tim Horton's for some coffee and a muffin, and across the street was this liquor store / gas station. So much for promoting not drivin' and drinkin'. For those in the States, note that the station is Esso, rather than Exxon.
After our morning refueling, we headed east over the bridge, and onward on Route 2 through the river valley. Moxy Früvous's "River Valley" was playing in my head.
Not only was there a railroad bridge next to the roadway, there was another, possibly older one, off in the distance, passing over the Peace River. Highway 2 can be seen to the left, where we would be in minutes.
Along the road, we passed through a town called Nampa (AB). Here we found a combination Country Inn and liquor store, for those who want to crash and drink. Note that they both share the same door.
It must be doing well, as it has survived when the other hotel in town was up for sale.
Along the way, the river valley gave way to farmland, including bright yellow fields of canola.
The clouds built up and were dramatic and temperamental. Rainstorms could occasionally be seen in the distance, and we passed through a few here and there.
The No. 2 highway rode along the south end of Lesser Slave Lake, and after passing some small towns, such as Faust and Kinuso, we headed to the town of Slave Lake. At the airport, we saw these yellow planes on the tarmac. These are used to dump water on forest fires, and were most likely being used to help out in the many fires that were plaguing large parts of British Columbia.
We came to the town of Slave Lake, and stopped at the exact same gas station / A&W burger joint we had on the way to Yellowknife. We had made a complete circle through northern Alberta, going one way up (route 88) and coming back another (Highways 35 and 2).
I'm guessing this RV park is under repair?

Being in the area, we decided to check out the Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park. A wooden stairway led us down to the windy beach. It was pretty quiet with a few visitors coming through while we were there, but no one stayed long. The picnic tables told of warmer days and happy campers, but this day was desolate and windblown. It was a lovely spot.







We motored along Highway 2 (joined with Highway 55 after a bit), and arrived in Athabasca in mid-afternoon. This was where we had spent the first night out on this road trip. It was near dark when we had gotten there last time, so now we had time to check out more of the town. We crossed over the bridge on route 813, and found our way to the Athabasca Centennial Park, which was behind the huge letters placed on a cliff directly on the other side of the Athabasca River from the town. We had a great overview from there.










On the way back to the main road and our way east, we stopped just before the steel bridge to take some photos. There were lots of flowers around, and some racist and scary graffiti.



The bridge had a narrow wooden bed, and no walkway for pedestrians, but we still went to the middle to take some shots of the river. John and I were conscious of the occasional traffic, and stayed as much to the side as we could.




On our way out of town we saw the beautiful Ukrainian Orthodox Church Of St. Peter and St. Paul, There is a large Ukranian population in Athabasca.
Highway 2 split from 55 just out of town, so we stayed on the latter, which headed due east. We had come up Hwy 2 at the beginning of the journey, so we took 55 as an alternative route. Along the way, just east of Atmore, this cloud caught my eye. It looked just like North America, right down to Mexico on the bottom. See it?
We stopped in the town of Lac La Biche (AB). We asked some locals where would be a good place to camp. A couple of teenage girls giggled but hadn't a clue. Eventually someone suggested the Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park, which was on a beautiful - albeit windy - peninsula.
The sun was golden as we cooked up our soup and cut up the veggies for dinner. The light during the golden hour was bright on the tops of the trees, making them glow.

The place felt a bit open, but it ended up being just fine and surprisingly quiet. It would be our last night on the road, so we savored it.
As the day ended, we figured out we had come 568 kilometers / 353 miles, which means we have traveled 3928 K / 2441 M in total. Our last full day of travel had ended, and we knew the next night would be be in our own beds. John estimated we'd be home late evening. That was good, because I wasn't sure about how much more John could stand of my snoring...