8th July - Vancouver - Calgary - Saskatoon

Today was really quiet. Getting all of my gear ready for the field trip ahead was a highlight. I hooked up with Brendo and we caught a cab to the airport to fly to Saskatoon, a large city in Saskatchewan. I was surprised at how much gear we had. We both had three lap tops each, one personal and two work ones so we looked like we were going for a long time. The first cab said we had too much gear (check the photo) but second, an Indian, was fully into getting the fare.

The flight to Calgary was really good. Flying out looking a snow capped mountains of the Rockies, some foothills and then the mountains just west of Calgary were marvellous. Tan and I will be there soon, checking them out properly.

Calgary had the "stampede" on, a 10 day festivities for cowboys and cow girls. The airport was full of people in check shirts and cowboy hats. Oh well.. another year maybe. The city is set on the prairies / foothills of mountains. There was a lot of housing construction going on but all of the houses looked very similar and had next to no back yard.

The next flight on trusty Westjet to Saskatoon was a bit cloudy but once we got below the infamous prairies this province of Saskatchewan were clearly visible. The fields were green, ours at home would have dried off by mid summer and the canola was in full flower. The green and yellow checkerboard from the air was picturesque.

On arrival we picked up our truck. A Dodge, twin cab with a 8 foot tray, a bit bigger than a Ford F150. This thing was friggin huge. We drew straws and Brendo drove to the hotel, not far a way but in traffic with this big puppy was a bit different.

We got into our hotel and ordered a taxi. It was 9:45pm and Brendo wanted a steak from "The Keg", a local steak house chain which he said would be rockin'. We had the taxi driver call ahead so they knew we were coming. We arrived with minutes to spare and the place was rockin' like an empty barn. The atmosphere was a bit slow but the steak was good. Fillet with blue cheese crust. Not bad at all. Good choice!