It takes time to slow down
One of the motivations for the roadtrip that we keep talking
about is our desire to slow life down.
We have had a slow build of stress in our lives over the last few years and it
was time to do something about it. We want to slow down and smell the flowers
as it were. We value our kids’ childhood and don’t want to rush through it. We
hope to return refreshed and rejuvenated after several months of just family
time. In short – we needed a break.
However, we are learning that, ironically, it
takes time to slow down. The bucolic visions in my head of our idle
relaxing time weren’t exactly panning out in the first couple of weeks on the
road and I wondered a few times, is this
what I signed up for? Wasn’t it supposed to be a bit…well…slower than this? I
still feel like we’re rushing…
Then in talking one day we came to realize: it takes time to
slow down. I had envisioned it being an instantaneous thing, but its not. Like
a semi-truck approaching a red light, gearing down takes a while. Two weeks in
and we are starting to feel it finally. A key in that has been realizing that it takes time to slow down has a double
meaning. It takes UP time. You will NOT be able to do as many things at a
slower pace as you are able to do at a faster one. Time will still march
on. By
necessity you will have to choose how you use your time even more
carefully, which is a process that involves tough choices. Five days in
Edmonton? You could push the kids and do five attractions….or you could go flop
on the grass in great grandma’s backyard one more time.
OOOOOHHHHH but I want
to take them to the aviation museum, they’d love it!
But they love this
too.
And this feels like breathing. This feels like life.
So….we’re learning as we go.
Which by the way: we’ve gone from Edmonton to Saskatchewan
and are on our way back again. We spent a few more days with my grandparents in
Edmonton and celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary. We took the
kids to the Zoo, and the Prairie Garden Adventure Farms as well as the splash
park and playground up the street. I was able to surprise an old friend with an
unexpected visit which was super fun.
 |
| Seals at the Edmonton Valley Zoo |
We drove from Edmonton to Turtleford, SK to spend a day with friends and from there booked it to Regina for an overnight stop and then hit Weyburn the next day. We spent five nights in River Park in Weyburn, which again was surprisingly beautiful for being in the middle of the city. We spent our time in Weyburn predominantly with my grandmother, which was wonderfully fun! Toys for the kids and home cooked meals that we didn’t cook for Tim and I!
 |
| Discovering gopher holes at the playground |
 |
| Mommy I found a flower! |
 |
| Too hot to walk |
For a northern girl and a wet coast boy aiming to visit
family we weren’t thinking much about the tourism aspect of Saskatchewan. But
we’ve been quite surprised! Saskatchewan you’ve got more to offer than we
thought! Saskatchewan sometimes gets a bad rap: flat, boring. But there are
hidden jems if you don’t rush through.
The northern area is full of green woods and
hills.
Hottest weather we saw all summer….on September 1.
Cypress Hills. We planned on stopping for two
nights to break up our drive back to Alberta. We thought it was just a simple
campground….HA! This place has TONS of stuff. Ziplines, horseback riding, pool,
beach, the list goes on! It’s a dark sky preserve too which makes the current
rain a bit of a bummer. The area was not glaciated and it’s the highest area
between the Rockies and Labrador. See…not flat (except near Regina… that’s
flat).
 |
| Lookout at Cypress |
Sand Dunes. We didn’t have a chance to see them,
but I hear they are pretty impressive.
Soo Line Museum in Weyburn, SK. Quite a lot of
history packed into smallish building. Great-grandma took the kids for the
afternoon (yes, you read that right, all three of them) and Tim and I escaped
for a couple hours. It almost took that
long to get through the whole thing there was so much detail!
Family and friends – doesn’t matter where you
are in the world, its always improved by the company J
So, in short: slow down. And Saskatchewan, market yourself!
You’ve got a lot to offer!
Unexpected Adventures: Prairie wind and prairie mountains
Weyburn was windy. Windier than either of us were used to
dealing with. I woke up in the middle of the night to the trailer shaking forcefully
and a sliding, slamming and slapping sound. We’d left the canopy out as we have
every other night. But the prairies get windy and we were in a fairly open site
in a pretty exposed campground. The canopy was dancing. Hard. So, three am and
there we were in our pj’s and headlights trying to fight the wind to roll it
up.
We were on a walk and Tim spotted the landfill. Jokingly he
said to Sara “look a prairie mountain!” A few hours later we asked her what she
felt like doing. Excitedly she said “I want to climb the prairie mountain!”…
ummmmm….
