Saskatchewan Vacation - Day 1

Sorry it has been so quiet here for a few weeks.  Marlin and I packed up the trailer and the girls and headed off to Northern Saskatchewan for a vacation.  After the first day, we didn't have cell coverage and only caught the occasional wifi.  I'm now going to bore you with 2 weeks worth of vacation photos. I took the most photos on the first day so I promise it will be quick and painless... after today that is. :)

We had no plans for the vacation other than to go north and visit some parks, see some wildlife and maybe hang out in a canoe a little bit.

While driving by the giant metal corn in Taber, I was hit with the urge to get cheesy family photos taken at all the roadside "attractions".  Fortunately for all of us, this urge ended after the second morning.

The only night we had any kind of plan for was the first one - we were going to stop at Saskatchewan Landing P.P. just outside of Swift Current.  When I checked the on-line reservation system though while driving through Medicine Hat, I discovered it was full - as was every other provincial park in the nearby area.  I got out our trusty guide book and started calling.  I had a hit on my second try - in Leader, SK.  Phew.  We were pretty sure the night was going to be a write off, but it turned out it was one of our best.

Near Leader, there are some Sand Dunes in an Ecological Reserve and wow were they cool.  We dropped our trailer at the worst campground ever, grabbed a snack and headed out. The dunes were about 50 km away. It was probably around 7 p.m. when we got there.  As you can see, like most of our Saskatchewan destinations there were crowds everywhere.  ;)

Most of the sand is covered with vegetation but there were areas of open dunes. The road leading up to the area was just sand too.  They were like giant beaches on hills with no water in sight.  We couldn't resist letting the dogs off leash and they had a blast running around.

The girls are there to help show you the scale of the dune.  This was the nearest one, but was not the largest.

 Sorry for all those!  You have no idea how many I've culled out so that I didn't have 40 pictures in this post!  

We left faster than we would have liked but dusk was coming and the coyotes were starting to howl. We saw a bit more wildlife during the drive home.

I've never seen so many pronghorn or young animals as we did this trip.  I've learned that I make a horrible wildlife photographer.  I'm always in such a panic that my settings are wrong and I miss my focus.  I need to work on that!

Tomorrow we reach Prince Albert National Park...