Monday started slowly, with me sleeping in a little to catch up on some of the sleep lost during the train ride. But the day dawned sunny and promised to be warm in Saskatoon. We went to the hotel’s little Vintage Room, a small room off the lobby, to take advantage of the complimentary cold breakfast items like muffins, yogurt, juice and tea, before going outside. Dave was still feeling the effects of his cold but was game to start the day’s activity anyway.
On the itinerary for today was a visit to Wanuskewin, an indigenous heritage site that includes a museum, art gallery, several loop trails around the grounds on the prairie, a restaurant, and a herd of plains bison. We drove about 20 minutes north of the city to reach it.
The young man who welcomed us at the admission desk gave us a short orientation about the site and then we took in the art exhibit and the museum pieces inside the building. Archeologists have found items from indigenous peoples at the site dating back roughly 6500 years, although those weren’t on display.
We were about to go out to walk on the trails when we overheard a couple talking to the admissions man about the Whooping Cranes they had seen and heard. I had to go talk to these fellow birders because seeing those endangered cranes was high on my priority list for the trip. The couple were very friendly and helpful Saskatchewan locals, giving us the locations where they had seen the cranes yesterday, plus other birding site recommendations. We were so happy to have met them and learned this valuable information!
Then we went outside to walk the trails and look for prairie birds on the grounds, including in a valley carved in the prairie by Opimihaw Creek. We saw several birds that included two new species for Dave and I: American Tree Sparrow and Swamp Sparrow.
After our walk on the trails we went into the restaurant for lunch. My lunch was a grilled brie cheese and saskatoon berry sandwich with green salad that was great.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a grocery store to buy a few things and in the store entrance there was a sign to help customers buy Canadian goods instead of tariffed items from the US. We were rather tickled by it.
I discovered that our hotel offered self-service laundry in the room next to mine, so I took advantage of that after we returned, changing a CAD$5 bill for 5 “loonies” ($ coins) to operate the washing machine. Dave threw in some of his clothes too, and with the resulting clean clothes, we’re ready for the remaining five days of the trip.
Dinner was takeout Indian food, which I brought back to the room to eat, since Dave didn’t feel like going out or eating much.
