I grew up very near the border of a Canadian National Park. In the summers we’d have so much more traffic wandering through our little farming community, kicking up dust and stopping to ask for directions when they inevitably got lost on the country roads. Everyone got really annoyed with the summer tourists. It’s funny when I think about it because life seemed so simple back then that even one little deviation from the norm put our whole day out of joint. The tourists were not really there to bother us but to explore the beauty of Central Saskatchewan lake lands and mixed forests.
Now that I am older and have moved away from home I guess I have become a summer tourist as well even though I don’t really feel like I am. Whenever I head back home I try to give my kids the same farm experiences that I grew up with. In the summer farmers are always busy outside and for this reason my dad was never a big camping or hunting type of guy even though I wanted to go camping in the worst way. As a treat after a long day of harvesting we would head out to the nearest lake for a sunset swim or sometimes on a Sunday we would drive up to Waskesiu to mingle with the tourists. My dad would always have a ‘cramped’ look on his face, sweat pouring down as the ‘crowds’ of barely dressed idiots swarmed around us. I was in my glory though, it was a treat to see so many people in one place relaxing and having fun on vacation. Our visit to Waskesiu almost always ended with a trip to the Big Olaf for Ice Cream.
On our last visit to the farm we managed to get to the lake for a swim three times, each time we met a different cousin also there to be a ‘summer tourist’. We had a beautiful drive up to Waskesiu though it didn’t take as long as I remembered from my childhood. Our visit ended with a trip to…..The Big Olaf!
Maple Walnut ice cream with walnuts and caramel sauce, whipped cream and gummy bears for kid number one
Tiger Tiger and cherry for hubby
Kid number two is a Rolo girl all the way
Can’t recall what I had but that is marshmallow cream on top 🙂 And a background shot of kid number one’s messy mouth…Big Olaf Sundaes
306-663-5353
Loved reading this post at 3.30am when I can’t sleep because I fly back home for good in two days…eek!
I reckon I would love your Mum’s kitchen and I would absolutely love those steaks and Ice-cream..mmm .
Wouldn’t it be lovely if we lived like that now, where entertainment would be playing cards, being outdoors and of course not forgetting; baking yummy things and eating them :O)
oh Jo, you’ll be right 😉 and you know when you get back to the UK you’ll miss bloody Aus. (I definitely do!)
I really hope that one day our families will cross paths again…
I hope the packing is going well!
Oh YUM! If and when I ever get to that part of the world, i’m getting me one of those icecreams!
you are welcome anytime 🙂 In fact, we had our friends from Paris over for dinner at my parents house. The woman (who is actually Spanish) was nuts about seeing bison up close…and we had huge bison steaks for dinner as well. Farm hospitality 🙂
You are on! We can head off for dessert for ice cream 😀