Jun15
Driving along highway 16 west of Saskatoon was a real eye-opener. Our GPS (which we named “Lorna” after a dear friend whose voice is similar) showed us to be 550 metres high on the plain. It felt like we were on top of the world with gently rolling landscape. Beside us we saw the Saskatchewan River valley, wide and beautiful with well cared for farms on the slopes to the river. There were no sharp edges to the land anywhere and we found it to be welcoming. Of interest to bird-lovers, we saw several magpies (‘skjære’ in Norwegian) which we had never before seen in Canada – at least east of Manitoba.

Battleford, about an hour west, is full of history. It was the capital of the Northwest Territories and thus Fort Battleford was the centre of activity for the Northwest Mounted Police (before they became RCMP). Large portions of the NWT were transferred to Saskatchewan when it joined Canada in 1905. Our treaty history with the local Cree Indians leaves much for us to be ashamed of.

June 16
Last night we stopped in Vermillion Alberta, about 60 km west of the border. Today we drove north through a beautiful landscape as we climbed still higher. The farms were large and well-to-do. Three hours to Plamondon, by a large lake called Lac la Biche and even the owner of the campground here is French. The trailer will stay for three nights. We shall not, because tomorrow night we drive the car to Fort McMurray (250 km straight north), centre of the oil sands projects. We have booked one night at a hotel and a tour on Friday. You don’t have to be a supporter of the oil sands to be fascinated by the scope of the place. Just imagine – it has greater oil reserves than any place on earth, except for the Saudi fields. I am skeptical about the dirty recovery process, but compared to the disaster in the Mexican Gulf - - ? More on our visit later.

Jun 17
Fort McMurray is a remarkable, modern, and friendly place. It is situated at the confluence of Clearwater and Athabasca Rivers, flowing north. We are at 58 degrees latitude and the evening sun lasts longer than at home. The drive north this morning was through rolling and some flat forest of mostly black spruce and aspen through 250 km. We saw the Oil Sands discovery Centre and tomorrow will tour one of the Suncor sites.

07 SK and AB