Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 08

Tonight I am at Rowan’s Ravine Provincial Park on Last Mountain Lake in Saskatchewan. Again, I arrived late and today I traveled lots of gravel road with fine dust that unfortunately covered everything in the trailer with a coat in both the sleeping quarters and the kitchen. Drag. Earlier as I headed north on a mission there was a brief delay. I was flagged down by a passing motorist letting me know the back hatch on my trailer was open. Amazingly nothing was amiss. Not even the barely placed tea towel on top of one of the tubs.

It was a fantastic day. I had breakfast with Rick and Maureen. The three of us had a little tour before check out and saw where my father's father had practiced dentistry from 1924 until 1937 (above top), before he moved to Victoria. In 1976 while hitchhiking across Canada, I visited Moose Jaw for the first time. I stayed with Forbes and Marion - Marion was the daughter of my father's paternal uncle Gordon. Forbes introduced me to the dentist who was still practicing and had taken over my grandfather's practice back. My father’s parents had rented next door (on left) to the office until they bought the house on Henleaze (above bottom) – next stop.

We also drove, just outside west of Moose Jaw, to Boharm, a little community that is mere shadow of its former self (above top). This was where my paternal great grandfather moved with his family from Staffa Ontario – he had the general store in Boharm. Again, Forbes had taken me to see the store in 1976 – he and Marion had run it until they closed it in 1974. After a couple of conversations with locals we found which building, now a home, had been the general store (above bottom). One of the locals had been there all of his life and remembered my great grandfathers family. At the stand of the great Moose, Rick and Maureen and I parted ways just after noon. They headed south to Grasslands eastblock.

I headed to the observation tower at the Last Mountain Lake Migratory Bird Sanctuary, a Moist Mixed–grass Prairie ecoregion within the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area. On the way I saw American Avocet, Sandhill Cranes (below top), Canada Goose, Ross's Goose (below bottom), Greater White-fronted Goose all in the hundreds standing and landing in fields. I feel privileged and grateful for these opportunities. Most times I remember to thank the birds for posing. The observations at the tower were only lacking by what I had seen elsewhere on my travels this day. This was not the time of year for this spot to be at its prime. Note to self – come back in April.

I also figured out a new to me trick. My camera with its big lens lack geo-tagging. With my naturalist postings I like to note the location of the observation. I found that I can take a close to simultaneous tag photo of the overall location with my phone.