Canadian Prairies Tour #1

Oct. 29, 2010

It's the second day of our Canadian "Prairie Debut" tour. We flew into Saskatoon, spent the night and embarked on our drive to Hudson Bay, SK. 330km away, but the roads were so icy already that slow traffic made the journey last about five hours. The scenery is quite stunning. Winter has already started, and we have continuous views of the white prairies, and an enormous sky. It's wonderful to have 360 degrees views at all times. Living in NYC, we definitely appreciate this.
The ice on the road is no fun, especially as it forces us to drive at a snail's pace.
We stayed at a cozy B&B last night located on a ranch. Part hunting lodge and part horse riding destination, the B&B felt very comfortable and its owners went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We played the concert to a mixed crowd of young piano students and local older couples, whom seemed thrilled to have a classical "act" in town.
After an amazing breakfast of local oats, wild Saskatoon berry jams, eggs, bacon, and, to my request, moose steaks, we took the road to Melfort, about 155km back on the way to Saskatoon. The second part of the journey was pretty rough, but I am still in awe of the colorless vast landscape. I wish I didn't have to drive and just take pictures. I am feeling immersed in an amazing black and white painting!
We checked in at the Travelodge in Melfort. The place has been owned by Korean nationals for the last two years and its restaurant serves Korean food! Needless to say, they were thrilled to see Lucille whom in Korean negotiated for us to have a Korean lunch today, even though it is usually reserved only for dinner here.
I have been wanting to compare this tour to our previous trans-siberian tours, but I have had some difficulties so far. Now, I am driving, so unfortunately am not able to soak in the surroundings as well as I did in Russia, and also, as much as we felt detached from our world in Russia, we were visiting all the major cities, whereas so far on this tour we are in really rural areas. Hudson Bay's populations is 1600, to put things into perspective.  Second concert in a few hours, but not before a Korean lunch! Moose Kalbi, anyone?

saskatoon jam

moose steak b-fast

our vehicle...

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