Speaking of which, we also got this shot last weekend - Diefenbaker’s house in Prince Albert.
That reminds me of a friend who was from Ontario - she was amazed that you can see a whole train at once out here.
Speaking of flat, we were driving through Kansas a few years ago, and my comment was, “Eh - I’ve seen flatter.” 
Aw, I’m startin’ to blush here!
My husband just reminded me that I like to say that the prairies are picturesque because there’s nothing blocking your view. 
Ah yes. The prairies and trains.
The trains came first, and the roads followed. The railways found the best route, and the roads copied the railways. So, it is very common to find, while driving on a prairie road, that you’re paralleling a train track.
Many years ago, my Dad and I were driving from Calgary to Toronto. Dad, an ex-railroader, loved the drive across the prairies on Highway 1; as we passed so many trains. Even though they were CPR (Dad had worked for the CNR in his younger days), he still waved at all the trains, and gave the signal for a whistle blast. When they responded, Dad was over the moon.
Dad taught me well. Nowadays, when I cross the country by road, I still roll down the window and wave at trains, and if I’m lucky, I get a whistle blast.
The things you take for granted - having been raised in the prairies, I just automatically assume that there will be train tracks running beside a major highway!
I’ve never even considered that! Cool.
Best experienced in Sask. There is a stretch of highway between Regina and Saskatoon where the road doesn’t bend for something like 20 km. I’ve never seen the vanishing point expressed so perfectly.
I concur about the feeling, too. I spent a year living in Chilliwack and being hemmed in the mountains was claustrophobic to say the least. That and the annoyance of being in shadow constantly at 4 in the afternoon took some getting used to.
Very Nice pic, btw.
Looking at your pictures and reading your description makes me want to take a trip across the country, something I think everybody should do at least once.
It’s nice to finally hear good things about the Prairies instead of the “take a plane to Calgary then you take the train… the prairies are boring”.
Thanks for the point of view and I’ll have to look into driving cross-country!
I’ve ridden a bus across the prairies and into the Rockies. Good times.
Years ago, my cousin and I visited the Diefenbaker house in P.A. They had a blurb about how, when Dief was a kid, he was reading a story about some previous Prime Minister and he told his mother “Some day I, too, will be Premier of Canada!” (I might be muddling some of the details.)
On the spot we decided to copy him and say “I, too, will be Premier of Canada!” on the off chance that one of us became PM some day – it would make a nicely layered story. We haven’t had any luck in politics so far, but you never know…
Anyone who has a taste for abstract art should appreciate the prairie landscape. It is abstract art in the real.
What? no correction line? 
I recall a story in the news from 15 or 20 years ago where an immigrant (middle east I believe) flew to Toronto and planned to take a bus to visit relatives in Vancouver. After 2 days he was still in Ontario, freaked the hell out and attacked the bus driver.
I’ve heard stories, not quite that bad, but Grandma mentioned someone coming for a visit to Alberta once years ago and suggesting they drive to Vancouver for high tea (or something) one day thinking it was a day trip.
Love the picture Cat Whisperer. I’m always fascinated by mountains when I’m taking pictures, maybe I need to turn my focus towards the foothills and prairies now and again!
Excellent (not for the bus driver obviously)!
I heard the same thing from French tourists who would come to Canada for two weeks and visit Montreal, Quebec, Tadoussac, Ottawa, Toronto and possibly the Rockies :eek:
It is physically impossible to do that in two weeks. They had no sense how big Canada really is!
When I was living in Waterloo, Ontario, I had a roommate from Germany. One day he bought a used van and he was going to try it out by driving up to Thunder Bay for the weekend. I don’t think it quite registered to him that his weekend trip would entail 35 hours of driving…
I don’t remember the exact dates, and Mum is no longer around to ask her, but…
My Mum and Dad were married in Glasgow the day before D-Day, 1944. He was born and raised in Ranfurly, Alberta; she was born in Motherwell and raised in Uddingston - both are now considered part of Glasgow. Dad was in the RCAF, flying Mosquito aircraft primarily for air defense of the UK.
After the war, Dad was sent back to Canada pretty much right away, whereas Mum came over by sea, and then by rail. This is where the dates start getting vague, but I think she made one of the last crossings of the year in late fall, 1945. Once she was through Halifax, she got on a train that was full of war brides, enough to fill 10 or 12 cars. At Montréal, about a third of the ladies got off the train. Then at Ottawa, a third of the original train was hooked up to a different engine that would take them to Kingston, Toronto, London and Windsor. Mum’s train kept going through northern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, dropping more and more people off, until it was feeling very lonely. After a solid week on the train, gazing out at the snow on the prairies, she was starting to wonder just what she had let herself in for.
The hardest moment was when she asked one of the train porters “Why are all those fences so short?” He was baffled until she pointed one out - “That cannae be more than a foot tall. What are they fencing in that couldn’t just jump over that?”
Once the penny dropped for the porter, he explained “Those fences are around 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall, madam. You’re only seeing the tops of the fences because of the snow we’ve had this year.” It apparently took Mum a minute or two to fully grasp what he’d said. “D’ye mean to tell me there’s nearly 3 feet of snow on the ground here? How is that possible?”
She stayed; she came to love the prairies, but it’s hard to imagine what it was like for such a city girl to make a trip like that…
Great story!
I always tell people that to appreciate the prairies, you have to get off the TransCanada highway and out of the car. Flat lands going by at 130 kph aren’t very interesting.
Sign you might be from Saskatchewan: Because it’s a beautiful, balmy afternoon you roll down the window on your car…at -7C.
Signs we’re from western Canada - we were driving along in my husband’s work truck one day, and I said, “Wow, this pick-up has a great heater in it!” 
Maybe we should have a “You know you’re from [western/eastern/central] Canada when…” discussion.
Try this: You know you’re from western Canada when you see an electrical plug hanging out the front grill of a car, and you know what it’s for.
