We left Writing on Stone, thinking we would drive over to Grasslands to camp for a couple of days before heading into the States.  Looks simple enough on the map – just a straight line over and only a few hundred kilometres away.  We should make it by evening and be able to explore the park over the next 2 days.  Ha!  Only problem with Google Maps (and the paper maps we had as well) is that they don’t indicate which roads are paved and which are gravel (or if they do, I don’t know how to tell).  All of this is my way of explaining that we landed on a long, long gravel road that looked like it was going to go on for the entire drive over to Grasslands.  So now, instead of a couple of hours, we were looking at a very very long drive on a road with little to no services.  I’m thinking part of our decision making was around the fact that our Vincent Van-Go is a new van.  When we left Nanaimo, it was all shiny and clean.  Now, it was getting not only covered in the dead bugs we have massacred on our way, but also dust from this road.  On top of that was the gravel, constantly kicking up and hitting the undercarriage.  I was (I know, its so vain) worried about our poor van getting all sorts of nicks from the flying rocks of passing vehicles.  But more importantly, the speed.  We couldn’t go more than 60 km/hr on this road and it was going to be a long, long, loud and dusty trip.  So, we pulled out the paper map (No cell service out here!) and found a route that would take us way further north, but on a highway we were sure was paved.  We would end up in Lethbridge for the evening, which was not in the plan, but hey! Why not?   

Decision made, we drove, finally reaching blessed pavement again before too long and made for Lethbridge.  When we got into cell service range, we looked up places we could stay on iOverlander and saw that there was a Walmart that looked pretty central.  Since we had some packages and postcards to mail, this was looking like a good decision.  We could mail our parcels, hang out in a library for a while or go for a walk and then head to Walmart to overnight.  We still have not done a Walmart overnight, so that would be a good opportunity to knock that off our list of things we haven’t done before.  However, as we pulled into Lethbridge, the rain clouds were again gathering and these ones looked pretty severe.  Just as we finished mailing off our parcels, the skies let loose and it was intense!!  So much for checking out the many walking trail in town.  Unfortunately for us, we also found that all of the libraries were now closed!  Oh no!!!  That left us with very few options for spending a few hours working.  We drove over to the Walmart and headed in to use the Wifi at the McDonalds inside.  This, for me, was a low point.  What the heck were we doing?  How was this fun?  It was raining again.  The rain just kept following us!  And hanging out at McDonalds?  In a Walmart???  Oh my goodness!!!  And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.  As we sat there, munching on fries and drinking pop (yuck) a young lady next to us was very loudly enjoying a show on her phone without use of a headset.  Which meant, of course, that as I was trying to concentrate on a blog entry I was simultaneously being bombarded with the Punjabi music of her program.  Now, normally I enjoy listing to Bollywood music – I love the rhythm of it and find it quite captivating.  But on this rainy rainy afternoon, in a McDonalds, in a Walmart, I was not in the mood.  She was oblivious to my repeated looks in her direction and I was reaching the end of my tether, ready to pack it all in and head anywhere but here.  Thankfully, I managed to find some soothing music to put on my phone and thus plugged in and tuned out was able to sit and write for a while.   

It was still too early to think about setting up camp for the night, still pouring rain outside and so we drove a short distance to Swiss Chalet, where we enjoyed some appies and a drink (beer for me, Coke for Jim since he was driving).  As we munched, we checked our phones for options.  Sorry, Lethbridge, I’m quite sure that on a sunny day you are a great city to stay in, but we were not feeling it.  We had enough time to head south to small town with a city campground and decided that we would have a night of regular camping instead of Walmart – it will just have to wait, but I’m quite sure there will be a Walmart or two in our future.  Decision made, we headed off to the little town of  Stirling , where we found the small campground.  Problem was, there was no attendant and we had no cash.  We asked around and were told that we could get money in the morning from the ATM at a little store in town and then drop off the money at the office in town.  Great!  We didn’t bother with the tent, given all the rain and so,  after a long day, settled down to a lovely quiet night’s sleep.   

In the morning we dutifully got the cash and looked for a way to pay.  Sadly, there was nowhere for us to actually put any money!  No mail slot, no nothing!  And no person who came around looking to collect.  We tried – we really did!  But, once it became obvious we were not going to be able to pay for our night, we headed out of town.  What can you do?? 

On the plus side, this day the sun was out in full force and we enjoyed the scenery as we drove along.  I’ve always heard how boring the Prairies are, but I was thoroughly enjoying the views we passed by.  Big skies, fields of growing things, rolling hills.  Not at all what I had come to expect.  I don’t know, maybe we were just missing all the boring bits by taking a different route?  Who knows.  It was going to be another night before we would get to Grasslands National Park, just on the border between Saskatchewan and Montana.  We really did make a very big detour when we ditched the dirt road!  However, we found a lovely little camp ground in the community of Gull Lake where we spent a quiet evening before finally heading south the next day. 

Thankful for a full day of sun and thinking our luck weatherwise had finally changed, we set out the next morning (after a stop at the local laundromat to wash clothes) to check out Grasslands.  This national park is actually two parks, the west block and the east block – about 100 kms apart.  Our first night we headed to the west block.  Upon arrival at the Visitor’s Centre, we were able to reserve a camp spot in each park.  We were pretty lucky as the west block was fairly busy and had nothing available for the second night – good thing we wanted to check out the east block too.  Both of these parks are, for the most part, made up of the grasslands that were here before any of us showed up.  It is a small portion of the country for sure, but at least there is the effort on the part of the government to preserve what was the original landscape of this area.  To get into the park is a long long drive down, of course, a gravel road.  Once you reach the park there is yet another long long drive on a gravel road, but this is broken up with various overlooks that you can stop at and read about the history or natural wildlife you might encounter here.  We were delighted to stop at a very large Prairie Dog town, having not seen any of these wonderful creatures since we were in Texas a few years back.  What we had been seeing on this trip were not Prairie Dogs, but Ground Squirrels.  They are a bit smaller and don’t create the little communities, neither do they “bark” when you walk by.  Now we know!  We stopped at pretty much every overlook there was, enjoying the scenery around us and the beauty of these grasslands, thankful that they are being preserved.  It would have been so much fun to fly the drone out here, but as it’s a national park, that’s a no go.  Oh well, pictures will have to suffice.   

Although we know there is a herd of buffalo here, we saw no sign of them.  I guess they are off on the further reaches of the park, better to avoid the tourists with their cameras!  However, we did come across a Prong Horned Antelope on our way in and he, thankfully, allowed us to get some pictures before heading off into the deep grass. 

We eventually arrived at the camp site, a very wide open area.  Normally, I like having some trees between me and the other campers, but comparing this place to that one in Banff, I’ll take this any time!  We set up the tent on the end of the van and put on our hiking boots to take a short hike above the campground.  While up there, we spotted a couple of red Adirondack chairs way off in the distance.  These chairs had been placed in parks all over Canada a couple of years ago for the 150 celebration.  We had seen a couple in Banff but it was so cool to see these two out there on a bluff overlooking the vast landscape of the grasslands.  We walked over and sat for quite some time, just drinking in the view and enjoying the warmth of the sun – oh what bliss!!!  After our low low low point back in Lethbridge, this was just so fantastic.  This is what we had thought we would be doing on out trip – finding wonderful places and seeing new sights and just enjoining the moment.  How different we felt today that just a few days ago!! 

We spend a leisurely evening around our campsite before turning in.  Apparently the stars out here are just amazing, but we were too tired from our last few days to even think about staying up to see them on this night – maybe the next?   As we fell asleep I could hear some coyotes calling in the distance, again reminding me of Texas.  What a wonderful way to go to sleep, listening to their lonely but beautiful sounds.   

The next day we packed up and after checking out an old homestead in the park, made the long drive over to the east block.  Again we were on long gravel roads, but we had time and the sun was shining so we just enjoyed the ride, occasionally stopping to take pics or fly the drone over some particularly beautiful fields of Rye or Canola.  The colours so beautiful when set against the blue blue sky and the puffy white clouds.  We sure do not miss the cold grey clouds that hampered out trip for so long!!! 

The east block of Grasslands is not quite as big as the west block, but it has one feature that we had been looking forward to checking out on our bikes.  Oddly enough, as this park is again set down a long long gravel road, they have just finished putting in 11 km of paved road, taking you way out into the park.  I guess the idea is to make the area accessible to more people.  There are again, many overlooks, so the idea is that you drive along and stop to check out the many aspect of this park.  Having pavement keeps people where they want them to go and keeps them from venturing out and ruining the delicate balance of nature in the grasslands.  It just seems so funny though, that they would haul all of the paving machinery over that long gravel road in order to pave a small portion of the park.   

We arrived early enough to set up our tent and the idea was to park our van at the beginning of the pavement and ride out and back on our bikes, so 22 km in total.  Not a long ride at all, but it would be pleasant and we were really looking forward to this.  So, imagine our disappointment when, upon our arrival we stepped out to find a fierce, and I mean FIERCE wind blowing.  There was no way, given the heat of this day and the strength of the wind, that we would be cycling. Nope, not a chance.  Boo!!!! I hate giving in, but I also was not interested in beating myself up just to prove a point.  So, instead of cycling, we drove along the 11 km and it was, indeed, breathtaking.  We again stopped at all of the lookouts and took a ton of pics.   

You may have noticed in this set of pictures, that all of a sudden I am wearing a red dress.  Well, there is a little story about that.  Way back when we were in the planning stages of this trip and I was reading everything I could about how to create a good blog (I think I am actually doing none of them except for this one thing!) I came upon an article about creating more interesting pictures.  This couple always bring a red dress so that the wife can wear it to make the pictures more interesting.  Apparently the red makes the picture “pop”.  Jim had concurred with this sentiment, saying that red is a standout colour that doesn’t often show up in nature pictures, thus adding that element makes the picture more interesting.  So, in the effort to help us create more interesting content, while back in Nanaimo, I went shopping with my daughter Emily, and we found this perfect red dress.  I love it and was looking for an opportunity to wear it.  So, there we were, out of the car taking pictures over a beautiful valley with the wind blowing and I said, “Oh!  This would be a perfect place for a red dress picture!  I wish I had it with me.” And then, “Oh, wait!  I DO have it with me!  It’s in the van!!!”  So, I left Jim standing there, ran back to the van and through the dress on (there was no one around to see this, so don’t judge!).  I left on the hiking boots through, since I didn’t want to risk getting bit by any little creatures in the grass – I’m not that dumb!  At any rate, that’s the story behind the red dress, which may make appearances along the way, but only on me.  I’m pretty sure Jim will not agree to try it on although I think I would make a pretty interesting picture, don’t you? 

Our picture taking done, we settled down for  another lovely quiet evening in Grasslands.  However, we decided that we really needed to check out the night sky and so set our alarm for 1:30 in the morning so we could check it out.  In the dead of night we put on some extra layers and jumped out of the van.  No one else was awake and so we had the magnificent night sky all to ourselves.  Wrapped up in blankets, we looked up and wished that we knew more about the constellations so we could identify what we were seeing, but it was spectacular.  But also cold!  After a short time, we climbed back into our warm bed, satisfied that we had been able to enjoy both parts of this beautiful park.  It is a different experience to be sure, but we highly recommend Grasslands National Park!  They have lots of hiking trails, both long and short, and one could easily spend a week in either park, just hiking and enjoying the scenery.   And you don’t even have to put up a tent!  There are teepees you can rent, or  super glamping tents (bring your own bedding, though).  Either way, Grasslands is a great way to experience this beautiful part of Canada.