Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

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Saskatoon, how I love thee, let me count the ways! Saskatoon, by far, the best place we've been to on our trip based on the feeling of the town and the people (minus the bitter cold weather...). It doesn’t have the crazy sky scrapers, it doesn’t have the bustling subways or trams, and it sure doesn’t have any famous buildings or people walking the streets. But that’s what gives Saskatoon its beauty and the people are amazing. We could feel it as soon as we got here that it was different, which is probably why we stayed so long. The first thing we did in Saskatoon was head to a local pub called Lydia's for the Halloween version of their weekly poetry slam. The slam is a competition of local poets dishing out there very best poems. We lucked out as B.C. native poet/singer/songwriter (C.R. Avery) was performing at Lydia's the next night so we got to see him twice, which was a real treat. Our biggest journey while in Saskatoon was to the Wanuskewin heritage site, which was about 20 mins outside the city. Wanuskewin (pronounced Wa-nu-skay-win) is a centre for people to learn about the native bands and tribes that lived throughout Saskatchewan, but specifically those who lived on the very soil that the centre is on. There are archaeological digs that have recovered many things that have been dated thousands of years when "Cree" and other tribes were living in the area. The landscape is beautiful and you can see, even this many of years later, why people would want to live in this area. The centre allowed us to learn a lot to as we walked through the centre, about the history of Wanuskewin as well we joined a medicine walk that highlighted many medicinal plants that still grow there today. The bison was a staple of the people and at the centre they pay homage to the animal that kept their ancestors going. Many sculptures and paintings have the bison depicted not only as the people’s main source of food, clothing and utensils, but also as a treasured and praised creature. We also spent some of our time just hanging out with the residents of the Gropper House where we were staying. Neil and the gang were amazing individuals that are very in tune with the city and its culture; they even held concerts in their house showcasing some of Canada's brightest independent artists. Christian and I even had the pleasure of attending on of Neil's rehearsals for his Samba troupe. I know Christian loved it, he got to bang on a many different types of barrels and tins they were using for drums. It took a little practice but it sounded like a real band at the end of the session. Saskatoon, also has a beautiful waterfront that stretches down quite a length of the North Saskatchewan River. We spent a few days strolling up and down the waterfront which is a great way to spend any time! At the North end of the city, in the river there is the Weir Project, which was a public works project build in the 20's to stem the flow of the water in the river for manufacturing purposes. Now that the city power plant is built at the South end of the city, the Weir is quite useless, but is noted for the birds that flock there during the fall. Unfortunately we missed the birds but are told that they are quite the sight. One of our last days in Saskatoon we spent at the Mendel Art Centre and Conservatory. The art displayed is of a different Saskatchewan artist every month, and when we were there it was a post modern artist that painted mostly coloured stripes and bars. The conservatory is open year round and has some plants that should defiantly not be in Saskatchewan (and yet here they were)! But it is absolutely beautiful and is well worth a visit if you ever are through Saskatoon. Saskatoon is a beautiful place and we cannot wait to come back and see it again, who knows maybe we'll have to come back and stay here...

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