Regina, the Capital of Saskatuwan

My first stop was the Legislation Building.  I arranged a tour and the docent was very nice; the tour most informative.

Construction began on August 31, 1908, with the initial driving of the concrete piling for the foundation. Construction of the steel reinforced concrete frame began in March of 1909.


The first government departments were able to move into the enclosed west wing of the building in 1910, at a time when the rest of the building was still under construction.

The final cost of construction of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in 1912 was $1.8 million.

I saw these little beauties in the park across the street ....


And then I hurried over to the RCMP Heritage Center and my tour of the Academy.  All Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Canada are trained at this academy.  RCMP Academy, Depot Division has been providing police training to Royal Canadian Mounted Police "cadets" since its establishment in 1885.

We watched the cadets perform their noon attendance march.  The cadets are allowed to participate in the march after one month as a cadet.  If they are successful, they earn their marching boots; the high brown leather boots Mounties wear.  Until then, they wear tennis shoes.

When they arrive, they are issued a "kit" with the basic uniform but have to earn all the "pieces" such as their boots and epaulets and other gear.  If they mess up, they lose part of their uniform.

The oldest remaining building in Regina is the RCMP chapel, dating from the earliest establishment of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) as a guardhouse in 1883. It subsequently served as a mess hall and canteen and became a chapel in 1895. It was constructed in Ontario and moved by flatcar, steamer and ox team to Regina.

Today I drove East to Yorkton.  On the way, I stopped at the W. R. Motherwell Homestead. Motherwell came west in 1882 and homesteaded in the Pheasant Creek area north of the Qu"Appellee Valley.  In 1896, after 14 arduous years of titling the prairie soil, he was ready to construct his estate.  Adam Cantelon constructed the large Italianate-style stone house.  Motherwell had collected the stones himself.  Motherwell was named the first Minister of Agriculture in 1922.

 I also did the scenic drive through Echo Valley.

The entire time I've been in this province, I have seen very few motorhomes; just trucks pulling trailers.  I learned it is because they have such a short vacation season ... and the ones that go to the States for the winter buy the motorhome there because it's cheaper.

I expected the scenery to be flat like the mid-west.  It's really not; there are hills and rolling fields and it's nice to look at (if you can look away from the road you're trying to maneuver).

Saskatchewan is the "land of living skies" which could either refer to the snow one day/hot the next or the sudden bursts of rain that start/stop and last five minutes.

And now a moment on my soapbox:  The Canadians that I've visited with the last few years are a lot more knowledgeable about the US and our politics and events then Americans are of Canadians and I think that is a shame.  We share a continent with Canada with basically an "open" border, yet we don't study their history or their politics.  I think that lack is xenophobic - basically ignorant and self-centered.  We share a great deal in common, yet we ignore them.

Fact of the day:  Teepees always have 13 poles and each pole has a specific meaning.

Tomorrow I leave for Minot, North Dakota for about a week to get my new windshield and then onto Manitoba.  In Manitoba, I plan to drive as far north as there are roads!