Some scary driving there

October 8 - Thursday.  There was lots of snow today!
Fernando and Eva fixed all of us lunch today in their apartment!!  They fixed two different Thai dishes and they were absolutely delicious.  One was a Coconut soup and the other was Pork lettuce wraps.  My goodness, those two can cook, and they definitely have a back-up occupation if all else fails!

After lunch, Guillermo and I went back to our place and slowly started getting things ready for the dinner we were going to fix that evening for everyone.  We had fun getting the Sangria and getting all the ingredients prepared for the meal.  It was a pleasure to work in the nice kitchen of the place we were staying.
Around 6, everyone came over and we all feasted on Guillermo's famous Chicken and Rice dish, green beans, delicious baguette bread, sangria, and for dessert - lemon tarts.  After dinner, we said our goodbyes to Eva's parents, as they are leaving early in the morning back to Sweden.  It was sad, knowing they would be so far away after tomorrow.  We really enjoyed spending time with them, and are forever grateful we were able to meet them.

October 9 - Friday  It was COLD today!!!
We met Fernando and Eva for lunch at Nellie's on 4th St.  It was a very good lunch, and the portions were HUGE, so we were able to take some back home for our breakfast tomorrow.  After lunch, Guillermo and I stopped by the nearby liquor store to see if they had any affordable wine glasses, and they did, so we bought it and also got to sample some wine while we were there!
We did a little packing in the afternoon, and in the early evening, went over to Fernando's place before heading out to where we were going to have dinner.

We finally were able to find parking at this Thai restaurant that we had tried to go to on our previous visits, but had been unable to because of the parking situation.  Today we had success!  What a wonderful last meal we had with them, it is a very nice memory for us.  We went back to their apartment with them, said our sad goodbyes to them and then drove out of their parking garage for the very last time.  We were both quite sad.

October 10 - Saturday
We got up early, ate the left-overs from Nellies for breakfast (bacon, egg, potatoes), packed up the car and following Fernando's excellent directions, found our way out of Calgary and were on our way east towards Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is basically flat, with lots and lots of farmland. Almost the entire drive was with snow blowing down and around on the road - sometimes it would actually snow a little. We stopped at a nice country cafe in Medicine Hat for lunch. The weather was really cold and there was a little snow falling. We continued on Highway One and between Swift Current and Moose Jaw, there is a shorebird observatory visible from the road, and what a huge place it looked to be. It seemed a perfect place for birds to gather. Then shortly after that, we passed through some rolling hills, where the landscape looked totally different. With the snow on those hills, and the road begining to be covered with a little snow, and the way the hills were, I felt we were in a totally foreign landscape. It was just beautiful and very impressive. Arriving in the town of Moose Jaw was like arriving in Antarctica. The kind of buildings that were there and with the snow all around, it reminded us of some remote place in Antarctica. The rest of the town, though, looked like any other city. From Moose Jaw, we started heading southwest toward Weyburn, where we planned to stop for the night. We briefly entertained thoughts of trying to get past the US border that evening, but with the way the roads were, we felt it wouldn't be wise to be attempting that with darkness approaching. We stopped at the Travelodge and got a room. Cold Cold Cold here in Weyburn!! But even so, we left our warm room, and walked across the parking lot (amid snow flurries) to buy some hamburgers at an A and W. As we walked back to our room to eat our hamburgers, we laughed that they'd probably be frozen before we got back to our room!!! We didn't see much of Weyburn - too cold to get out and sightsee.

October 11 - Sunday
We were shocked when we woke up in the morning to see how much it had snowed overnight. We just thought there'd be periodic flurries all night, and so maybe a dusting in the morning, but it looked like it had actually snowed. There was no breakfast at our hotel (unavailable on Sunday mornings), so we ate what we had in our food box and then went out to take care of removing the snow from our car so we could pack it up.

 When we left the parking lot, we took a right down the road, but then immediately began to doubt if that was indeed the correct way to go. So we turned around, and drove back past the highway we came in on, to see if we'd see a sign for the US border. We didn't see one anywhere, but after looking at how we came in, we were pretty sure that we had started out on the right road. The roads were very snowy here in Weyburn this morning, and driving very slowly seemed the best way to deal with those roads. So, from Weyburn we headed straight south towards the Port of Oungre on a small two lane road. Along this road was where we saw all the nice scenes with snow-covered hay bales and we saw lots of flocks of Canada Geese and Snow Geese.

 Our side of the road appeared to have been traveled by a few cars, but the other side of the road was hardly visible, covered with so much snow. Once we got to the little town of Oungre, the road seemed to get even worse. For a little while there, I felt a little scared, I guess since I was driving. This little two lane road was so desolate, there didn't appear to be any signs of life anywhere, and now the road had practically disappeared under untouched snow. I guess that's what worried me - it looked like maybe only one other car had been on that road that morning so I pretty much had to drive on snow. At one point, I couldn't even see the center divider line. I wondered to myself if it had been wise to have chosen such a small out of the way road in such weather. Driving slowly got us through those last ten miles, though, and it was such a relief to see the border station!!!
Northeastern North Dakota was just as desolate and snowy as what we had gone through in Saskatchewan.

Slowly though, we started seeing less and less snow the farther south we went.

  We stopped in Williston, North Dakota to have lunch at a Subway there and we were surprised, that even though it seemed we were out of the snow at that point, there were snow flurries in that town. From Williston, we drove through some absolutely beautiful countryside, crossing the Missouri River where Lewis and Clark had traveled. We thought about what they could have experienced so many years ago, and if the weather was nice for them when they passed through here, how they must have loved this area. North Dakota is actually a beautiful state!!!
We drove to the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and drove around on the loop. At this point, we were beginning to think that we probably would NOT make it to Fargo that evening. It was already early afternoon, and there was no way we'd get to Fargo before 9 at night. So, we decided we would visit the South Unit of the park, also, and then try to get a place to stay nearby. We drove to Medora, which is at the entrance to the park, and looked around the little town. There seemed to be only two things open - a bar/restaurant type place and one hotel. We got a room at the hotel, and then drove into the park. The loop in the South Unit was much longer, and we saw some beautiful scenery. We enjoyed seeing the Prairie Dog towns, and stopping at all the overlooks for the views. We drove up a little dirt road to a hill with a viewpoint on top. Guillermo walked all the way up, but I didn't - it was starting to snow again and I didn't think we'd be able to see much of anything. On the way back to the hotel, I saw an Elk in the distance jump over a creek. That was neat!!

Roosevelt National Park

There is a HUGE prairie dog town in this park.

As we were leaving the park, we could tell that it was getting ready to snow!

Back in Medora, we pulled into the bar/restaurant and were delighted to find that they served all kinds of food. The Pina Colada they served me was one of the best!!! When we got to this place, there was only one other couple eating there, but by the time we left, the place was full. This place was a godsend for all of us staying in Medora, if they hadn't been open, we don't know what we would have eaten that night. Actually, Medora looks like it would be a precious town in the summer. It has all kinds of neat little shops, that I wish had been open.

October 12 - Monday
Once again, we wake up in the morning, look outside and are amazed at how much snow fell during the night! We were a little apprehensive about how the road was going to be on the way out of Medora to the interstate. Some really nice ladies talked with us while we wiped the snow off our car - they even let us use their ice scraper since the ice was pretty thick on the windshield. As we left the parking lot and got out on the road, Guillermo approached the first stop sign, applied the brakes, and just slid out into the intersection. Fortunately, there was no one else on the road at that time, so it was ok. He drove slowly up the little road to the interstate and we thought things would be just fine once we were at the interstate. Things were better, but only one lane was open on either side of the highway. So for about an hour, we had to be really vigilant as we drove, especially crossing over bridges.

The stop sign where our car wouldn't stop at is behind those trees.

We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Bismarck and then we were on our way to Fargo.
Shortly after we arrived at their house at about 4pm, Delia took us for a nice walk along the Red River, then along a nice little leaf-covered path in a pretty forest and then out through a nice neighborhood on the way back to her house.  It was COLD, and there were a few snow flurries but it was a great walk!  We jokingly call it "the walk to Bismarck". We enjoyed dinner later at their house, and it was fun visiting with Michele and Daniel, too!  Later, we all sat around in the kitchen until late, just talking.

October 13 - Tuesday Mike joined us for breakfast this morning, so that was nice to be able to see him too!  

We left Fargo at around 10am, and we had an easy drive most of the morning.  We stopped in Sioux Falls for lunch, and when we got to Sioux City, it started raining, and we had rain the rest of the day.  So, that made for a slower drive, and we didn't get as far as we wanted.  We had hoped to get to Kansas, but stopped for the night in York, Nebraska.  After checking into a hotel that claimed to have wireless internet, and then setting up the laptop and not being able to connect, we asked for a refund, and switched hotels.