Who Knew, Saskatchewan Ain’t Flat!

When you live in Central Canada (specifically downtown Toronto), Western Canada strikes you as an interesting mix.

You’ve got Vancouver — hip, cool, full of people doing yoga, skiing, eating organic granola and smoking spot.

Then, there’s Alberta with its Wild West culture, cowboys, oil and the booming metropolis of Calgary.

There’s Manitoba with a lots of lakes, the Winnipeg Jets and black flies that are apparently as dangerous as vampires.

Finally, there is Saskatchewan, which is apparently flat — a place where the landscape stretches on endlessly with no end in sight. In other words, it’s a geographic pancake…without the blueberries.

As we drove across Manitoba (yes, driving!), I was expecting/dreading hours of mindless flatness, broken up by the occasional bursts of CBC on the radio.

Much to my surprise, Saskatchewan isn’t flat at all.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: naive/ignorant Torontonian learns something new. But I’ve travelled from coast to coast, and appreciate the differences and nuances that makes Canada such a great place.

In fact, I had been to Saskatchewan during a high school trip to Esterhazy, aka as the “Potash Capital of Canada”.

Mind you, the scenery inside the bus during that trip was a lot more interesting than anything outside. :)

Anyway, back to the current Saskatchewan where the geography has rolling hills featuring the most vibrant yellows and greens.

It made the driving pleasant, which is a saying a lot when you’re trying to get from Winnipeg to Calgary in two days.

Saskatchewan was a beautiful and relaxing geographic transition from Manitoba to Alberta.

It was the kind of surprise that makes travelling so wonderful.