Dinosaurs or Saskatchewan? What to do, what to do....

The kidlets and I have been twitchy the past few days and I decided that a little day trip was in order.



I always have these lovely romantic notions in my head and visuals of fun road trips where the kids and I are all happy, singing songs and we are just a travelling team of bliss.



So I decided we should go check out The Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller and do a little day trip and study up on the dinosaurs that roamed these parts millions of years ago.

However, Drumheller is about 2 hours away. Not that bad really, but getting there and having a reasonable day trip would be mean I would have to get out of the house at a reasonable time. Noon is not a reasonable time to start a day trip where your destinations is at least 2 hours away!

After getting in the car and then realizing I forgot diapers and getting back in and realizing I forgot my cell phone and then getting back in the car and realizing I forgot snacks and basically doing this about 5 times, back and forth for 20 minutes (my neighbours must really wonder about me sometimes), I convince the kids that going to the Great Sand Hills in Saskatchewan would be wayyyyyyyyyyy more fun! And did I mention it was closer? I remember Heather talking about it awhile back and she said it was only 90 minutes away at the most. Much closer than the dinos. And it's free, other than gas. So Saskatchewan bound we are. I look on the map and there is no mention at all of the Great Sand Hills (this really should have been my first clue), but apparently they are huge and people come from all over to see them, so there must be signs right?

I should have listened to that little niggling voice in the back of my head that whispered "Call Heather to get directions..." but really, if something is called "The Great Sand Hills" one would assume there would be signs all over the freaking place...

Aaaaand we learned an important geography lesson regarding the province of Saskatchewan; they do not believe in signage.

Have I mentioned that I assumed there would be signs EVERYWHERE for this place? Yes, well, there were not. I'm thinking there would be a sign, one of those big green signs that you see on the side of highways and roads that let you know of important geographic locations, like cities, towns, THE GREAT SAND HILLS. Not one that I saw. For 2 hours I was inundated with "Are we there yet?" "Are those the Great Sand Hills?" "Oh my gosh Mama, are we there YET?"

I'm looking for the Great Green Sign that is going to point me in the direction of the Great Sand Hills.

So we make our way up to Leader SK and I stop in to a little gas station and ask about these Great Sand Hills.

She gives me a piece of paper with some directions, tells me to head to my left and watch for the signs.

I'm driving. I'm watchin' for signs.

And guess what?

THERE ARE NO SIGNS!

None.

Zero signs my friends.

*sigh*

I realize I have gone way too far so I turn around and turn left down a little country road. It looks like the place on little photocopied hand drawn map where I should be turning.

And we end up here:


In the middle of a farmer's field. @_@

At this point I am so unbelievably turned around and I am thanking the makers of Ford for having a compass in my little old Ford Explorer that tells me I am heading south.

My kids have been stuck in the car for 3 hours now and really are handing their mother's lack of planning and coordination rather well all things considered.

I explain that we have to head home. We are going to run out of gas and oh ya, Saskatchewan? Ya, they don't have 3GS cell phone service there so my iPhone didn't work either. I couldn't imagine anything worse at that point then running out of gas in the middle of a farmer's field and not having cell service. With 3 very pissed off kids. Can you say my version of hell anyone?

So we head back to Leader, because then I can find the highway back to Alberta. We are cruising down the highway and I come up to where I would turn if I wanted the quick way home and I look left and what do I see but this:

And you know what? That sign was small. I passed it on the highway when I was driving north and didn't even see it. Nothing that said "Turn right here for the Great Sand Hills." No, that would make WAY too much sense. ;o)

I asked the kids if they wanted to go after all my shenanagins and dragging them through little Saskatchewan towns and farmer's fields. The answer of course was aresounding "YES!" from the back so we hung a quick left and away we went.

I have to say I was awe struck at the size and the beauty. It was truly beautiful and we had a ball running around in the sand and making fun little drawings!

It really was sand dunes right smack in the middle of farm country. I have neer seen anything like it...

We headed home after a while of playing in the sand and marveling at the geography of the area.

I took Heather's way home and it only took about 70 minutes. I really should have called her to begin with... ;o)