Our last two days in the US were sort of uneventful. Since our purposes for going to the states were twofold (1 to see Kings of Leon & 2 to skip Northern Ontario) - and part 1 was already complete - we only had to focus on part 2. That meant basically just driving, eating and sleeping.
After drinking a Walmart-bought 12 pack of MGD and streaming the season finale of Lost in Rockford, IL we hit the road the next day for Arden Hills, Minnesota where we had booked a hotel. The whole day was spent driving through the midwest. We stopped in Wisconsin at a place called the Cheese Chalet and bought some cheese. It was tasty.
When we got to Arden Hills (which is about a 10-minute drive away from Minneapolis) - we unloaded our stuff and drove into Minneapolis to fulfill one of Nicole's life-long dining dreams - to eat at Hooters.
Lots of people always say Hooters isn't worth it, and they're right. The wings are good, granted, and the beer is fine - and hey, the girls are OK too - but in general the rest of the food is overpriced and is not very good. We had a plate of nachos that was similar to something you could buy at the movies. Boo.
Speaking of movies, we went out to see the new Tom Hanks flick - Angels & Demons - after supper. It was pretty decent. Like the DaVinci Code though, I still thought the book was much better. However, I thought this movie was better than the DaVinci Code movie.
Saturday morning, we went to a Target to buy some games for the road, and hit the road for Canada. Driving through North Dakota was alot like (we could come to find out) driving through Saskatchewan. Pretty flat, pretty farmy. But then again, so was Indiana, Minneapolis and Wisconsin - though Wisconsin did have some gorgeous rolling hills (it was our favorite of the seven states [New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota & North Dakota] we drove through).
When we pulled up to the border of North Dakota and Manitoba, we figured we'd have an easy time getting back into the country. We were wrong.
When the border guard asked us if we had purchased any goods in the US over the last 3 days, we said no. Literally, we didn't. We bought food and paid for hotels - that's about it. I bought a 5-dollar shot glass from the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame (which I forgot about), but other than that - no goods. Apparently this is an oddity when Canadians cross the border, because we were shipped into a parking garage where our car was thoroughly searched. Seriously, they took everything out of our little Aveo. Even the guards searching our car didn't seem convince. "Really, you didn't buy anything?!" Damn consumer culture.
In the end, we were clean (duh) and we proceeded to Winnipeg.
After a long day of driving and the encounter at the border, we weren't really up for doing much. We were staying with Sean - the guitar player for a Winnipeg band called The Details - so we just kicked around his place, watched Zoolander and updated the video blog.
Sunday morning we hit the road for Saskatchewan. Ah Saskatchewan. We didn't know anybody in the country's flattest and wheatiest province so we decided Sunday night would be our first tent-out adventure. We found a small campground just outside of Regina and set up our tent (which we borrowed from Ashley, thanks Ashley!). It was pretty windy in the prairies, but still warm enough so we didn't forsee any problems.
That's when the problems began.
Overnight, we found out that our air mattress had sprung a leak so we ended up sleeping on the ground. We also found out that the temperature had dipped about 10 degrees to a solid 4 degrees celsius. Not to mention the wind - which had stopped blowing - started up again in the middle of the night blowing full force winds through the tiny prairie campground. Needless to say, we were up early on Monday.
After eating breakfast in Regina, we hit the road for Saskatoon. Now, we had no immediate plans for Saskatoon, but we knew we were going to stay there and go visit a big park that was a big attraction in the town. Well, after a 3-hour drive to Saskatoon, a desperate search on the radio stations told us that not only was it going to remain super cold, but that the possibility of snow was high. SNOW! It was may 18, the long weekend. On top of that, the park we wanted to go to was closed for renovations, so we were at a crossroads. Camping would be way too cold, and a hotel could be way too expensive.
*rant* - Another good thing about America besides cheap beer is the unbelievable difference in the price of hotels. We stayed at three different places in the US - Travelodge, Super 8 and Days Inn. All three ran us $50 US (about $66 Canadian). The SAME hotels - which aren't even great places to stay, but are at least for $50 - are $129 in Canada! WHAT! What gives?
After some deliberation, we decided to drive to Edmonton, and I got on the phone and called Amy - an elementary/high school friend of mine from the Surette's Island days - and she said we could stay at her place. Awesome.
Today, after some slight deviation from our plans, we're back on track. We're going to Drumheller, AB to what's known as "The Badlands" to see a dinosaur museum and cool stuff like that. Then we're heading to Calgary for a couple days.
Pictures and videos to be updated in the next little while.
Oh, and if you're reading this on Facebook, our last blog didn't seem to import correctly to our Notes pages, so feel free to visit the real blog (http://www.trevandnicole.blogspot.com) to catch up on some good photos and stories.
Oh also, one last thing.
It's May 19th. And there's snow on the ground.
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