Medicine Hat

The drive from Regina to Medicine Hat was fairly long and fairly ordinary, although the kids travelled so well we hardly knew they were there.

There were very few accidents along the way, although some still succumbed to the weather and road conditions - a constant concern for us.

This truck wasn't going anywhere for the day.

Along the way we noticed subtle changes to the scenery along the roadside, but I stress the word subtle as

the countryside changed very little between Regina and Medicine Hat. Thankfully the weather held for us on this stretch as it again was quite exposed for most of the distance and we would have had a tiring drive to complete it. We had been keeping an eye on the weather through the Internet and listening to horror weather reports for the areas we were heading into, but it didn't seem to make it as far us.



Clear roads and low rolling hills between Regina and Medicine Hat.

Perhaps the unchanging nature of the countryside, or the easy driving conditions made for what seemed to be a longer trip than I expected. It seemed as though each sign we saw for Medicine Hat still promised a long drive.


Are we there yet...?


Finally the city limits sign was obvious and not a moment to soon as the natives had begun to get restless. Calls for a toilet stop were being made ("What!? You went only 3 hours ago! Tough it out!!) I guess I'm not cut out to be a tour guide.



Our only picture of the town sign.

 We checked into our Super 8 hotel and the girls and I enjoyed a quick dip in the pool, although this did require us to go outside and traverse the icy road bewteen our room and the pool area.

The kids watched television while Jill and I drove around town to check it out and get dinner for the night. It was an interesting city, with sudden hills rising from seemingly nowhere and rounding out at the top - a formation we were to see more of later at Drumheller.
The weather began to change for the worse as we completed our town tour and returned to the room.

The next morning when we were ready to leave we noticed that the weather had finally caught up with us!



A small overnight snowfall and a sign of things to come?