Wedding Blog

…begins with two in-laws, one groom, one big fraidy-dog, one teeny dog too big for his britches, four suitcases, a dozen boxes of wedding paraphernalia, one hoop skirt, one super big *ss petticoat, one couture wedding gown, and one bride and her camera.

We left Winnipeg before dawn, with Mr. Shortcake’s parents’ van packed to the ceiling, and Mr. Shortcake, Harvey, and I none-too-comfortably wedged in the back seat between coolers and suitcases. I was still sick-sick-sick, so my new friend Mr. Boogie Cloth traveled alongside of me.

(Mr. Boogie cloth and his ever-so-absorbent self surveys the prairies)

Driving across the Canadian Prairies is and was pretty uneventful. We did get to experience the thrill of “Grand Valley” as we left Manitoba—a boomtown built around the only hills for thousands of miles.

(Woo hoo! Quite the adrenaline rush, I must say. *cough*)

Harvey, on the other hand, was unimpressed with the molehills that Manitoba had to offer, and spent much of the first leg sleeping in my purse, because that’s just what he does.

Saskatchewan was similarly, erm, flat.

But the landscape was occasionally spruced up with a tree or three:

Or a train or two:

(I love the picture below because it illustrates why my new camera hands-down beats my old one—I took this picture after being jarred awake by Mr. Shortcake, and was able to open the camera case, take off the lens cap, turn it on, change the setting, focus, zoom, and click in two seconds. TWO SECONDS. My old small silver couldn’t even turn on in under five! )

And sometimes a salt flat made us wake up and go “Oh, cool” before falling back asleep.

For all of my sarcasm, I did find the Prairies quite beautiful. There’s always something about Big Sky Country that makes you feel singularly insignificant.

And there are always poignant reminders of our country’s past along the way:

{Part two of our journey: rocky mountain highway, coming soon}