We drove a large clockwise loop through the eastern Saskatchewan prairie, crossing and driving through the Qu'Appelle Valley several times. Along the way we saw a horse riding competition, a swinging bridge, many people enjoying a lake in hot weather and some neat old towns.
And you thought the prairies were just flat and empty.
Lez shouts: A horse show! And Lee was in the process of driving right on by! Wait one minute buddy - we are going to a horse show! It was one of those horse dressage competitions. The riders were women of all ages with their horses, two different "rings" on the go, 40 or 50 horses. What a cool surprise to be able to photo and chat with a few folk - who I'm sure had a good chuckle afterwards about the city slicker who asked silly questions. Ribbons were given and proudly carried out.
It was interesting to see the Qu'Appelle valley extend far beyond what I was familiar with - Echo Valley. A quick pop into Wikipedia after our sight-seeing has been quite the educational read. I had no idea how "big" this valley is. What is very interesting is that the photos of the land, the coulees and the foliage we have taken today look like the photos we took mid June further west along the Qu'Appelle system. Learning something old every day! And flat as some sections of the priarie are, we've seen more ups and downs than I ever expected.