In the grips of a global pandemic, as spring turned to summer, it became obvious that the only way I’d feel comfortable scratching my travel itch was to get behind the wheel of my car for some good old fashioned local exploring. And while I’ve lived in Saskatchewan for a bit over four years and owing to my province’s immense size and my proclivity to wander in foreign lands over my own backyard, I’ve seen precious little of my home province. I made a list of places relatively close to Saskatoon, booked off a few Friday vacation days, and have set off on some prairie road trips.

First up was the town of Nokomis, population 436. Located an hour and a half drive away, the attraction for me was one of my favourite craft breweries in Saskatchewan – Nokomis Craft Ales. On the drive south and east to Nokomis, I had the sunroof open and the stereo up loud listing to the new July Talk album, “Pray For It”. The open road, never-ending prairie skies and some great tunes had me feeling like this was a true vacation day and an escape from the pandemic-induced feeling like no day was different from all of the others.

Under the threat of a severe thunderstorm, I arrived in Nokomis to have my first beer on a patio other than my own back deck since November.

At this point in the pandemic, I’m not ready to accept the risk of eating or drinking indoors in public spaces, so a patio in an out of the way place like Nokomis was a great way to warm up to this “new normal” everyone is talking about.

What a feeling it was. A smoking hot day, a patio all to myself, and a pint of ice cold Nokomis Session Ale. This beer has been the unofficial beer of summer 2020 for me. Full of hoppy flavour at a relatively low alcohol level, it has been a nice companion to all sorts of day dreaming, reading, and listening to music on my back deck this summer.

While I was perfectly content to just stare off into the sky to watch the progression of an impending storm, a long freight train started to roll by just on the other side of the brewery’s fence to animate my backdrop. It made me think of my dad, a railway enthusiast, and how much I would have loved for him to be across this picnic table, enjoying a beer with him. He would have been like a kid at Christmas watching the length of this train pass by.

As I pulled out of Nokomis, just before the town’s main road turns into highway, I passed a child on a bicycle on the side of the road pedalling in the opposite direction from me. In true small town fashion, he flashed a huge smile and waved at me, a wave I returned enthusiastically. This short trip was a great reminder of the rejuvenating powers of a quick change of scenery. Lots of small things brought a smile to my face on this afternoon – that wave, the simple pleasure of being outside, the taste of a delicious beer, the act of actually getting back to something that is pretty normal for me…

That storm that was threatening in the distance as I enjoyed my patio beer? As the drive back to Saskatoon had my mind filling with other road trip possibilities for the rest of the summer, the storm crossed my path providing this quintessential prairie summer view. Not a bad capper to the first of a number of summer day trips around Saskatchewan.