Most people know the prairie stereotype of Saskatchewan and imagine farmers fields stretching to the horizon and beyond. There’s a lot of that here, but there is also a significant diversity of landscapes if you go looking for it. On a Friday vacation day in August, I took off on a road trip ninety minutes south of Saskatoon and headed for a hike on sand dunes in Douglas Provincial Park. You heard me correctly… sand dunes.

Before there could be sand dunes there was a hike from the trailhead through a typical prairie landscape.

After a pleasant and relatively easy 2km hike, I emerged from low growth trees and prairie grasses and sure enough, there were sand dunes.

I was a bit in shock at the change in topography, even though I knew it was coming. The transition between prairie and sand was very sudden. So sudden, it seemed a bit funny, or I was just thrilled to be exploring something new on a vacation day.

I was super lucky to have picked this day to explore. After a string of hot weather, it was a very pleasant 14C on this morning with a nice breeze to keep the bugs away.

While I hiked, I stopped in a number of places to watch the wind blow the sand. It appeared like there were snakes under the sand as the surface kept moving throughout my exploration.

I’ve felt a bit up and down during the pandemic at the inability to travel, but standing here, I was really dumbstruck that I was still in Saskatchewan.

Perfectly blue skies and a series of sand dunes all to myself was pretty good tonic for my wandering spirit.

After hiking back to the car and realizing that I just had a very intense leg workout walking up, down and over all those dunes, I was in need to find a place to relax for a spell. Luckily, about a 15 minute drive away was the cute town of Elbow. I pulled into the Harbor Golf Club and took up a seat on their patio for their Friday special – fish and chips. Making this even better, the restaurant serves craft beers from Rebellion Brewery in Regina, a favourite craft brewery of mine. While my legs took a break, a delicious Solo Crush, a lower alcohol hazy IPA, hit the spot.

The view from the patio was A+ looking out over Elbow Harbor and Diefenbaker Lake in the distance. I know I’ve become biased living in Saskatchewan, but I think the skies here are more stunning than anywhere else I have been.

With my belly full, I put on a new Matt Mays album (that was written at the height of the pandemic and features songs with the stories of dogs… yes dogs!) just released that day, opened the sunroof, and pointed the car back toward home. Just before leaving Elbow, I came across a very iconic prairie scene and pulled off the side of the road to take this picture. Notwithstanding the drive home accompanied by an outstanding soundtrack, this was a pretty great way to end another summer day exploring Saskatchewan.