Thursday was the second day of Steven’s Twin-Screw Extrusion Workshop, so another mostly solo (until 6:00 pm) day for me!

Trip side notes:

• This trip has been very relaxing so far. I’ve enjoyed doing things at my pace and not having any obligations. We usually travel to visit people, so this is a much different vibe for us. I’m still talking to a lot of people though! Steven asked me if I felt like I did when I was on furlough – lonely and needing to talk to people. Ha, no, I’ve just realized that when I am not talking to people all day at work, I enjoy interacting with strangers! Who knew?!
• The weather has been great here, so far, minus the wind on Wednesday. It’s been funny to me how much the forecast has changed since I started checking it to pack, and while we’ve been here. It said rain and cold so I packed an umbrella and stocking caps/etc., but we’ve had a lot of sun and it’s sometimes warm enough to walk around without a jacket! Apparently the weather is kind of unpredictable here. According to this list, anyway!
• So far, everyone seems very polite and friendly. And drivers stop for pedestrians waiting to use an uncontrolled crosswalk. And drivers actually slow down to the posted construction speed limit, and don’t ride each other’s bumper and cut one another off.

After Steven got on his shuttle at 7:30 am, I checked out one of the conservation areas outside of town that required a car to get to (10+ minute drive) – Cranberry Flats Conservation Area. I looked for a trail map on the internets and on-site and didn’t see one, and decided to wing it, which meant I ran outside of the park and ended up on what I assumed was someone’s private property, oops! After that, I used satellite view on google maps to find my way around.

The park started out with a wide crushed stone trail, then went to boardwalk and I was all “ooo, this is great!” but after the overlook of the river, it was all single track dirt trails. Ha. Good thing I brought my gaiters with me! Running the soft (sandy in some spots!) path felt nice after running over 13 miles on paved surfaces the day before! But it slowed me down, of course – I can’t run those steep sandy downhills!

While I was looking for a trail map for Cranberry Flats, I ran across a map for Beaver Creek Conservation Area, and decided to run there too, since it was so close (a little farther south). The trails are actually marked there, yay! I ran the blue loop, and felt like I needed to eat (but didn’t have food), so I walked the yellow loop.

Both parks were mostly open prairie along the river, and both were gorgeous! I didn’t see any wildlife (despite seeing signs about beavers, deer, and cougars!), except birds.

I cleaned up at the hotel and went to Thrive Juice Co. in the Riversdale area (where we ate at odd couple Tuesday night), which I saw had vegan donuts in some random article the day before. Based on their menu and store aesthetic I was totally expecting the food to be meh (too “healthy” for me, ha!), but I got avocado toast (my first time ever!) and the LAST vegan donut (it was some sort of maple cream cheese nut) and both were delicious! People keep coming up to me asking if I bought the donut there, because they wanted one and didn’t see where to buy them. I offered to share with a lot of people, but no one took me up on it! Ha ha.

While I was there, I had a long conversation with Carly from Regina about healthy eating (she must have assumed I was in to that since I was in the store…), her work, the economy, politics, her desire to be married, how much more handsome she thinks American men are (than Canadian men), and a few other things. She even pulled up pictures of some guy she is “talking” to in Fresno to show me. See what I mean about random conversations with people? I also wrote more postcards while I was there and sent them on their way!

I went to Soul Paper after because 1. it’s across the street from Thrive, and 2. I love cards, and 3. I was looking for local goodies for gifts. I got spooked by how close I was to my parking meter running out though, and didn’t stay long! The cashier told me they’re strict about parking here, that you have maybe 5-15 minutes after your meter expires but not to risk it, that they’re always walking around chalking. (I told her how a three-judge panel in Cincinnati recently deemed “chalking” tires unconstitutional, as it’s “unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution,” and she told me that they chalk the road by your car here, NOT your tire. So civilized.)

AND SHE WAS RIGHT. I did NOT get a ticket there (or anywhere), but I next drove to Broadway Avenue in the Nutana neighborhood, and right after I parked, and was AT THE MACHINE PAYING, the parking dude came and tried to give me a ticket! WHILE I WAS PAYING! LIKE I JUST GOT OUT OF MY CAR AND WALKED OVER TO THE MACHINE TO PAY GIVE ME A SECOND!

I only realized what was going on because the lady parked behind me got to her car and said to him “Oh! I’m leaving.” And he was like “your car is fine, it’s this one” (and points to mine). Luckily I could hear them! I was all “I’m paying right now! I just parked there!” He didn’t say anything and walked away. The other lady said to me “good for you for speaking up!” and I thanked her for talking to him and making me realize he was there. A few minutes later, while I was standing nearby texting my snis to tell her what happened, he walked by and said “have a nice day!” Psssh. Psssh. Ha ha ha. (I really don’t want ANOTHER parking ticket, come on!)

Anyway, I wandered Broadway and some of the surrounding roads, going in to shops that piqued my interest. I really liked Handmade House, a store with crafts by Saskatchewan artists. I found a few gifts there. I also told the lady working there what happened when I was paying for parking, and I told her what happened to me in Milwaukee last week. I even converted the story from feet to meters when I told it. Hashtag global traveler (except the whole Celsius thing. I can only figure out distances in my head because I run.). She also commented on how ruthless they are with parking here. (But they have free street parking in the metered areas after 6:00 pm and no payment is required Sunday. So they aren’t gouging you, they’re just strict.) (She also enlightened me about the sales tax here: there’s a country-wide tax and a provincial tax. Some provinces don’t have the provincial tax.)

I stumbled across ANOTHER athletic store, Brainsport, which is the one that sponsors the Saskatchewan Marathon and associated races next weekend.  No wonder the other running store didn’t have much of a reaction when I asked about the marathon course when I was there on Tuesday. Ha. (I also realized how close I was to the other running store while I was on Broadway – I didn’t have my bearings yet on Tuesday when we went there!)

I didn’t see anything I needed until I did – another running shirt. Now I have three. I think I’m set!

And there was this super cool mural outside, but the dumpsters kind of ruin the look, huh?

After that I went to a really neat local coffee shop called Starbucks. Ha. They give you your drink without a lid here, and you put it on yourself (if you want one). Of course, I live text my entire day to my snis, so she looked up the reasoning behind this for me.

I wrote a few more postcards there, sent them off, then got back to my parked car TEN MINUTES EARLY. Just in case! (No tickets, phew.)

Then I went back to the hotel and did a load of laundry. Change that to hashtag glamorous global traveler!

I worked on this post while my laundry was going and all of a sudden got REALLY hungry, like the day-after-the-long-run hungries (how am I hungry with all this eating?! No idea.). I bought a bag of chips from a vending machine and they were AMAZING!!!

Steven got back a little after 6:00 and we went to dinner at Taverna in the Central Business District. I read a promising review of them somewhere, and their menu says they’re accommodating to vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free diets. And yum, Italian.

They didn’t have a lot of vegan options though. The best thing was the appetizer – peperonata – roasted peppers, eggplant, zucchini, onion, garlic, tomato, and basil. Our main dishes were decent but nothing worth writing here about! I really struggle to find good vegan Italian food!

We walked a bit after dinner then headed back to the hotel to chill! I was so tired. We’ve been getting up before 6:00, which should feel like “before 7:00” since we’re behind an hour from Chicago, but we aren’t going to bed very early. Today I slept past 6:30 so maybe I won’t feel so tired tonight!

Read Saskatoon Day 1 here and Day 2 here