I woke up at 7:30am to prepare for a morning meeting which ended up getting moved to another day at the last minute (yay!) Since I was already up, I decided to use the time to pack and do a 10-minute ab workout. He woke up a bit later and packed his stuff while I was doing other work. We checked out, then headed to the liquor store for a picture (it looked different than Ontario) and headed out to Regina, then ate whatever was left in the car.

The drive to Regina was only 3 hours (thank god). The drive was pretty flat, and it just so happened to be really dark and cloudy that day. At one point, we got caught in a huge rainstorm, and Hohyun was having trouble controlling the car because the winds were so huge. The skies were really grey and cloudy too. The flatness of the land seemed to make the storm worse and it reminded me of storms I’ve seen on TV in Kansas City. I saw a dead deer on the side of the highway too.

When we got to the Saskatchewan border, we stopped to take a picture with the Saskatchewan sign. It was really cold and windy when we got out of the car so we tried to make it quick. I was looking out for a time change sign (like the one in Northern Ontario), but there wasn’t one. I noticed that there suddenly were a lot of grain silos and irrigation machines on the farms and just a lot of farming vehicles as well.

The whole time on the drive there, I was connected to my phone’s hotspot working in the car (checking emails, working on spreadsheets). The cell phone reception on the highway was pretty good and I had LTE all the way through. Because I was working, I wasn’t 100% focused on the drive. At one point, the car suddenly swerved, which made me look up. He saw a couple of ducks in the middle of our lane and tried to swerve to avoid hitting them, but ended hitting one of them anyway. Hohyun also told me that he saw the duck try and limp away in the rearview mirror off the road. I got really mad at him for hitting a duck but he claims that the duck flew into the front left tire.

One of my meetings started right after we pulled into Regina, so I was stuck on my computer for a bit, unable to move. While this was happening, Hohyun got gas (at Costco), checked us into the hotel, moved all our stuff in, and found a parking spot right below our window. At one point, I didn’t even know where I was since I was so focused. He waited in the car with me as my meeting was ending, so we talked to my coworkers a bit afterwards about the trip and he taught my supervisor how to do the Korean heart thing with his thumb and index finger. I was so grateful and relieved that Hohyun had done everything for us, since it made my life a lot easier and the day more productive.

I found out that he had checked us into the Super 8 by Wyndham Regina after my meeting was over. I settled into the room and did a bit more work while Hohyun updated our trip planning spreadsheet. He said he had 2 things planned for us, but we were starving and needed to get lunch. Near our building, there was a burger place called Fuddruckers that I wanted to try, and we thankfully made it there just in time for their $10 burger and fries lunch special.

We went to go buy some drinks after and ended up talking to the girls that worked the cash. We mentioned that we weren’t from here and asked them for advice on things to see/do. They looked at each other and said “honestly, there isn’t much to do here”. I tried to make a joke out of it and said “all you guys must do around here is drink then” which was met with awkward laughter. We picked up water after, and learned that Saskatchewan has a bottle deposit fee of 8 cents per bottle. We dropped everything off at the hotel and went to go see Saskatchewan’s tourist attractions.

#1: RCMP Heritage Centre

I really wish this was open because it would’ve been so fun to see! There was a Mountie statue outside as we pulled into the parking lot, and on the left were dormitories for people who were training to become a RCMP. We parked the car and took pictures of the statue, then decided to walk around the building just to see what there was/what we would’ve seen if it was open. There was an RCMP car parked at the side of the building and a few plaques engraved on the wall of founding RCMP members. From peering into the windows, we saw exhibits, a gift shop, and the dormitory beds which the RCMP used to sleep in. We left shortly afterwards because it was really windy and cold.

#2: The Legislative Building of Saskatchewan

This building still managed to look good despite the gloomy weather. I immediately noticed that there were larrge groups of geese who were just sitting on the front lawn, drinking water and minding their business. As Hohyun was running around taking pictures/videos of the building, I went up to all the geese and started photographing them (my personal highlight of the day). Unfortunately, the building was closed so we couldn’t go in. Across from the building, there was a garden (Queen Elizabeth Gardens) with lots of geese, and I watched them eat and photographed them. On our way out, we drive through this loop path that went around the legislative building alongside the river.

#3: Wascana Centre

This place was recommended to us by the girls at the liquor store and we decided to drive through it just to see it. It was really cloudy, dark and windy, which didn’t make it look as nice as it probably was normally. There was also not many people since the weather was so bad. We honestly couldn’t find somewhere nice to stop and take a picture, and we settled on this area with a viewing platform looking straight at the legislative building from the other side of Wascana Lake. We took a few pictures, then sprinted back to the car since it was so cold.

We went back to the hotel since I had plans to meet my friend Christine for drinks and needed to frshen up. I met Christine in summer 2019 when we both were in Trois-Pistoles (Quebec) doing a French Immersion program. We had the same host mom and hung out a couple of nights that summer. She told me she was from Regina, and I knew that while I was in Regina, I had to at least try and make plans with her. Hohyun just stayed in and worked out, which was great since at that point, we had spent 24/7 together for almost 10 days and needed a little break from each other.

One of my travel things is to drink craft or local beer in every city/town I visit (ideally in a brewery) since that’s something that is unique to the place I’m visiting. I suggested we meet at Rebellion Brewing Co. for a quick drink (she had a lab due that night). There was no one there when I arrived, and the girl working at the counter was super helpful. I usually choose the most local light/fruity beer on the menu, and she recommended me their lychee beer and their “golden crush”, which were both made in-house. I was having trouble deciding, but I settled on the half pint of “golden crush” and she gave me a sample size of the other beer for me to try (what a lovely surprise!) Christine and her friend Mark arrived a bit later, and it was really great being able to catch up with an old friend, specially one from my travels (in Regina of all places!) I asked Christine for more things to see in Regina, and she responded by telling me which streets not to go on (made me laugh). She told me more about her university life and how the neighborhoods in Regina were classified. We stayed until closing, and Christine had to go home and finish her lab.

I called Hohyun after to tell him that I was coming home and to talk about dinner. Apparently, there was a Jolibee across the highway from the hotel, so I picked him up, and we drove to get take-out. We drove back to the hotel parking lot, then watched Superstore while eating Jolibee in the car. We decided to call it a night after that and went back inside to get ready for bed. Because of the time difference, I had to wake up an hour earlier for work to accomodate the time difference and I knew I needed the rest.