Better fed
We headed east along the Yellowhead Highway recently and came away astonished at the changes in the quality of life.
When I first travelled as a reporter for The Western Producer back in 1947, the hotels had squeaky, sagging beds, the country cafes served last week’s mashed potatoes, the roads were a brown strip of washboard and horse-drawn farm equipment was a common sight.
Horses are still around but they aren’t used for farm power. I did ride in a surrey pulled by a couple of massive Belgians at the Foam Lake, Sask., 75th anniversary, but this was for an historic tour and not tillage.
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We stayed in a big three-storey bed and breakfast establishment called Amma’s (Grandma’s) House in an area replete with Icelandic descendants near Wynyard, Sask.
We preceded by two weeks a visit by the president of Iceland. My wife thought we should leave a note on the bed to the effect that we slept there first. Anyway the beds were comfortable and squeak-free and I’m sure the president enjoyed his visit to this huge house that has stood there since 1919.
Our hosts were Eric and Karen Olafson, who farm across the highway near a marshy wildlife habitat that provides bed and breakfast for thousands of water birds each year.The Olafsons raise elk that occasionally graze close to the highway.
We visited three restaurants during the weekend and saw no sour mashed potatoes or dry breaded veal cutlets.
From the Shanty Inn at Wynyard to the Pepper Tree in Foam Lake and Jan’s Steak House in Lanigan, we ate as well as in any city restaurant and at substantially less cost.
Today the traveller’s stomach is well tended.
