Touristy Things

Ever heard of the grotto?  It's a place north east of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan and makes for a great Sunday drive, or a treat for someone on their birthday. There used to be a statue called "Our Lady of Lourdes" a few miles north of the town on the highway.  When you came to the statue you would turn east just a little north of the shrine, and that would put you  on a road that looked to be almost pure sand.  The next left would take you into a yard with a couple of historical buildings and a trail leading to the back of the property to a most fascinating place.  The grotto is a place of prayer built into the side of what looks like a hill.  It is outdoors with some sort of  roof (metal I expect), that protects a chapel of sorts with benches, tables and often still  burning candles below.  Outside and around the chapel area are small confessional buildings, each big enough to house two people at least,  a little bigger than an outhouse.  I understand that every year there are two pilgrimages that occur to the grotto.  Since the whole combination is called the St. Laurent Shrine, I think people all around the area participate.  Amazing!  Imagine hundreds of people walking together with a common goal to put the power of prayer into motion from a glorious place, close to the Heavens...the grotto.   The last time I drove past that neck of the woods, the highway had been upgraded and I could no longer see the statue. I'm sure that will be righted soon enough once the highway is completed. So nowadays, I would have no idea where to turn.

The Town of Duck Lake website, has plenty more information about all the tourism that happens in that area, and below are the excerpts about the grotto and Batoche:

"St. Laurent Shrine
The St. Laurent Shrine is located a few kilometres North of Duck Lake. The Shrine started as an Order of the Oblate Mission in 1874 and was devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes. The St. Laurent Shrine is the destination of the Pilgrimage that is held twice every year. There is also a picnic area and a grotto for those people who wish to visit this spectacular place."

My note - When you leave the grotto, if you turn left (south east) at the sandy road and drive a little ways, you will come to the river.  A ferry will take you across, if it is operating and shortly after you will come to Batoche.  

"Batoche
Batoche National Historical Park - Relates the history of the Metis and the events of the Battle of Batoche of 1885 through an audio-visual presentation, displays of artifacts, and exhibits. Tours are also available of the old church, the rectory, the rifle pits and the cemetery. Batoche is located twenty-nine kilometres northeast of Duck Lake on Highway #312.
Fish Creek Battle Site - Shows the first battle between Gabriel Dumont and General Middleton's forces. Fish Creek is located thirty-two kilometres southeast on Highway #312e." 

I lived in P.A. for 14 years and always heard people talk about  "The Forks".  This natural attraction is east of the city and I believe is where the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers meet.  People go there to fish, but apparently the mercury pollution has made eating the fish a little dicey and really not recommended.  My daughter, Carmen, and I decided to go fishing there one summer day, even amidst all the warnings from others to forget about eating the fish. 

You park at the top of a hill and start your descent down a fairly narrow, forested trail which seems to go forever, but is actually about a 15 minute walk if memory serves me correctly .  (Takes a little longer going back up).  The trail is built into the side of a sloping hill of trees and underbrush, going up on the one side, and straight down, cliff-like on the other side.  We made our way down without incident and spent a few hours fishing...Of course we had no luck, and eventually left empty-handed.  It was just as well, because neither of us really knows how to clean a fish properly anyhow...Believe me, I've tried, but there's not much left when I'm done...sorry fish. 

It was on the way back up to the car that we had all the excitement. First of all, going downhill was easy, but uphill had us puffing and slowed right down.  That was okay, we weren't in a big rush.  As we got to the last third of the trail where it gets quite steep, it took a moment to register, that we were hearing the sound of faint, then louder and louder, pounding hooves coming our way.  We had about a split second to look into each other's widened eyes, only to see and realize it was a full-grown white-tailed deer coming straight at us at a full gallop on the narrow trail.  We scrambled up the side of the trail into the trees and hung on for dear life.  At roughly the same instant, the 'jumper' saw us, and veered off in blind panic, physically crashing all the way down the cliff into every tree he met.  He had experieced instant terror and so had we.   The noise that had lasted only a microcosm of time  went from deafening to total silence..just like nothing had ever happened.  Really, "if a tree falls in the forest, will anybody hear?" 

We stood there holding our breath, waiting and watching....We listened, on guard. lest his partner come rushing down the path next...but nothing happened.  We knew he had to have broken something, nobody and nothing could survive a fall like that.  We were at a loss of what to do.  Should we try to save him?  But how on earth could we?  We had to wait for our pounding hearts to slow, then finally we hesitantly dared to step back onto the trail.  God only knew what happened to that poor majestic deer!  If he didn't break his neck, it would be a miracle. We realized there was no way we could think of navigating down that cliff to look for him.  We felt so helpless, and still full of shock, awe and dismay, reluctantly continued our climb back up the hill.  It was one of the most surreal moments I have experienced with nature.  We left that world with more than we'd bargained for, shaken and stirred! 

When I think back on that day, I realize we should have probably reported it to the local conservation officers, but unfortunately, I am only thinking of this now.  The life of animals in the wild astounds me.  How they manage in weather like we've had this week is hard to imagine.  Minus 59 degrees celsius with the wind chill, and yet they do.