Al Capone, Queen Elizabeth, and the Best Dog Park Ever: Welcome to the Prairies

The last few days have taken us through Brandon, Moose Jaw, and Medicine Hat—names that sound like either a children's book series or a very specific game of Mad Libs. But these places turned out to be pretty fantastic, despite (or maybe because of) their wonderfully quirky monikers.

We started the week boondocking on a ranch in Saskatchewan where they raise these impressive Icelandic horses. They are a regal and friendly bunch, and we learned a lot about the area from the humans too.

Tree Hugging: From Theory to Practice

We boondocked at a garden center in Brandon and wandered through some wonderful self-guided trails that taught us about local trees and land history. Earlier that week, I'd been discussing tree-hugging with some colleagues as an analogy, so naturally I had to put theory into practice when I encountered what they called a "heritage tree"— the grandmother tree from which all others in the forest descend.

Let me tell you, snuggling up to a 200-year-old oak is both humbling and surprisingly therapeutic. I may have found my new stress management technique, though I'm not sure how my business students would accept my recommendation for tree cuddling in my psychology classes.

Moose Jaw: Where Al Capone and the Queen had Something in Common

We rolled into Moose Jaw planning to stay one night but loved it so much we parked at the visitor's center for an extra evening. Perfect timing, too—we arrived just as the Moose Jaw Warriors were taking on the Brandon Wheat Kings in their season opener. We snagged seats right on the ice and dove headfirst into Saskatchewan hockey culture. This area produces more NHL players per capita than any other Canadian province, and watching the local crowd, we could see why. The Warriors won and we cheered like locals.

The city tour revealed Moose Jaw's delightfully shady past. Apparently, Al Capone ran bootlegging operations through here using underground tunnels during Canada's own version of Prohibition in the 1920s. Queen Elizabeth visited Moose Jaw more often than she visited Manhattan. The mental image of the Queen and Al Capone both appreciating the same prairie town is just too good.

Medicine Hat: Bigger Than Expected, Dog Paradise Found

After three nights of boondocking, we were ready for a proper campground in Medicine Hat. We'd been picturing a gas station, general store, and maybe a traffic light, but Medicine Hat turned out to be surprisingly large—clearly our prairie town expectations needed some calibration.

The real winner, though, was the campground's adjacent dog park. I'm talking acres of open, fenced land plus a mile-long walking trail where dogs can run completely free. Lieba visited three times and was in absolute heaven. Every dog and owner was perfectly well-behaved in their greetings.

The next night we stayed overnight in the backyard of a lovely empty-nester couple like ourselves, in Bassano, Alberta. We chatted at length and learned more about life in this quiet little Canadian town. We're both struck by how warm, kind, and generous people have been. Letting campers, strangers really, stay on their property through boondockerswelcome.com has inspired us to consider doing the same when we get back to our place in WV. We meet people and learn about their lives and the environs in a way you just can't get staying in campgrounds and state parks.

Next Stop: Calgary

The prairies have been full of surprises—from heritage trees to hockey heroes to royalty and bootlegger history. Next up is Calgary, where we'll trade wide-open spaces for big city energy. Something tells me we're going to miss the quiet expanse of prairie, but we're excited to see what Alberta has in store for us.

Stay tuned for more tales from the road...

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