It Took 11 Years to Go There, Now I Can't Stay Away

Every once in a while, when our kids have a “break” at school or an extended weekend, we get a chance to take a break ourselves.

It may not be common knowledge, but a trip across the northern border has become one of my family’s favorite things to do.

If you follow the speed limit, it takes about the same time to reach Medicine Hat, Alberta as it does Billings, maybe 15 minutes more.

In the Easter of 2023, we took a trip to Swift Current, Saskatchewan. That trip ended with us driving to Medicine Hat, due to the Morgan–Monchy Border Crossing being closed on the weekends, at the time.

In reaching Swift Current, I was so intrigued in this country that I would’ve been content staying in Swift Current that weekend. Instead we went west to Medicine Hat, a larger town. In arriving, it was love at first sight.

No, we are not thinking of moving North, but it is nice to get out every once in a while. It is nice to take the family around to sightsee. I get a kick out of seeing the boys enjoy the different indoor pools and waterslides. It is nice to get away and relax the mind a bit.

Another perk of traveling is that we take a break from our mostly low-carb lifestyle. We ate well.

I will honestly say, that this time around. I don’t know if it was the amount of food I threw down my throat at the Medicine Hat Buffet or the various types of Mountain Dew beverages that I drank, but last Saturday, I was as sick as a dog.

Before and during my great display of gluttony, we did a few new things on this Easter’s trip. We tried a restaurant or two that we hadn’t tried in each of our past four trips. We were very pleased with the quality and quantity of our food.

We also let the boys try out the XScape Arcade inside of the Medicine Hat Mall. I had no idea how arcades operated in 2024. This arcade uses a credit card system in which a kid swipes a card to play a game and their tickets are logged onto their account. The boys currently have tickets on their cards now, that they chose to save for their next trip to Xscape. I love that in some ways it may be setting them up to save and be fiscally responsible in their future. In my day, when you had tickets, we didn’t save them. We spent them immediately.

We also took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda 4, at the Galaxy Theatre. They seemed to enjoy the film, though I struggled to stay awake.

This time around, I even slept better despite hearing every toss and turn in the hotel room.

This year, we were intentional on celebrating Lincoln’s sixth birthday which was last Saturday. At one restaurant the waitress brought out his breakfast with a lit sparkler. He tried to blow out the spark, but no dice. We sat there frozen with fear that the sparks would set something on fire. Thankfully, all was well and that made for a birthday breakfast that we will never forget.

It was a mostly relaxing trip, and a welcome escape after such a bi-polar winter. Fingers crossed that the nice weather is here to stay.