Hey. human friends! This is Claudette, the newsroom mascot, and I am just hopping to tell you about my recent "staycation" in the Battlefords.
After filling in for John Cairns and Becky Doig while they took time off this summer, I was feeling a tad weary. The rest of the newsroom staff agreed I deserved some vacation time, too.
The reason I went on a staycation was simple - I have no money. One plan I had thought about was to be a stowaway in Jayne Foster's luggage for one of those trips she frequently takes to Mexico.
I figured I could meet some frog friends of mine down there, but Jayne says she is not going back to Mexico until it is quite a bit colder outside.
Another idea I had was to find a way to go on a trip to see my birthplace, China. I had seen ads about the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce big trip to China happening in September, but finally was told, no, our editor Becky was not going to pay for my ticket to China.
It would have been daunting for me to hop up the Great Wall of China anyway. So I decided to stay here. Who needs China when you have these wonders of the world here in the Battlefords to go to?
There have been some exciting changes with tourism in the Battlefords with a new visitors centre and visitors' app and all that, so we thought it made for a really good story idea. Besides, it's more interesting than reading about all the crime and other heavy news.
I decided to convince reporter John Cairns to take me around the Battlefords so I could see some of the attractions we have right here! He was all too happy to drive me around and take pictures for me, too.
Before I headed off, I needed some ideas on where to go. I made sure to check out the Battlefords Tourism app on Brett Smith's cellphone, which had a listing of some places to go to and things to do. After that, I put on my sunglasses, and John and I headed off.
First stop for us was the area around the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce building at the junction of highways 16 and 40. There I was able to admire the displays there of that huge bison, as well as the RCMP officer riding on a horse.
The Chamber of Commerce building used to be where the visitor centre was located, but I was met by a sign in the window that said "the Battlefords Visitor Information Centre has moved. It is now located on Highway 4 and River Valley Drive, North Battleford. Contact phone 306-445-2000."
So we decided to head off in that direction, but before we got there, we stopped by the Allen Sapp Gallery on 100th Street in downtown North Battleford.
While I was there I was able to take a look around at the artwork on the wall as well as the displays inside. There was a herd of children in there on a tour of the gallery and they were really happy to see me.
Then we headed down Highway 4 on the road to Battleford, and turned off onto King Hill where I could get a really good view of the Battlefords.
I got to see the area, including a plaque that was put up on the former location of old Abbott Field where they used to play baseball back in the day.
Then I hopped up all the steps up to the top of King Hill, where I was able to get a birds-eye view of all the traffic on the highways below.
We finally made it down to the Battlefords River Valley Visitor Centre down in the river valley below. Immediately I felt right at home because there were interesting displays of wildlife, with birds and deer and all sorts of good stuff there.
I have to say, I'm really glad I live with my human friends in the newsroom. Some of these creatures on display are really scary looking and I'm afraid I would turn into frog dinner if I was left alone with some of these animals in the wild.
The visitor centre also had plenty of brochures and I made sure to take a look at one to get some more ideas on where I could go.
We ultimately decided to end our day in Battleford. John told me about the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame and the big bat they had just put up, the largest one in Canada. So of course I wanted to go there and get my picture taken.
A couple of days later John and I headed back out again. He told me there was no way I should miss out on a trip to the Western Development Museum, so I headed out there.
The most interesting display was the new dinosaur exhibit. I took a good look at Omaciw the Tylosaurus, and Scotty the T-Rex.
Boy, do they ever have sharp-looking teeth! Like I said, I am glad I am not in the wild with these creatures. I would be no match for them.
I hopped around outside and looked at the main street displays for a while before we headed off on our way. I wanted to look at some works of art again, so we went to the Chapel Gallery where they had various kinds of artwork and a number of sculptures on display.
It was here that I got some exercise climbing on the sculptures, but John told me the artists wouldn't like it if I kept that up, so I had to climb down. Sorry, folks! I'm just a frog, I didn't know I'm not supposed to climb on the artwork!
Our last stop ended up being a trip up to the former Government House location where the old legislative buildings for the Northwest Territories once stood.
Government House isn't there anymore, though, it burned down a few years ago. I stood in front of the chimney and took a look at some of the interpretative panels they had up. It was also a good spot to have an outdoor meal, as I ate several mouthfuls of mosquitoes.
I would have gone on to see the Fred Light Museum grounds and Fort Battleford, but our day was cut short when John dropped his glasses on the ground and busted them.
To make a long story short, I ended up driving John back to the office so that he could get his glasses repaired. That was the end of my staycation, whether I liked it or not.
Now, I'm here back at work, plotting my plans for my next staycation.
On my next trip I definitely will want to see Fort Battleford, the CUplex, the attractions at Jackfish Lake as well as the casino. I definitely want to play some blackjack over there and win some money.
I suppose the moral of this story is there is so much to see in the Battlefords that you cannot fit it all in one trip, even if you live here!
