SASKATOON

Sticking around the province this summer? The Saskatchewanderer shares tips for staycationers

Published Friday, July 24, 2020 11:53AM CST

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The COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on many travel plans, but for the Saskatchewanderer, it really put a damper on her job. CTV Morning Live caught up with this year’s adventure-seeker Leah Mertz, for a quick update.

We had the chance to catch up with you right when the lockdown hit, but how did you manage to stay busy while staying indoors?

For a while I was turning to wandering at home, I was just Google and talking to people and seeing what was out there. I was ordering takeout from local places, and just looking at past stuff previous wanderers have done. I did my best to stay busy because I'm someone, if I'm not doing something, I go a little crazy. I feel like that sort of timeframe has shifted a bit and now I'm able to go out a bit more, which I've been taking advantage of. The future's looking a little better, still of course being cautious, but I've been having some fun the last few weeks.

Now that things are loosening up a bit and you're able to get back on the road, what was the first adventure you went on?

I just went on my first actual camping trip in a long time, so I was excited to get back out there. I was up in Great Blue Heron Provincial Park, which was so beautiful. I was staying at Murray Point campground, the Provincial Park has the two of them, there's one called Anderson Point, that's up in Anglin Lake and then Murray Point which is at Emma Lake.

So I stayed there, it was super fun. I managed to put up a good fight against the mosquitoes, so I had a good time still. That was kind of the beginning of it, lots of amazing food around there, the Fireside Grill at Christopher Lake was so good. So, that was kind of the first time I felt official thing, finally staying out of my house overnight somewhere else.

So, not everything is open but I know when you were first told you were going to be the Saskatchewanderer you had a little bit of a bucket list, are you going to be able to check those items off?

I'm going to do my best. I think if anything we've learned from this year, things can change really fast, so I'm just trying to take advantage while I can. I still really want to explore more of the Cypress Hills area, so hopefully that's something that can still happen. Recently though, I actually did check off something on my bucket list, just a couple days ago.

I was in Hudson Bay, and I went on an e-bike trip which, if you haven't been on an e-bike it's the easiest thing ever, you don't really have to pedal too hard. For someone like me, I'm a little self conscious about my physical capability sometimes but we went 20 kilometers through amazing terrain. It had forests, a river and prairies, it was so amazing, so that video will be coming out very soon.

Now for a lot of people sticking around the province, this is going to be the new norm. Do you have any suggestions for those looking to explore?

I think just keep it simple. Make road trips part of your vocabulary in the next little while. I've been dubbing it a little “saski-staycation.” I think we're all pretty much aware that going elsewhere, out of the province, isn't so much of a reality. Even for our winter vacations, we're going to have to be sticking around here, to some extent. So, I think just kind of hit the road!

There's so many little things that I have just come across. I was just in Tisdale recently, which was really beautiful. Even just walking the streets outside, it was really nice. There were some murals there and they had the river trail. So, just get out there on the road, I'm sure you'll find something like I am.