MaC's Weblog

I’m allergic to Saskatchewan.

Today we went to see the “Chicago of the North” (a.k.a Moose Jaw, SK).

List of exciting things to see in Moose Jaw:
- the curve in the road on the way from Regina to Moose Jaw
- the red truck on the side of the road on the way to Moose Jaw
- the potash mine on the way to Moose Jaw

There was also a set of “bootlegger tunnels” which were apparently used by Al Capone. The story goes that Scarface would come up to Moose Jaw when times were tough down in Chicago, and had also set up a “boozeline” down the tracks which apparently allowed him to take booze straight from Moose Jaw to Chicago without being found out (prohibition times, remember…). So we got a tour of the tunnels, which turned out to be an interactive experience in which we became bootleggers, and actors took us through trick walls into gun rooms and such.

Kind of hokey…. Especially when you realize that the tunnels don’t actually go anywhere – it’s like someone put up a bunch of trick walls in a stone basement that lead you around in a circle. Also, it turns out that Al Capone was not actually ever seen in Moose Jaw.

Not even once.

So my guess is that some guy started a rumour way back in the day, and that little shithole of a town clung to it like mold to the inside of a Nalgene lid. Don’t go to Moose Jaw.

Other than that, the prairies are pretty cool. “Land of the living skies” is no joke. They’re wicked. Not to live here, but definitely cool to visit.

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Regina likes me, too.