Album: Day with Friends at Long Lake

Long Lake is the more common name for Last Mountain Lake in Saskatchewan. The lake is long and narrow and looks much like a river because of its shape and size (more than 100 km long, but maybe only 2-3 km wide). It is located close to my home city of Regina and is a favorite place for summer activities.

The idea of a “last mountain” comes from the name given to a range of hills located just east of the lake. Perhaps the idea was that when God created the world, he had just a little building material left over, but not enough was left to create any big mountains in Saskatchewan as was done in the neighbouring province of Alberta (the famous Canadian Rockies). So the name Last Mountain has been applied to both the hills and the nearby lake.

Click on the first image below to view all 21 photos in large format.

Saskatchewan is my home province, located in the western prairies region of Canada. Regina, my home city, is the capital of this province.

Just north and west of Regina (my hometown) is Long Lake. Regina Beach is also nearby, just a short distance up the west side of the lake.

I have taken a group of friends out to a lake. This was the home of my friend Don, located next to the lake.

My friends are mostly International students and visiting scholars. They are mostly from China. I am the landlord for many of these people, but that is another story.

We brought our own food and drink and we are having something to eat before we go for a boat ride on the lake.

Don and his wife, Jan, own a pontoon boat (having two large aluminum tanks underneath). It is very stable.

Don, and his wife Jan, are very generous people. They often use their lakeside home and boat to entertain people form the city.

At the time of this last revision, I must tell you that Don is now (a few years later) no longer with us. His passing was time of sorrow for his many friends.

The lake is truly long, about 100 km, but it is very narrow: just the width of a river valley. In fact, it really once was a river valley (following the last ice age).

These are beautiful large homes, now, along the lakefront, mostly owned by retired people. A few years ago people would be happy with a small “cabin” at the lake.

Moored at the water’s edge are some of the ‘big boys toys’, as some people like to call them.

This family has their boat lifted out of the water, but the neighbour to the left has a boat house into which they will draw up their boat for storage.

Our Chinese friends also enjoyed taking photos of these houses. Both of these young people are doing graduate studies at our local university.

Three flags here: our Canadian flag, our local football team flag, and a national flag from Europe (maybe the homeland of these Canadian immigrants).

… and we get a similar return greeting from people enjoying the warm summer evening.

I’m probably showing you some of the more fancy homes along the lakeshore. It is one way to enjoy retirement, perhaps, but in my case I choose to travel.

Looks like a father and son fixing their small jet boat.

We are now back home. The sun is setting. Don is preparing to bring his boat in to the dock and under cover for the night.

Don’s wife is helping him line up his boat appropriately to bring it in under the canopy.

Meanwhile, my good friend, a visiting scholar from Shandong Province, helps to raise the boat out of the water for safe storage.

First published here: 2016/07/25 Published earlier on OneDrive.
Latest revision: 2018/11/29