Shopping Trip to Moose Jaw
· 4 min. read
This article may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
A few weeks ago Jessica and I decided to go on a shopping trip to Moose Jaw. Now that the snow is gone and the roads aren't so messy, I plan to get back on the road more often. I also took this opportunity to try out some video creation. After seeing some of the awesome content people like The Saskatchewanderer are putting out, I decided to try it out for myself.
Moose Jaw is about 45 minutes west of Regina, and is famous in Saskatchewan for its old brick architecture, small-town vibe and myriad of underground tunnels. Two tunnels tours exist in Moose Jaw. One is based around the famous gangster Al Caopne (whose cell I visited while in Eastern State Penitentiary) and the other is about Chinese immigrants who were forced underground by the Canadian government's "head-tax". Both tours are fascinating and I've done both several times. While we visited them on this trip, we didn't actually go on any the tours.
Although Regina is a larger city that Moose Jaw, downtown Regina lacks the quirky mom-and-pop shops you'll find in Moose Jaw. For the past few decades, much of downtown Regina has been transformed into either banks or big box stores, all which pushed the smaller boutique shops away. The past few years have seen a resurgence of them, but there isn't nearly as many as there used to be. Moose Jaw, on the other hand, has very few big box stores in its downtown area and still has scores of quirky boutique shops and restaurants.
We also stopped by the Grant Hall Hotel, one of Jessica's favourite hotels in the city. Although we didn't spend the night here, it's a gorgeous hotel and I imagine we will sometime in the near future.
After Jess and I finished shopping, we went to Hopkins Dining Parlour for supper. It's one of our favourite restaurants in Moose Jaw and we visit it almost every time we're in the city. Unfortunately, the restaurant has a limited gluten-free menu so we ordered the same thing. After eating, we were still hungry so we ordered an extra plate of "Moose Chips".
We finished our day in Moose Jaw with a walk near the train tracks and explored the outside of the old Texas Refinery Corp building. Moose Jaw is full of parks and open spaces, but I've never had the chance to explore them. It was nice to get off Main Street and see other parts of the city, so I'm excited to go back and see what else there is to see. Moose Jaw even once had a zoo, but it closed years ago. The urbexer in me is really excited to find old, rotting cages surrounding by vines and overgrown trees, but I have a feeling it's probably just a park now.
(Editor's note: Jessica confirms it is indeed just a park now. How sad...)
I've wanted to do an article exclusively about Moose Jaw for years now, so while this one isn't very in-depth, it might just be a teaser of things to come!
Don't forget to pin it!
Categories: Canada, History, Saskatchewan
Sharing this article helps the blog grow!
