Head Tale

It’s going to be hard to top how well everything – weather, neighbours who had kids around our kids’ ages, view – worked out at our seasonal site last year.

But having spent the May long weekend at our seasonal site at Nickle Lake Regional Park, we’re off to a pretty good start!

1. Shea’s Parents
   Obviously, one of the biggest draws to be at Nickle is that Shea’s parents have had a seasonal site in that park for around 15 years.  (Unlike provincials, regional parks allow you to hold your site from year-to-year so most seasonal sites get built-up with decks, sheds, etc.)  Being near her parents is nice for a couple reasons – Shea’s mom just underwent seven weeks of cancer treatment so it’s good to be there to help care for her mom.  It’s also nice to have her parents nearby for everything from them being able to keep an eye on our site when we’re not around to them having a bigger camper we can hunker down in *if* there is bad weather to lending us tools, rakes, shovels from their shed instead of having to take them out ourselves!
2. Weyburn Is Bigger *and* Closer Than Fort Qu’Appelle
   Fort Qu’Appelle was the nearest community to our campsite last year – about half an hour drive from where we were.  It’s a beautiful resort town but only has a population of ~2000 people and limited amenities.  Weyburn is both much closer (~10 minutes) to Nickle Lake and also much larger (~10,000 people) so it boasts more options for shopping, restaurants and other services.
3. Steps From Everything
   We ended up with a site that’s fairly central in the park so we’re really close to everything from the paddling pool to the store (not to mention that Nickle even has a store – something Echo lacked and required a car trip to a nearby First Nation gas station to access) to washrooms.
4. Close to Water
   Echo’s seasonal sites are on a hillside and though it makes for a lovely view, to actually get near the water, you had to drive down to Echo or Pasqua beaches which took a lot more preparation.  At Nickle, we are also steps away from both the main beach and also the scenic waterfront boardwalk and pier (pictured above).
5. We Even Got A Site!
   Since the provincials don’t allow you to hold your spot from year-to-year, every year provides lots of chances to get picked (one employee told us Echo had about 100 applications for 500 spots last year which is a 1 in 5 chance of getting drawn – and probably higher once you account for some people putting in their names multiple times using different addresses or entering into a variety of parks within an hour of Regina.)  On the other hand, regionals have a lot less turnover – one person said he thought they might get 5 spots opening up every year and 100 applications making your odds 1 in 20.  We didn’t get drawn at Nickle initially but someone must’ve cancelled as we got a call last weekend and because the site that opened up can only handle a smaller trailer (which is us!), we were fortunate to be the first person drawn that could fit in the site!