Waskesiu is not only fun to say, but it’s also the only town within Prince Albert National Park and the keeper of all my childhood summer memories.
No, we never owned property up there, we would just rent cabins, but looking back- never being there long enough to get sick of the place is definitely what kept it magical in my little kid eyes.
I doubt most people look at Waskesiu as romantically as I do….and I know hardcore outdoor enthusiasts scoff at it because of the stores, restaurants and other businesses that provide the comforts of the city. (Fine- when it rains YOU can sit in your tent ‘roughing it’ like a sucker- I’ll be buying moose socks and hitting the theatre).
While Waskesiu is most famous for its Stanley Thompson golf course, the phenomenal ‘Bears on The Beach’ playground and historical conservationist Grey Owl (a disillusioned British expat who reinvented himself as a fake First Nations environmentalist and made Waskesiu his home), the true beauty is the lake itself. Framed by perfect white sand…… (loud exhale)
Editor’s note: I was beyond pumped to write this article but I’m struggling. Waskesiu Lake is really all I know so I have nothing to compare it to. I was about to gush through a list of characteristics that are probably applicable to any given lake….so instead, I’m gonna take a hard left with this review.
As a kid, I was a lover of all things Spider-Man. Part of my annual summer tradition was to buy a new comic, display incredible restraint and save it to read at the lake. When I was eight years old, fate would punch my childhood in the jaw as I randomly purchased one of the most controversial Spider-Man stories ever written and after reading it by flashlight while my family slept, it tore my mind wide open. The next morning I sat on the swing set while my thoughts drown with a cornucopia of new adult themes like the complete loss of a loved one, revenge beyond murder and the big one- suicide. I knew the story wasn’t real, but the electricity of change I was feeling sure was. That morning, sitting on that swing set is one of the most vivid childhood memories I have because it was right then and there I understood the power of storytelling- something that has guided most of my personal and all of my professional decisions throughout my entire life.
In 2012 when I sold my first novel, I expected to feel internal fireworks and sweet satisfaction on a level I had never experienced before…but all I could think of was eight-year-old me on the swing at the lake.
Yes, that swing set remains there today…as does the local store, the previously mentioned movie theatre, the ice cream shop and the museum. Nothing seems to change there…except for me because I can still return each summer and feel like I’m eight years old again and everything in my life is still in front of me.
