ROAD TRIP RANCH RETREAT WITH FORD CANADA
With just 1 week to go before taking on Europe for the summer, I seized the opportunity to explore our homeland, right here in the prairies! Only unlike my usual prairie weekend getaways to my cabin at Falcon Lake, Manitoba , we hit the road (well first, sky) to Regina, Saskatchewan for a road trip to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park with Ford Canada for a weekend rancher’s retreat of relaxation, andddd a little/lot of action!
DAY 1 in the Ford Escape EcoBoost
After touching down in Regina after the shortest flight ever and brunch with our new Winnipeg friends Jill from Lune Blog and her husband, Todd at the yummiest vegan diner, Hunter Gatherer for some grub, Nico and I hit the highway in a 2018 Ford Escape EcoBoost for Cypress Hills! If you’ve ever been on a road trip, you know the importance of having a roomy vehicle, a good audio set up, and a intelligent features to get you there in one piece, and the Escape had all of that. Thanks to having a wonderful co-pilot/boyfriend (AKA pilot AKA I’m the co-pilot), I was able to get comfy and play around with all the fun features the SYNC 3 system has! Through hooking up your phone via bluetooth to the Escape’s fully integrated, voice-activated communications, entertainment and information system, we were able to receive and respond to texts right through the screen, along with use many of my phone’s apps! Despite how awesome the vehicle’s touch screen was, my favourite part was by far the navigation and maps on-screen to get you where you need to go… did I ever tell you how bad I am with directions? Like seriously, I can’t get by without the Maps app on my phone, so thankfully the Escape’s nav system was able to get us from Regina to Cypress Hills without wasting all my cell data. WIN-WIN. Another feature I loved was the Lane Keeping Assist, which keeps you from accidentally moving towards the other lane without meaning to and having other drivers yell “STAY IN YOUR LANE” – just me that says this? Oh okay. But seriously, this was so helpful, especially for when you’ve been driving for hours and start losing focus.
After a couple stops, we made it to the Star Cafe & Grill in Maple Creek, SK’s Heritage District where we enjoyed an incredible dinner capped off with a Guinness Brownie and home-made Caramel Gelato for dessert. Bellies full and ready to relax (I almost fell asleep in the vehicle’s comfy seats, again…), we made it to the Historic Reesor Ranch in Cypress Hills for a weekend of cowboy comfort like I’d never experienced before! When I heard we’d be staying on a ranch, I was a little skeptical as to what that would entail for this city gal, but once we settled in to our sweet little guest room on Rancher’s Row and explored the Reesor Ranch inside and out, I instantly fell in love with its country charm with a modern twist (mix a breathtaking ranch way out west with no cell reception but with wifi, AC, and all the comforts of a massive cabin – what more could a girl ask for, I mean really). We spent the rest of the night around the fire roasting marshmallows, stargazing under the natural Dark Sky Preserve, and listening to campfire songs with the rest of the influencers from MB & SK! Talk about an escape from reality.
DAY 2 in Ford Expedition MAX
We woke up bright & early to a breakfast buffet from the wonderful Scott & Theresa Reesor, husband and wife and owners of Reesor Ranch before heading out on an action-packed guided ATV tour around the hills (in the rain, might I add, but who said a little mud was a bad thing?) In the afternoon we went horseback riding for miles through the hills. I rode Darby, the sweetest (and smallest) girl, and we rode up and down the hills, past hundreds of cattle and their calves – which are SO cute, oddly enough! I don’t think I’ve ever gotten up so closely to cows before, so who knew!? I am still in awe of how incredible the views were, with mountainous hills and green that went on for miles and miles – I felt more like I was in a movie rather than just a 10 hour drive and 1 province over from home. Next was time to take the SUVs off-road. With the 2018 Ford Expedition MAX‘s Terrain Management System™, we had NO problem taking the car up the same hills we ATV’s and rode horseback on earlier in the day. With its 7 modes to choose from, the options from snow to gravel to sand to mud allowed us to match the driving dynamic to the terrain we were on, making the ride smooth and comfortable, despite the fact that I would never imagine such a drive with my 2012 Ford Focus, ha! Being somewhat less adventurous than Nico driving, the Hill Descent Control™10, made me feel much safer going downhill as the braking system automatically engages as needed to keep the vehicle in control while descending. Like, is there anything Ford didn’t think of when designing the Expedition???
From ATVing to horseback riding to off-roading in the SUV’s, we had a little bit of ALL the action today making for the perfect evening to sample some wine from Cypress Hills Winery, made out of the same spring water that comes from the Reesor Ranch. My favourite was the Blackcurrent Honey red, but the Rhubarb white was a close second! We also tasted craft beers from Black Bridge Brewery, I absolutely love tasting local wines and beers when traveling, and it’s always awesome to see these kinds of businesses come out of small towns like Maple Creek and Swift Current in Saskatchewan. After so much adventure and exploration today (mixed with a little wine) and another campfire, we were beat and oh-so ready for bed in our cozy guest room where I actually slept like a baby BOTH. NIGHTS. because the comfy bed mixed with the scent of wood with the wind and rain beating on the tin roof, away from the craziness of life in the city was so soothing and calming.
DAY 3 in the Ford Expedition MAX
On our last day (so sad to leave!!!), we packed up all our suitcases and threw them in the back of the Expedition MAX‘s extended trunk and hit the windy roads til we made a stop at Fort Walsh National Historic Site! After doing marketing for Parks Canada sites across Canada last summer, it was great to make to one of PC’s sites in a province other than Manitoba. After exploring the site and learning its history, we snapped a pic in the Red Chairs (as you must do at every PC site or park you visit!!!), and loaded back into the SUV to head back to Regina! Again, I let Nico take the wheel for no reason other than that I wanted to soak in the massage seating with cooling capabilities and snap some photos along the drive. There is so much to see on this route, if I could have we’d be making picture pit stops every 15 minutes, LOL. One feature of this vehicle that actually freaked me out the first time I noticed it was the Start-Stop technology that automatically shuts the engine off then the car is stopped. We pulled up to a red light once we reached back into city limits and all of a sudden the engine stopped and the vehicle went silent. W T F. Or so I thought! As it turns out, the Start-Stop technology is a smart feature that reduces fuel consumption and emissions when you stop the car, and automatically (and unnoticeably) restarts when you release the brake. If this isn’t the definition of eco-intelligence in a vehicle, then I don’t know what is! After saying goodbye to our new friends from SK, we made it back to the airport to head home. If only this weekend could have lasted a little bit longer, I was so not ready to get back to reality after this weekend of pure bliss!
When I first got my license, when I was 16, the Ford Escape was my dream car and it’s safe to say that to this day, it’s still a vehicle I would love to own! It’s the perfect size for little me in the driver’s seat, but still spacious enough for road trips and toting around a few friends in the back! Plus it has just the right amount of in-car features, such as a moonroof, SYNC 3, Lane-Keeping Assist, and hands-free lift gate. And while the Expedition is a real dream car, it’s much too big for me to drive myself! But I’d be 100% okay if Nico was to drive it everyday with me riding shotgun 😉
Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to drive in the Ford Explorer, the SUV that falls in between both the Escape and Expedition size-wise, but I’m pretty sure I would have fell in love with it the same way I did the others. But for now, back to my 2012 Ford Focus that I still absolutely adore… despite riding in these amazing, fully-equipped vehicles. One day, I’ll absolutely be calling one of these my own!
Thank you to Ford Canada for providing me with the opportunity to explore Cypress Hills in their safe & reliable SUV line-up! All opinions are my own.
