Birthday bash in the Sin City of the prairies

Pop quiz: where can you find a fun getaway with great food, entertainment, accommodations, and a rich history of prostitution, rum running, and gangsters? That's right, kids--It's party time in Moose Jaw!
This was my second time in the Friendly City, as Mom and I visited the week before. We were so impressed with our tunnel tour that Mom decided a tour would be a great birthday present for Jimmy. So away we went!
Moose Jaw, or "Moozjuh" as the locals seem to call it, has maintained its historic downtown buildings beautifully. They're focusing on the tourist trade and doing a great job of it. There are roaming tourist info people, lots of signs, and free parking for vehicles with out-of-province plates. Woo! Did I mention that before? Well, I 'm just so darn pleased with us for having our Alberta plates actually accomplish something good.
Our first stop was the Western Development Museum, at the recommendation of James' parents who vacationed in Saskatchewan last summer. The museum in Moose Jaw is one of four branches (the others being in North Battleford, Saskatoon, and Yorkton) and specializes in the history of transportation on the prairies. They had a miniature railroad set up, revealing my long-lost Moose Javian relatives:
There were lots of rail cars and related vehicles (like a car converted to run on rails for the fancy railroad higher-ups to ride in, no doubt), lots of cars and trucks and things that go, and lots of airplanes. There was an electric car developed in the early 80s that could go up to 100 kph and could travel 160 kms on one charge! What happened? We need those! I want one! Apparently, it wasn't sturdy enough to survive Saskatchewan winters, but neither can a Vespa. We could think of no reason why that car hasn't been further developed. But anyway, at least we got a chance to do some piloting:

There's Jimmy at the controls, and me ready to jump ship.
From there, we free-parked ourselves downtown, did some tap on the amphitheatre,
and went on the two tunnel tours. Unfortunately, they don't let you take snaps down there, so I have no visuals for you. But we enjoyed both tours very much, even though the Chinese immigrants one was a bit depressing and preachy. It's amazing to go across a street and in the second floor of a building, and then wind up on the other side of the street at the end of the tour. Those tunnels go everywhere! The Chinese immigration one was particularly cool, because we got to see manholes and steam pipes. (Apparently, the tunnels were originally constructed for steam engineers to perform boiler maintenance, and only later were used for such excellent pastimes as stowing immigrant workers and transporting booze for gangsters).
After dinner in a surprisingly hip restaurant (where James had steak and kidney pie--blechhh!) we decided that the mineral spas would be much more appealing if it wasn't deadly hot outside, so we headed for the air conditioning of the Casino Moose Jaw. It's pretty small--just a room full of slot machines and a couple of poker tables. We won about three bucks on the Double Your Monkey machine, but then got run ragged by cowpokes, pirates, and island folk. Jimmy proudly emerged with 3 cents remaining from the $10 we'd started with. NICE.
It's entirely possible that we stopped for delicious gelato and fudge before heading back to our motel.
I admit to a stroke of genius when choosing our accommodations. The Prairie Oasis Tourist Complex is a little slice of wicked awesome. Not only was the room much more decent than I'd expected from a motel-campground type of place, but they also had mini-golf and the best indoor waterslides ever! We spent an hour running up and sliding down and running up and sliding down. It was wicked! Especially good because there were no lines to wait in. Just slide away! Oh, so good. We will definitely be back--especially because we won a round of two-for-one mini-golf.
The next morning I went to meet Mack, which was an inspiring experience.
He's sizeable, that guy! We drove down to Caronport to eat breakfast at The Pilgrim, which is a restaurant run by a Bible college where the menu is cleverly called The Pilgrim's Progress Report. Sadly, though, the restaurant has closed since Jimmy visited there in 2000 on his cross-Canada road trip with his dad. Dejectedly, we went back to the Jaw for breakfast (weird, weird breakfast--i ordered fruit salad which came with ice cream(?!), and James had a Chinese buffet) and headed back to town. The great thing is that travelling to Moose Jaw takes just about the same amount of time as driving across Calgary, so it's pretty darned convenient. We had a great time, and now Jimmy is appropriated feted, birthday-style. Phew!