Monday 31 July 2017

Abandoned church in Arelee, Saskatchewan

Spotted driving through what remains of Arlee on July 1, 2017. The town is flirting with ghost town status. The church is behind an overgrown hedge just past an overgrown side road. The church is the Arelee Mennonite Brethren Church founded in 1908. Apparently it now belongs to a local family. It is a fairly large church. 



Sunday 30 July 2017

Abandoned Alberta

Near Buffalo, Alberta July 16, 2017 off Highway 886. Quick drive by photo opportunity. I know nothing about the place.



Saturday 29 July 2017

South View School 1936 - 1947

Or what remains of it. Spotted near Cappon, Alberta on July 16, 2017. You can see the concrete foundation of the school in the background.

Friday 28 July 2017

St. Laurent Ferry, Saskatchewan

Part of my July 15, 2017 road trip. I took this ferry after I took the Wingard Ferry. The St. Laurent Ferry crosses the South Saskatchewan River. 


There is a "T" intersection when you drive up to the ferry. I was about to turn to cross the ferry when I noticed a sign for the Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine. So I drove a few miles up to road to take a look. The road into the shrine is dirt, sand, and soft. The place was packed. The annual pilgrimage was on that weekend. I was there long enough to get a photo of the church.  


The ferry operator was a nice guy. I mentioned that the operator on the prior ferry seemed to be in an unpleasant mood. He remarked that he knew who was on shift there that day. He said that he sees himself as a public servant, not a public slave, and that he enjoys the job. He told me a lot of ferry traffic is tourists and you want them to enjoy their trip in the province. All of the ferry operators I ran across that day were very friendly except for the one. 


Quick crossing. Less than ten minutes.


Thursday 27 July 2017

Cappon, Alberta July 16, 2017

There was never really much at Cappon. Now there is even less. This spot is kind of remote and there is a fair amount of gravel road to get there. Cappon has no direct route to it either. I tried to get here a year ago and it has been on my list for some time. This place is not on a road map. I had a backroads atlas and I missed it on my first attempt because I could not find it. Google Maps was useless. It is marked on Google Maps however there is no cell phone coverage here. This time I had a map of just this area with it marked and I managed to find it.  

School marker. The community hall is the former school.


Hall.


Where the post office once stood.


Old weather vane on a fence post. 


A quick look at the landscape.


Wednesday 26 July 2017

From that same viewpoint . . .

Right on the side of the road to the Norquay ski hill.



Forgot to mention something in a recent post

I recently posted about Bents, Saskatchewan. I have a bit too much going on right now and I meant to link to this post in my original post. Their post is far superior to mine.

Please visit:


Chris and Connie do really interesting stuff.

A few views from Mount Norquay

The result of a quick trip to Banff National Park on July 23, 2017. Norquay has a ski hill. I do not downhill ski. The road is paved and has several switchbacks before you get to the base of the ski hill. There are a few spots where you can stop and enjoy the view.

Photos go from a left to right view.


Down in the valley is Banff, Alberta.


The valley just past the end of the Banff townsite looking west.

Tuesday 25 July 2017

I manage to annoy a few residents of Banff National Park

Quick Sunday motorcycle trip to Banff on July 23, 2017. With the great sunny weather we have been having this will be a summer to remember.




Definitely had enough of me taking photos.

Monday 24 July 2017

Another site I visit

I have started reading this site.


I have my restricted firearms licence so I can legally own a handgun. I do not currently own a gun. I used to own one and I am sort of in the market for one. I should be able to learn a few things from this page. 

Langemeade Church, Saskatchewan July 1, 2017

North of Paynton, Saskatchewan. I stopped here to look at the church. I thought this place was no longer in use. The church is in a rural area and there is no town nearby. I turned into the grounds and a number of people were here. They told me that the church had been moved onto a new foundation and was being restored. The church is over one hundred years old. I think there was some kind of family gathering going on so I took a few quick photos of the church and left.



Sunday 23 July 2017

Coffee with Kelsy

The great thing about doing this blog is that sometimes I get to meet interesting people. 

This morning I met Kelsy Norman for coffee. 

I think we hit it off. Visit him at:

Ghost town Saskatchewan

This is an absolute ghost town. There are buildings, there are no people. I ran across this place sort of by accident. I was driving through a part of Saskatchewan and I spotted a grain elevator off in the distance. I thought I spotted the elevator at Feudal, Saskatchewan. I instead spotted the one at Bents. I did not go looking for Bents as I had read online that the elevator had burnt down. If that was the case I was not interested in seeing Bents. The elevator at Bents is still standing. Apparently the internet site I was reading got the elevator at Thrasher confused with the one at Bents. The one at Thrasher burned down earlier this year. 

I did not even think about walking in to see this place. I have read on various sites that this place is on private land and the owner has had to deal with a number of trespassers. I would have loved to get a closer look.


Bents is kind of oddly hidden by the landscape. From a distance you can see it perfectly. The gravel road runs north/south just to the west of the town. The town is off on an old trail a few hundred feet from the road. When you are on the road practically right beside it all you can see is the grain elevator, the rest is hidden by hills and a dip in the landscape. A rail line used to run right by the elevator.

This is looking north and zooming in from a fair distance south.


Below is an aerial screen capture from Bing Maps. From what I have read there are a few houses and a general store.

Saturday 22 July 2017

The Truman Show

I got to meet Michael Truman, author of:


Nice guy who has a passion for exploring the countryside. I am glad we got to meet in person. With luck we can get together in the futuere and check out some places from times gone by.



Delmas, Saskatchewan July 15, 2017

For all of the elevator fans out there.

Friday 21 July 2017

Wingard Ferry, July 15, 2017

I get a few dumb road trip ideas in my head then I get fixated on trying to pull them off. I have taken every ferry crossing in Alberta. Then I got to thinking that Saskatchewan has ferries and maybe I can take every ferry crossing there. I am not counting the Wollaston one as it is a barge, not a ferry, and you have to pay to cross. I like things to be free. Last year I took the Estuary Ferry, the Lemsford Ferry, the Lancer Ferry, and the Riverhurst Ferry all in southern Saskatchewan. I had taken the Paynton Ferry earlier this summer.

The weather this summer has been fantastic. I had looked at the weekend forecast and decided I would go for it. Saturday July 15, 2017 I ventured east from Edmonton in my quest to see how many ferry crossings I could make in one day.

Not one of my better ideas. It took me over four hours to get to the first one. It stayed hot and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky. I managed to take the Wingard Ferry, St. Laurent Ferry, Fenton Ferry, Weldon Ferry, Cecil Ferry, and the Hague Ferry in that order. Saskatchewan ferries tend to be very rural with a fair amount of travel on gravel roads. Getting from one ferry to another was very time consuming. After I crossed the last one I had an odd sense of accomplishment. I had crossed every ferry in Saskatchewan.

Then I realized I missed one: The Clarkboro Ferry. There was not enough time to squeeze that one in so I will have to go back. So I am eleven for twelve.

The Wingard Ferry crossing the North Saskatchewan River was first established by Danish setter Nels Petersen in 1895 who was granted permission by the government at the time and was taken over by the provincial government in 1905. All ferries were taken over by the government in 1905. It is a short ferry ride. It was about 30km over dusty gravel road to get there. The ferry operator was unfriendly. He did not say one word. No matter. I was on a ferry in rural Saskatchewan and enjoying every minute of it.


As I arrived a farmer was just getting off the ferry.




Thursday 20 July 2017

St. Wolodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Church

This spot was unique. This church and cemetery is truly remote. It is west of Cappon, Alberta and there really is not much at Cappon, Alberta. I noticed this on a county map and thought I would see it in person if I was ever in the area. I happened to be in the area on July 16, 2017.

This is not one of the regular range roads. The church is a distant spec on the horizon just on the right of this road. This view is due north.


This is the church.


I found out the church was covered in metal to protect it some years ago. I could not find anyone who could tell me if it was still in use.


This sign is up against the side of the church. This is unique since you see a lot, and I mean a lot, of eastern European churches in the northern part of Alberta. You do not see many in southern Alberta.




What amazed me is that the cemetery has some recent headstones. I did not cross the fence onto the church grounds. I could see in the distance that a few of the markers were newer. It is a small cemetery. There is absolutely nothing nearby except open prairie in all directions.

Wednesday 19 July 2017

A post on bloggers

A few bloggers I have read have stopped blogging or disappeared. It is one of those minor mysteries where you wonder what may have happened to them. On a certain level you feel that you start to get to know some of them.

I have corresponded with some. A few I have met. I have plans to meet a few more, it is a matter of pulling it off. There are some that I would like to meet.

To those who I read on a daily basis I look forward to your posts.

Prairie flower

Spotted while trying to find my way back to a highway after many miles of gravel road north of Buffalo, Alberta.

Post office marker

In the middle of nowhere southwest of Oyen, Alberta. I am probably one of the few people that like finding these.

For the barn fans

Somewhere near Feudal, Saskatchewan on July 1, 2017.

Wide open empty space can be intimidating. At one time I used to live and work in Edmonton, Alberta. You would run across a number of people from Europe and China. Why anyone would want to visit or live in Edmonton was beyond me. I prefer a smaller place. Anyway I was always interested in what they thought of Canada. Most of them were amazed at the sense of space how quiet it is. In large European and Chinese cities I was told it is very crowded and there is constant noise. There was a bit of adjustment getting used to it. It can be quite the experience to go somewhere and feel the emptiness and hear nothing.