Abandoned Saskatchewan

Unknown church east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. There was a "No Trespassing" sign posted so I shot it from the road.

Redberry Church

A long abandoned church south of Hafford, Saskatchewan. The church was locked. Nothing around for miles.

Gate beside the church leading to the cemetery.

 

Sunday drive (posted on a Tuesday)

After days of rain the weekend had some decent weather. Saturday was spent with mom leaving Sunday free. Takakkaw Falls is close to Field, British Columbia and about four and a half hours from where I live. The road to the falls is open in the summer only and opened a little later than usual this year. I have posted this spot before on a prior visit.

I spent too much on gas and it was a long way to travel for a day. The weather made it worth it.

Homestead Church

Actually I have no idea what church this is. It is tagged as Homestead Church on Google Maps and is located northeast of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Well, more east than north. There was no name when I was there. There was some Ukrainian writing on a wall inside. I did not get a photo as there was a fair amount of vandalism and I did not go past the doorway as it looked a little unsafe.

Random abandoned Saskatchewan

Fields of yellow already

Spotted today, Parkland County, Alberta.

Sam the Crusher

Saw crushed cars in a field and thought of my father.

When I was a kid in the car with dad driving and you happened to see some crushed cars dad would always remark "Sam the Crusher is in town". First thing that I thought when I saw this was that Sam the Crusher had been here.

Odd the things that you suddenly remember.

Curious deer

I wish I did not have a chain link fence as a background. This one was not shy and let me take a few photos. Taken outside of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Abandoned Saskatchewan

Not quite the Dukes of Hazzard

Completing the set

So in my Saskatchewan travels, in no particular order, I have been to Romance, Love, Climax, and now Honeymoon, Saskatchewan. Honeymoon is a little northeast of Prince Albert.

The only thing in Honeymoon is a hall.

Just a short distance up the same road is a church. So theoretically you could get married in Honeymoon. Having a honeymoon in Honeymoon would be more of a challenge.

I have been in Love

Saskatchewan has some great place names. Love, Saskatchewan is a small place of about fifty people. They have a sense of humour with the name.

There are no businesses that I could see. There is a post office. Apparently the village has a unique postmark of a teddy bear holding a heart. People have sent wedding invitations to the post office to have them stamped with the post mark.

Road tripping

A little too much travel for three days. From Leduc, Alberta to Prince Albert and Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan then home with a few side trips along the way. I had taken June 20th off to create a three day weekend.

The road trip started on Saturday morning. I hit a nasty rainstorm on Highway 16 heading east outside of Paynton, Saskatchewan. It was coming down so hard I could hardly see the highway. I thought about pulling over and waiting for it to subside. That plan was scrapped when a few irregular chunks of ice bigger than a softball suddenly appeared in the storm in front of me and bounced off my roof as I kept driving. That does not make for a pleasant sound. I figured it was better to keep going and I might hit the end of the storm. Some miles done the road it stopped.

From North Battleford onward the weather was fine. There were some severe weather and possible tornado warnings on the radio concerning the Prince Albert area which is where I was headed. Nothing came of it.

I got to Prince Albert late in the afternoon. I did not see the need to book a reservation before I started the trip because I thought there would not be a problem getting a room. Huge  mistake. There was some kind of ball tournament there and there were no rooms to be had. I checked seven hotels. Correction, one well known hotel chain did have a few rooms available. The place looked very sketchy when I walked in, like it was a hotel for transients with the clientele to match, and I promptly walked out. I would have slept in the SUV if I had to. Luckily I found a room in a motel five minutes south of Prince Albert in a motel that looked like it was built in the sixties with a few inexpensive renovations through the years. It was relatively cheap and surprisingly quiet. They never asked for a credit card and I paid cash when I checked in. Very very  quiet. Never heard a damn thing all night long.

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful except for half a day of rain today. Note that between Tisdale and Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan there is a lot of nothing. The roof of my SUV had a couple of minor hard to see dents. If there is other damage I have not found it. I found a few interesting things. Gas was too expensive in Saskatchewan, over two dollars and six cents per litre. Other than the price of gas I enjoyed myself. 

Veteran graves

From Dale and Lynn Redekopp:

Lynn's grandfathers served overseas in the First World War. They were both British expatriates who felt an obligation to serve, although both were essentially ineligible because of their ages and that they were married with children.

Unfortunately Lynn's matriarchal grandfather, G. Herbert Walker,  was killed in August 1918, and is buried in the “Manitoba Cemetery” north of Caix, France.

www.ww1cemeteries.com/manitoba-cemetery.html 

When we were stationed at Lahr, Germany, we managed to visit his grave and were the first of his family to do so. It was a very moving experience.

Lynn recently learned of a group called the “No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation”.

www.nostoneleftalone.ca/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Branded&utm_content=Branded&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5tSe8PCq-AIVEBmtBh0NmwRMEAAYASAAEgI2kvD_BwE 

No Stone Left Alone's goal is to honour every Canadian veteran who has passed by placing a poppy on their headstone each November.

Lynn has communicated with this group and we hope to be able to include the Manitoba Cemetery in their commemorations this year. We have also sent them information on other cemeteries we have visited that include veterans’ graves. The latest was the Crooked Lake Community Church which had five veterans’ graves near Gwynne, Alberta.

Jenning A. Carlstad

Irish Fusiliers

(Vancouver Regiment)

16th April 1943 Age 22

Born 2nd Sept 1920

Rest In Peace

Lincoln Capri

 

Saw this beauty next door to where I was working this morning.  I think it's a 1954 model.

- Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

Random thoughts on a rainy day

It looks like most of Alberta is cloudy, overcast, and experiencing rain this week. Parts of Alberta have been under a heavy rainfall warning. "Alberta" and "heavy rainfall warning" usually are not found in the same sentence. I want to go somewhere this weekend except there is no decent weather in sight.

As a kid I lived in Terrace, British Columbia for two separate stints for about five years. We moved away when I was in Grade Four. I remember it rained a lot when I lived there. One year rain and the subsequent flooding took out a number of highway bridges. Our backyard had a bit of a dip in it. My father, who had no talent building things, attempted building a playhouse. The wooden floor and some half walls were as far as he got. Our backyard filled with water that year and got close to the house, and the playhouse floated around in our yard. Amazingly enough our basement never experienced a drop of water.

When the floods took out the bridges back then Bailey Bridges were put up in their place until permanent repairs were made. I have not seen a Bailey Bridge used in many years. I wonder what happened to them . . .

June 9 was my friend's birthday. I paid him a visit at the cemetery, likely the last visit I will make there. I will remember him however I am not going to obsess about it.

The Hyundai Sante Fe got another repair, a cheap one this time. If the gas cap is not sealed properly the check engine light comes on. A new gas cap fixed that. When I asked the parts guy for a new gas cap for my 2011 Hyundai Sante Fe I would not have been surprised if he would have said that sounds like a fair trade.

Longridge School 1904 - 1955

Old school in rural Alberta sent in by Dale and Lynn Redekopp now sitting in a farmyard. Beaver County, Alberta.