Kids and empty lots, it’s a natural pairing. These unused parcels become an place to hang out and have fun, unsupervised, that’s all theirs and with no adults around to spoil things or get in the way of the good times. Grown ups can be such a buzz-kill. The possibilities are endless once “land” is acquired – wage a pretend war, go camping (but be home for dinner) and if there’s trees get to scavenging and set up a swing or build a fort. It’s what we all did as youngsters and it looks like today things are no different. Witness the kid-things found while out exploring this night.
Here we’re in the remains of a Calgary neighbourhood that with road construction was obliterated. Most of it is under pavement now, but a section a couple city blocks square remains. The houses were torn down, but lanes and fences and any trees were left behind. And now it’s a playground for children, who come in from the neighbourhood over that it borders on. The city of Calgary owns the land here, but we’re not sure what plans they may have for it.
The tree fort shot – we threw up a lantern (on a rope) to light it so. It worked okay I guess. Some guy passing on a bike, who wiped out in front of us (unrelated with what we were doing, but on account of ice), looked as us most curiously. Like what are you doing? Then it was off the liquor store for him, as he told us. And moments later, he wiped out again. Think he might have already had enough.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found. Or sometimes we just ramble on about Lord knows what.
If you need any more information on what we talked about here, by all means contact us!
Date of adventure: November, 2018. Location: Calgary, AB.
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Thorsby Hotel, built in 1929 & a photo by the manager's 7 years old daughter. More below 👇
Agreema politely asked if she could shoot a few photos & we obliged. A dark environment like this is very unforgiving & the camera she used quite temperamental, so she did an amazing job. We're out of work as photographers! Great food at this place, BTW!
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Tofield Hotel, built in 1912 & patron Lana, shot on Rob's vintage view camera. More below 👇
She's a sweetie & met her late husband at the hotel. The building from the alley side hasn't changed much since being built but the front brickwork is now covered by siding.
Crossley slides (unrestored), an unnamed fellow snacking on Sun-Maid Raisins - mountains of BC - 1950s. More below 👇
The distinctive red box is instantly recognizable! The location is listed as the Whitewater Valley & we think it's in the Sandon area close to Retallack. Perhaps some of our friends out that way can confirm. Sandon B.C., would Hal know? Crossley frequented Sandon so the location makes sense. Note the (mine?) road cutting across the slope in back. The slide is dated 1955 in the catalogue but 1956 on the frame.
Shout out to: Jason Sailer. _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
An old section of Highway #6 (BC) in the 1970s & 2021 - it's the second most shared post in our entire history! More below 👇
The original photo shows the road about the time it was decommissioned. This was always a troublesome section & so it got replaced by a new route further up the hill. While it hasn’t seen a car in eons, it remains overall in reasonable shape, save for some rockfall in places like this. These came down about ten years ago.
Happy Holidays from Off the Beaten Path w' Chris & Connie. Thanks for your continued support & encouragement. More 👇
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CPKC's Holiday Train from a few nights ago. Rather than fight the crowds to see it, we wanted something a little more intimate. A bit of hike, but we brought mulled wine to help us keep warm while waiting. It's not a great shot & originally we had no intent to share it here, but what the heck.
Trainspotting is like fishing. It's not about the catch but rather getting out. If a train comes by, great, but if not, we had each other & a chance to get away from the day's problems. That's a BIG win in our books...even if we did freeze our bottoms off. _______
Out exploring with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
So that’s what you’ve been up to at night?
And now you know!
You guys have an amazing eye for detail and make everything you document looks exciting.
That’s how we hope people would see it. Thanks!
Love this.❤️
We’re so happy we could share it with you.