There’s a cool old building in South Calgary we’ve passed a gazillion times but paid little mind, even if we did think it interesting. Then one day, after seeing some century-old homes just a block over getting demolished, comes a cold hard reminder that nothing’s forever. Procrastinating is a slippery...
We’ve hiked the Glenmore Reservoir Loop many times before, occasionally during the warmer months but mostly come winter. There’s a nice pathway that circles the entire thing and much scenic variety. Sometimes it’s a very park-like setting, sometimes you’re along quiet city streets, next to a noisy trunk road (thankfully...
Occasionally when an adventure ends we have no choice but to rush home. But if we can, and it’s something we work hard towards, we’ll take it easy and doddle. Do the backroads, the byways, the side streets and take in places (wait for it)…”Off the Beaten Path”. The journey...
Here’s an exciting new concept that if well received we plan to do again and again. We’ll pick totally at random subjects from our extensive photo collection that have never seen the light of day publicly, be they good or bad, and post them here. And of course, we’ll drone...
The setting for this “then & now” is a quiet residential street in small town Alberta seen a century ago, and again present day. Admittedly it’s not the the most glamorous or spectacular subject we’ve ever picked for one of these posts. It’s just two rows of humble dwellings, in...
Here’s the first Boler posting of 2020, an overly dirty model b-1300 found completely by random in some south Calgary neighbourhood. Truth be told it was captured in late 2018, but as many of you know, we’re perpetually behind in getting these published. Keeping the lights on here at BIGDoer.com...
File this under obscure. Here we’ll be looking at the mostly complete inner workings of a coal mine hoist house and don’t worry, you’ll know more about that is in a moment. These massive chunks of metal were part of a sprawling coal mine, so big it extended for many...
As this is being written it’s currently a numbing -28c (-38c with windchill!) and it’s a safe bet that hiking is not on the minds of many in our local area. Well, maybe in distant dreams of summer…dear friend the sun, a warm breeze, trees, flowers and butterflies and a...
Those who follow our adventures know how much we love staying at old school motels/hotels when on the road. It’s not just due to budgetary reasons we do this (well, yes it is), but that we simply love the vibe. Heck, if we won the lotto tomorrow – and we’re...
Not all that long ago Greyhound Bus Lines owned the Western Canadian market when it came to intercity ground transportation for us humans. Their buses went nearly everywhere and business seemed to be doing fine. If there was a town of any reasonable size, it was probably served. Passenger volumes...
Flashback to a time with the world on edge…well, more so than usual. It’s memories of that crazy period called the Cold War, with two hated enemies facing off and each with a finger on the doomsday button. On one side, the side of good (if you were to ask),...
Here it’s a short diversion from what we usually document, a fun little piece touching on something we’re rather passionate about. Even if the subject is not the favourite with some of our readers (oh yeah, we hear about it), for Team BIGDoer it’s something big. We’re speaking of pinball...
Time for some vintage metal! There’s a number of brutish beasts here, work trucks, the stuff we like, all of it big, one over the top BIG, and all of it old. Show us something rugged and non nonsense and we’re in happy land. All but one of the trucks...
At every opportunity we take the back roads. That’s where the good stuff is. Even if in familiar territory, there always seems to be a surprise waiting for us around some corner when using this approach. It could be something new we missed before or a place known to us...
This one goes back a year or so, a rocky period for Team BIGDoer. At that time Connie was in the midst of her Cancer battle that would eventually have her losing an entire breast. With that we we’re limited in what we could do outside. But even with pain...
Sometimes we just like to do it for the fun and nothing else. For us. Case in point, this post where we pay a visit to an ordinary motel room that’ll be the focus of our attention today. What the heck? No, it’s not one we’ve booked for the night,...
In our fast paced world, sometimes we drop a couple gears and slow it down. In posts like this it’s not so much about what we see and photograph, nor the story behind them, but rather the simple and pure joy of getting out and roaming aimlessly. And if we...
This here post is dedicated to a friend, gone almost a year now, whose obsession in what we’ll be looking at here bordered on the crazy. In a most beautiful way. This fellow, name of Jim Pearson, had a thing for grain elevators…and it was on a grand scale. You...
For years now we’ve been going into local (to us) locations seen in the earlier Superman movies and showing what they look like today. We’ve long since visited most of the easily accessible sites and have been slowly chipping away at those which are harder to get to or appear...
Before anything, a huge thanks goes out the person who helped us with this here post. It’s to thee Coinoath Sarsfeld, low light photographer extraordinaire and super humble fellow, that we raise a toast. After dark of course under a magical night sky and alone at some abandoned farm on...
It was for many decades a Calgary Institution. Not just a place to get a prescription filled, no, it was much more. Picture it, an almost full on department store where one could purchase nearly anything their heart desired without having to drive all over town. A bottle of Tylenol,...
Capturing a Boler (Trillium, et al) on the move whilst driving is perhaps the most difficult challenge for those out hunting little fibreglass trailers. They’ll often come upon you quickly, almost always on the opposing lane, and rarely is the camera at the ready. So with that, capturing a “Highway...
Not all that long ago coal was king in the Crowsnest Pass. There we’re dozens of mines up and down the valley, with production peaking in the late 1940s. It was almost exclusively on these which the local economy relied but now tourism brings in the dough. It’s all quiet...
The clock’s ticking and our time in Spain running out, but still there’s much to do and see with zero reason to sit still. As we’ve been heard to say all too often, “we’re only on this planet for only so long and man, we’re getting our money’s worth…we’ll catch...
When it gets cold we find things to do inside. Below minus twenty and you might find us mall walking for example. Got to keep fit somehow during an arctic blast even if it means channelling our inner senior citizen. One freezing day March of 2019, we found ourselves exploring...
We have a conflicting love/hate relationship with these then and now articles. Sure, they’re an absolute delight to do, when all the pieces fall together that is, but at times they’re a bringer of great frustration. For every one that works, there’s many that don’t. We strive not to just...
The Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association (the GBCTA) manages a huge network of biking, hiking, equestrian, snowshoe and cross-country ski trails in the Foothills of Kananaskis west of Calgary. They go every which way and they keep building new ones! There’s a great mix here and whether you’re into something...
Stumbling across an abandoned railway line in Saskatchewan is not hard to do. There used to be a literal spaghetti bowl of tracks going every which way in the province, with nearly every town regardless of size, having train service. There was a branch to anywhere and everywhere! Almost all...
We’re torn. What are we to do with this post? Here’s some fine photos, taken during a scouting mission, showing a really cool subject, an old log cabin still used from time to time, with a stunning mountain backdrop. That is Grade-A certified BIGDoer.com Gold. And so we went in...
Some times we just randomly wander older neighbourhoods in search of who knows what. It seems these communities always offer up something interesting to take in for us, and what ever it may be, we’re happy. There might some old building or church that captures our imagination, unique or vintage...
Kenopsia: "the eerie atmosphere of a place that's usually bustling with people but now vacant or abandoned."
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Ioco Port Moody BC (Ghost Town)
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Historic Fort Macleod After Hours
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Ghosts of the Crowsnest Subdivision
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Moose Jaw SK Train Station (~90 Yrs Apart)
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Kart World or Kart Gardens? (2014)
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Prairie Sentinels: Cadillac Sask
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Dominion Bridge Calgary (Ramsay) ca1960-2014
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World of F.E.A.R Figure-8 (Abandoned)
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Forgotten Coal Town Cemetery
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Royston Wrecks (Vancouver Island BC)
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Shandro Historic Village (Closed)
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Bridge Hunting: Highway 13 Scotsguard
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Grain Elevators of Consort Alberta
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Commander Mine 1935-1956
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Prairie Sentinels: Coderre Saskatchewan
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