Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie

Look for the sign on Highway #9 in Hanna, take a turn north on Pioneer Trail and in few moments arrive. Off to your right, it’s a group of historic buildings marking the Hanna Pioneer Village & Museum, a great place to spend a few hours. Ahead in this post,...

An invite arrives to be part of a documentary film being shot by Radio Canada (French language arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and it’s on the subject of ghost towns*. With zero hesitation the answer yes comes quickly and enthusiastically. Shot by videojournalist Vincent Bonnay, we’ll be joining with...

It’s every bit the mid-century service station archetype, even if it’s been a while since it functioned in that capacity. Sure, a few elements are missing now, the gas station sign and the fuel island, but the building itself little changed. We’ve seen old photos and it’s as built. There’s...

Small town museums are a treasure, each unique in character and a great resource if you want to learn of local history. Come connect with the people who came before and the things they left behind. At every turn take a look into the past and for the budget minded,...

We’re visiting the Rocky Mountain House Historic Site, an amazing place with a storied past and below it’s a little tour for your enjoyment. But before the photos allow us to share a little backstory and babble on about what you’ll see and when done, and only when done, come...

A series of ponds mark the site of the Birnwell Mine in Bow City Alberta. These scars from long ago are reminders of a time when men and machine toiled away in search of coal. There’s no buildings left behind, no old equipment either and it’s just these curious water...

It’s one of the oldest buildings we’ve explored in these parts and dates back to well before Alberta was even a province. Yessiree, stuff from that time, like what’s seen here, is ancient by local standards. Long ago, it straddled the Canada/US border and is presently found at a museum...

On longer road trips we’ll often take a mid-day break and have a picnic in some small town (and we’ll purchase eats local if we can). We’ll search out a park or green space, plop ourselves down for a half hour and just relax. A great recharge from the road,...

Little Dorothy Alberta has flirted with ghost town status for a while, but seems reluctant to concede, with few hardy folks still calling it home. Of interest to the history minded there’s a couple cute little churches to take in and barely hanging on, the old grain elevator down by...

This curious structure is unlike any other in Calgary. Looking more the part of a military installation, it’s a school built in style trendy at the time in certain parts of the world but never widely adopted here. They call it Brutalism and it’s one of a handful of buildings...

Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions’ tour trains make a regular stop in Big Valley, a charming little community rich in history. Front and centre, it’s the railway station, over a century old, that welcomes those visiting no matter how they arrive. Come by car, or more awesomely by rail, the building...

We’re enamoured with small towns. They’re always full of charm and character, always nicely wrapped up in a tiny little package, so every chance afforded us we’ll get to know one. We’ll simply stroll about, taking in what they have to offer while always being respectful of anyone who lives...