Now well into the afternoon of Day One, our small caravan of museum hunters worked our way even further north.  Our destination was Rimbey, Alberta.

Back in early March, Emily was attending a horse seminar near Sylvan Lake and so I had a couple of days to explore the area.  I had taken the opportunity to drive through the town of Rimbey which is when I first discovered this museum.  I’m not sure how it had stayed under my radar for so long but it certainly qualified as the “hidden gem” of our first day.

The Smithson International Truck Museum is home to 19 fully restored International pickup trucks spanning the years from 1935 – 1974.  (International did not release a model every year so this counts as a complete collection, even if every year is not represented.)  In addition, there were some other vehicles of note, including my favorite, a 1961 Chevrolet which had served as an ambulance at the Rimbey Gas Plant right up until 2001.

After touring the trucks, we were given a guided tour of the tractor collection, the historic village, and then the other buildings holding a variety of artifacts ranging from medical to military to household.  Our two guides assisted us by going from building to building and opening them up for us as we walked around.  It pays to reach out to them in advance if you want access to the inside of the buildings, which is highly recommended.

The buildings include the 1906 Kansas Ridge school to the 1908 Church of the Epiphany, which was the first church building erected in Rimbey.  The old Rimbey town office is here, a general store, a barbershop, and even a caboose for good measure.

There were so many things to see I couldn’t decided which photos to include in this post so I instead opted to go with a slideshow instead.