Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church

Short video clip today.  Come with us as we explore the grounds around the Exaltation of the Holy Cross church near Hay Lakes, Alberta.

The church was built in 1921 and has been on the Alberta Register of Historic Places since 1988.  A beautiful building, for sure!

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Exploring East of Edmonton

For the Labour Day weekend, we camped out at Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, just north of Camrose.  Naturally, we couldn’t just sit around and look at trees the whole time; we needed to get out and do some exploring, especially since neither of us had spent much (any?) time in the area.

Naturally, we had to record some video to share of our explorations.  We had no set route, no timetable, and no real goals — just look at the map, see what looks interesting and start driving.

For those who would rather check out some still images instead of (or in addition to — even better!) watching the video, here you go:

Kingman Elevator

The elevator from Kingman has been moved to private property a few miles from town

Round Hill

Round Hill Hotel

Shonts

The infamous “Dirty Shorts” elevator in Shonts

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Bruce Grocery Store in Bruce, Alberta

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Bruce Hotel

Warwick

Another relocated elevator, this one in Warwick, Alberta

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Hairy Hill, Alberta

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Hairy Hill, Alberta

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The Chipman hotel

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An old service station/garage in Lamont, Alberta

So, now you have a pretty good idea of our route. What cool things did we miss along the way? Where should we go the next time we’re in the area? Let us know in the comments.

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Bomber Command Museum of Canada

On May 16-17, 1943, the Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron carried out a night attack on three German dams. “Operation Chastise” is considered a significant turning point in World War II.

More than 75 years later, the Nanton Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta held a weekend of events to mark the occasion and to honour those who flew the raids, many of which did not come home safely.

On Friday, August 24,  a Lancaster Bomber — retrofitted with a replica of the “Upkeep Bomb” — had its four Merlin engines fired up for the crowd gathered to watch the display.

This video is different the from “vlog style” videos I have been doing lately in that I simply stand back and record the action and let the narrator tell the story.

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Pioneer Acres

For those who prefer the written word, prepare to be disappointed again.  This post is another video-focused offering.  There are some non-video posts coming, so don’t despair!

Back on August 12, we had the chance to pay another visit to Pioneer Acres.  This marks the third time I have visited the museum, which is located just north of Irricana, Alberta.

Pioneer Acres houses an outstanding collection of machinery.  Farm implements, trucks, tractors, and everything in between.  There are even horses for those interested in things of a non-metal variety.

Pioneer Acres

Photo by Emily Overes

We had a wonderful visiting the site with Emily’s parents.  We had a private presentation on the history of Allis-Chalmers, watched tractors of all sizes compete in a tractor pull, and watched the “Parade of Power”.

There was a lot going on and we didn’t see everything there was to take in, but I hope you watch the video and get a slight appreciation for all Pioneer Acres has to offer.

Have you ever checked out this place?  Let us know in the comments.

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Majorville Medicine Wheel

Revisiting familiar places is always fun.  This time we made our first trip out to the Majorville Medicine Wheel since November of 2016.  Last time we were with our friend Richard Hansen, this time we brough Chris and Connie of BigDoer.com along with Emily’s parents to join us on the trip.

We noticed a couple of changes since our last visit.  The biggest change was the addition of signage as you get closer to the medicine wheel, showing which directions to take to get to the site.  When we were here in 2016, there was nothing to mark the way.  In conjunction with the new signs, the side tracks which branched off from the main “road” in are now signed as “No Motorized Vehicles”.  I guess they really want to limit how traffic approaches the site as to limit the damage done to the native prairie grasses.

Overall, I don’t mind the changes, although it means we would have had to walk out more than a kilometer if we wanted to see if “the chair” is still present and looking out over the Bow River.  We simply didn’t have time.

The Chair

“The Chair”

The biggest reason I wanted to revisit this site is that I wanted the chance to see it from the air with the drone.  And, as you can see in the video below, there was plenty of opportunity to get out and fly.

That’s it for now.  Summer is rapidly coming to a close but we still have some more exploration and history to share before the snow flies.  Stay tuned!  Thanks for reading and watching.

 

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