Yesterday, 20 August 2021, was a beautiful blue sky and cloud day. Can't believe how fortunate I was that the weather stayed good all day. When I first opened my front door and walked out to my car, I wasn't at all sure what the rather grey sky would turn out to be. The wind also gave me a bit of concern, including when I was far from home. Luckily, all turned out well, and it felt so good to be reminded of what blue sky actually looks like. Almost every day seems to have been either overcast, rainy, stormy or smoky from the British Columbia wildfires. To have a sunny, blue sky day was wonderful!
With the evenings getting dark earlier and earlier, I knew I needed to hurry up and make the drive NE of Calgary as soon as possible, to make sure there was no risk of not getting home before daylight started to fade. This was a long drive (for me), 430 km / 267 miles, with a destination of Rowley. I always feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere on this drive - so much endless open countryside. However, I knew I had to do it, to make sure I didn't lose the courage to make this trip.
In order to get there as quickly as I could, I kept to highways for most of the drive. On my way out there, though, I did search for an old grist mill that I had seen photos of, on Google. I managed to find, but, not surprisingly, could only see the top part of the mill, hidden behind an overgrown hedge, from the road. The handful of photos that I had seen were taken with permission to go on to the land. I was still thrilled to bits to see the upper part of the unusual structure.
There were just a few people at Rowley - a small school class, I suspect. I always enjoy wandering about, seeing and photographing the various old barns, sheds, old church, old hospital (one of my favourite building of all time, anywhere!). Thankfully, the old grain elevators are not leaning in real life like they are in my photo!
On my return drive home, I decided to take a different road, which took me directly to Sharples, down in a valley. I have always loved this very old grain elevator and the nearby barn. Both are suffering badly from weathering.
After travelling further west, I took a small, gravel backroad, just to take a photo or two of an old house that I have photographed on a few occasions. Another road took me to the brightly coloured Grad barn that I love to see. The last time I saw it was on 20 December 2020.
On the spur of the moment, I also drove a different gravel back road, just to see if there were any birds to be seen. Just one bird, a female Mallard who may have been slightly leucistic. A lone Muskrat was in a hurry as he was running along the edge of the mudflats.
After leaving home a few minutes before 9:00 am, I eventually arrived back home at 7:00 pm, having thoroughly enjoyed seeing lots of familiar things, plus a few new ones. Now we are back to the dull, overcast, cooler weather that we have been having very recently. Sweater, socks, and sweatpants, and I even turned on the heating this morning, which I have avoided doing the past week. More cooler weather in our forecast, which I don't mind.
"Less than a year before the new millennium, the last train passed through Rowley. And now the Alberta prairie town's future may once more belong to the ghosts. In the mid-1970s, Rowley, which once boasted a population of about 500 in the 1920s, was a beat-up dying community, with rows of empty houses and businesses, and inhabited by only a few dozen prairie-hardened souls. But one night, a few party-happy locals, whose liquor supply was fast dwindling, decided on a quick solution – a “B & E Party” at a boarded-up old saloon. The bar was fixed up and named Sam's Saloon after one of the previous owners who had been a respected member of the community. The brazen men then got talking about sprucing up the pioneer community to make it a heritage stop for tourists. For the next quarter century, locals restored old homes and businesses and soon visitors were attracted from all parts of Alberta, Canada and the U.S. The highlight of the community's new fame came in 1988 when a cinema production team used Rowley as the set for the hit Canadian movie Bye Bye Blues. Part of Rowley's charm is that while locals have spent thousands of dollars fixing up many of the old community's homes and buildings to reflect the town's pioneer days, there are still many others left abandoned, and offer ghost towners wonderful photo opportunities. But 1999 also saw the regional train service through Rowley end and locals are worried about the community's future. “That's really going to hurt our cash flow”, said one old-timer, noting as many as 900 train tourists a week would get off at the Rowley station, which also serves as the town's museum.However, the town, which now has an official population of 8, is still hoping word-of-mouth will keep tourists coming. Locals meet at the community hall year-round, and gladly offer visitors a tour even in the cold winter months."
www.ghosttownpix.com/alberta/rowley.html
www.ghosttownpix.com/alberta/rowley2.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowley,_Alberta
Tags: Alberta Canada NE of Calgary Rowley building wooden wood old grain elevator row three grass sky clouds rural rural scene outdoor summer 20 August 2021 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Powershot annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2021 © All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, 20 August 2021, was a beautiful blue sky and cloud day. Can't believe how fortunate I was that the weather stayed good all day. When I first opened my front door and walked out to my car, I wasn't at all sure what the rather grey sky would turn out to be. The wind also gave me a bit of concern, including when I was far from home. Luckily, all turned out well, and it felt so good to be reminded of what blue sky actually looks like. Almost every day seems to have been either overcast, rainy, stormy or smoky from the British Columbia wildfires. To have a sunny, blue sky day was wonderful!
With the evenings getting dark earlier and earlier, I knew I needed to hurry up and make the drive NE of Calgary as soon as possible, to make sure there was no risk of not getting home before daylight started to fade. This was a long drive (for me), 430 km / 267 miles, with a destination of Rowley. I always feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere on this drive - so much endless open countryside. However, I knew I had to do it, to make sure I didn't lose the courage to make this trip.
In order to get there as quickly as I could, I kept to highways for most of the drive. On my way out there, though, I did search for an old grist mill that I had seen photos of, on Google. I managed to find, but, not surprisingly, could only see the top part of the mill, hidden behind an overgrown hedge, from the road. The handful of photos that I had seen were taken with permission to go on to the land. I was still thrilled to bits to see the upper part of the unusual structure.
There were just a few people at Rowley - a small school class, I suspect. I always enjoy wandering about, seeing and photographing the various old barns, sheds, old church, old hospital (one of my favourite building of all time, anywhere!). Thankfully, the old grain elevators are not leaning in real life like they are in my photo!
On my return drive home, I decided to take a different road, which took me directly to Sharples, down in a valley. I have always loved this very old grain elevator and the nearby barn. Both are suffering badly from weathering.
After travelling further west, I took a small, gravel backroad, just to take a photo or two of an old house that I have photographed on a few occasions. Another road took me to the brightly coloured Grad barn that I love to see. The last time I saw it was on 20 December 2020.
On the spur of the moment, I also drove a different gravel back road, just to see if there were any birds to be seen. Just one bird, a female Mallard who may have been slightly leucistic. A lone Muskrat was in a hurry as he was running along the edge of the mudflats.
After leaving home a few minutes before 9:00 am, I eventually arrived back home at 7:00 pm, having thoroughly enjoyed seeing lots of familiar things, plus a few new ones. Now we are back to the dull, overcast, cooler weather that we have been having very recently. Sweater, socks, and sweatpants, and I even turned on the heating this morning, which I have avoided doing the past week. More cooler weather in our forecast, which I don't mind.
© All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, 20 August 2021, was a beautiful blue sky and cloud day. Can't believe how fortunate I was that the weather stayed good all day. When I first opened my front door and walked out to my car, I wasn't at all sure what the rather grey sky would turn out to be. The wind also gave me a bit of concern, including when I was far from home. Luckily, all turned out well, and it felt so good to be reminded of what blue sky actually looks like. Almost every day seems to have been either overcast, rainy, stormy or smoky from the British Columbia wildfires. To have a sunny, blue sky day was wonderful!
With the evenings getting dark earlier and earlier, I knew I needed to hurry up and make the drive NE of Calgary as soon as possible, to make sure there was no risk of not getting home before daylight started to fade. This was a long drive (for me), 430 km / 267 miles, with a destination of Rowley. I always feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere on this drive - so much endless open countryside. However, I knew I had to do it, to make sure I didn't lose the courage to make this trip.
In order to get there as quickly as I could, I kept to highways for most of the drive. On my way out there, though, I did search for an old grist mill that I had seen photos of, on Google. I managed to find, but, not surprisingly, could only see the top part of the mill, hidden behind an overgrown hedge, from the road. The handful of photos that I had seen were taken with permission to go on to the land. I was still thrilled to bits to see the upper part of the unusual structure.
There were just a few people at Rowley - a small school class, I suspect. I always enjoy wandering about, seeing and photographing the various old barns, sheds, old church, old hospital (one of my favourite building of all time, anywhere!). Thankfully, the old grain elevators are not leaning in real life like they are in my photo!
On my return drive home, I decided to take a different road, which took me directly to Sharples, down in a valley. I have always loved this very old grain elevator and the nearby barn. Both are suffering badly from weathering.
After travelling further west, I took a small, gravel backroad, just to take a photo or two of an old house that I have photographed on a few occasions. Another road took me to the brightly coloured Grad barn that I love to see. The last time I saw it was on 20 December 2020.
On the spur of the moment, I also drove a different gravel back road, just to see if there were any birds to be seen. Just one bird, a female Mallard who may have been slightly leucistic. A lone Muskrat was in a hurry as he was running along the edge of the mudflats.
After leaving home a few minutes before 9:00 am, I eventually arrived back home at 7:00 pm, having thoroughly enjoyed seeing lots of familiar things, plus a few new ones. Now we are back to the dull, overcast, cooler weather that we have been having very recently. Sweater, socks, and sweatpants, and I even turned on the heating this morning, which I have avoided doing the past week. More cooler weather in our forecast, which I don't mind.
Tags: Alberta Canada NE of Calgary Badlands
© All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, 20 August 2021, was a beautiful blue sky and cloud day. Can't believe how fortunate I was that the weather stayed good all day. When I first opened my front door and walked out to my car, I wasn't at all sure what the rather grey sky would turn out to be. The wind also gave me a bit of concern, including when I was far from home. Luckily, all turned out well, and it felt so good to be reminded of what blue sky actually looks like. Almost every day seems to have been either overcast, rainy, stormy or smoky from the British Columbia wildfires. To have a sunny, blue sky day was wonderful!
With the evenings getting dark earlier and earlier, I knew I needed to hurry up and make the drive NE of Calgary as soon as possible, to make sure there was no risk of not getting home before daylight started to fade. This was a long drive (for me), 430 km / 267 miles, with a destination of Rowley. I always feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere on this drive - so much endless open countryside. However, I knew I had to do it, to make sure I didn't lose the courage to make this trip.
In order to get there as quickly as I could, I kept to highways for most of the drive. On my way out there, though, I did search for an old grist mill that I had seen photos of, on Google. I managed to find, but, not surprisingly, could only see the top part of the mill, hidden behind an overgrown hedge, from the road. The handful of photos that I had seen were taken with permission to go on to the land. I was still thrilled to bits to see the upper part of the unusual structure.
There were just a few people at Rowley - a small school class, I suspect. I always enjoy wandering about, seeing and photographing the various old barns, sheds, old church, old hospital (one of my favourite building of all time, anywhere!). Thankfully, the old grain elevators are not leaning in real life like they are in my photo!
On my return drive home, I decided to take a different road, which took me directly to Sharples, down in a valley. I have always loved this very old grain elevator and the nearby barn. Both are suffering badly from weathering.
After travelling further west, I took a small, gravel backroad, just to take a photo or two of an old house that I have photographed on a few occasions. Another road took me to the brightly coloured Grad barn that I love to see. The last time I saw it was on 20 December 2020.
On the spur of the moment, I also drove a different gravel back road, just to see if there were any birds to be seen. Just one bird, a female Mallard who may have been slightly leucistic. A lone Muskrat was in a hurry as he was running along the edge of the mudflats.
After leaving home a few minutes before 9:00 am, I eventually arrived back home at 7:00 pm, having thoroughly enjoyed seeing lots of familiar things, plus a few new ones. Now we are back to the dull, overcast, cooler weather that we have been having very recently. Sweater, socks, and sweatpants, and I even turned on the heating this morning, which I have avoided doing the past week. More cooler weather in our forecast, which I don't mind.
Tags: Alberta Canada NE of Calgary landscape scenery rural rural scene agriculture field fence sky clouds outdoor summer 20 August 2021 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Powershot annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2021 © All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, 20 August 2021, was a beautiful blue sky and cloud day. Can't believe how fortunate I was that the weather stayed good all day. When I first opened my front door and walked out to my car, I wasn't at all sure what the rather grey sky would turn out to be. The wind also gave me a bit of concern, including when I was far from home. Luckily, all turned out well, and it felt so good to be reminded of what blue sky actually looks like. Almost every day seems to have been either overcast, rainy, stormy or smoky from the British Columbia wildfires. To have a sunny, blue sky day was wonderful!
With the evenings getting dark earlier and earlier, I knew I needed to hurry up and make the drive NE of Calgary as soon as possible, to make sure there was no risk of not getting home before daylight started to fade. This was a long drive (for me), 430 km / 267 miles, with a destination of Rowley. I always feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere on this drive - so much endless open countryside. However, I knew I had to do it, to make sure I didn't lose the courage to make this trip.
In order to get there as quickly as I could, I kept to highways for most of the drive. On my way out there, though, I did search for an old grist mill that I had seen photos of, on Google. I managed to find, but, not surprisingly, could only see the top part of the mill, hidden behind an overgrown hedge, from the road. The handful of photos that I had seen were taken with permission to go on to the land. I was still thrilled to bits to see the upper part of the unusual structure.
There were just a few people at Rowley - a small school class, I suspect. I always enjoy wandering about, seeing and photographing the various old barns, sheds, old church, old hospital (one of my favourite building of all time, anywhere!). Thankfully, the old grain elevators are not leaning in real life like they are in my photo!
On my return drive home, I decided to take a different road, which took me directly to Sharples, down in a valley. I have always loved this very old grain elevator and the nearby barn. Both are suffering badly from weathering.
After travelling further west, I took a small, gravel backroad, just to take a photo or two of an old house that I have photographed on a few occasions. Another road took me to the brightly coloured Grad barn that I love to see. The last time I saw it was on 20 December 2020.
On the spur of the moment, I also drove a different gravel back road, just to see if there were any birds to be seen. Just one bird, a female Mallard who may have been slightly leucistic. A lone Muskrat was in a hurry as he was running along the edge of the mudflats.
After leaving home a few minutes before 9:00 am, I eventually arrived back home at 7:00 pm, having thoroughly enjoyed seeing lots of familiar things, plus a few new ones. Now we are back to the dull, overcast, cooler weather that we have been having very recently. Sweater, socks, and sweatpants, and I even turned on the heating this morning, which I have avoided doing the past week. More cooler weather in our forecast, which I don't mind.
Tags: Alberta Canada NE of Calgary landscape scenery rural rural scene building old barn red field grass tree sky clouds outdoor summer 20 August 2021 Canon SX60 Canon SX60 Powershot annkelliott Anne Elliott © Anne Elliott 2021 © All Rights Reserved
© All Rights Reserved