Sunday Drive

Chris, Byron and I had booked one extra day at the rental house in Macklin.  There wasn't any point trying to visit any more Beer Parlours on Sunday April 12th as most of them aren't open on Sundays.  In fact most of them aren't open on Monday either.  

We decided to spend the day exploring and did a big loop around Macklin.  We started to the southeast, and then circled around to the south, and then eventually headed north.  We stopped at an old trestle bridge on a long abandoned rail line, and a grain elevator on the same line.  We found a couple of old farm buildings along the way, and a couple of decaying small towns.

In one of the towns there were two abandoned schools.  An old one that had been abandoned when the new one was built, and the abandoned newer one, which was shut down.  The few students remaining in the area are now bused to larger centers.

The ever present flocks of geese were all over the place, and at times the skies were full of them.  On this day the miserable wind seemed to have let up a little, so I was actually able to get my view camera out and take a few photographs.  It still wasn't very pleasant, but it was better than it had been in recent days.

As the afternoon wound down to evening we made our way back to the rental house.  With no old hotels to visit on this day it would just be a relaxing evening to unwind, before packing up and heading home the next day.  Chris and I ended up going to the local Chinese restaurant and there was a buffet on.  Byron decided to stay behind at the house and take it easy and made a meal of some of the stuff we brought along.

Beer Parlour Project - BP43.0 Royal George Hotel

On Saturday April 11th the gang visited the Royal George Hotel in Luseland, Saskatchewan.  Luseland is the next town down the rail line from Denzil.  We met with owners Dot and Brad and visited with them through the evening.  Attendance was light on the night of our visit, and I think there may have been some other event going on in the area.  In any event we enjoyed visiting and meeting with the people that were around, and I managed to take a couple of portraits.  The hotel itself is rather large and has a rather dominant presence on the corner of Strathcona Street and Pacific Avenue.  In most Saskatchewan towns these would have been named Main and Railway.  Perhaps at some future date, if we are in the area, we can make a return visit on a busier night.  In the meantime this is officially Beer Parlour Project outing number BP43.0.

More Tooling Around

On Saturday April 10th we headed out from the rental house in Macklin.  We went out exploring for the day.  We headed to the east and south of Macklin and stopped at a bunch of old grain elevators and a couple of small towns.  

The weather was overcast, cool and that ever present cold spring wind was upon us again.  Yet again I was forced to leave my view camera in the vehicle and only managed a bunch of snapshots with my phone.  The spring migration seemed to be in full swing and there were geese everywhere.  The Canada Geese seemed to have arrived a little earlier but the Snow Geese were now arriving in huge flocks.  They sometimes were all across the sky from horizon to horizon.  We saw a few flocks of Sandhill Cranes as well.

We found a few interesting stops along the way.  One of the relatively modern grain elevators that we visited had only been recently abandoned and was still fairly intact.  The scale was still there, as well as the control panel.  There was even a piano in the office.  Another elevator that we stopped at had been heavily damaged by recent winds, and part of the roof was ripped off.

Some goose tracks in the mud, and old service station, a couple of old houses, and a fire truck rounded out our discoveries for the day.

We stopped for lunch at the Denzil Hotel and wanted to say hello to the owner Jenn.  She was away at a couple of catering events and it was good to see that her business is doing well.  The Beer Parlour Project visited her establishment last year.  As the afternoon wound down we made our way southeast to Luseland for a planned visit to the hotel there.

Beer Parlour Project - BP42.0 Czar Hotel

At about 3:30 in the afternoon on April 10th we rolled into the Czar Hotel, in Czar Alberta.  This was the forty second hotel that we have visited for the project and therefore is referred to as BP42.0.  We went inside and introduced ourselves to the owner, Val.  Although she had been managing the hotel for a number of years, she had just become the owner a couple of months ago.  She named the tavern Bella's Bar, and was doing a great job of promoting the place locally.

Friday night is steak night, and for $34 you get a nice strip loin steak, grilled to your liking, with garlic toast.  In addition to that there was a large buffet that featured baked potatoes with all the fixings, scalloped potatoes, vegetables, baked beans, salad and dessert.  It was really good, and one of the best meals we have had in a hotel in quite some time.

A reporter from the newspaper in nearby Wainwright came out to write an article about our project.  Sukie was very interested and took a lot of photos, and interviewed everyone.  She stayed for the steak dinner and got a good feel for the vibe of a small town tavern.  Previous newspaper reporters that were out to earlier locations generally just hung around long enough for a quick story and a couple snapshots, but never really got the true feel of the place.  It was nice to see that Sukie took a really serious interest in our project.

The place was pretty busy for steak night and we stayed fairly late into the evening taking portraits and visiting with everyone.  It was a great outing and we really enjoyed it.  By the time we got back to the rental house in Macklin we were pretty exhausted.  It had been a long day of exploring and lots of fresh air, and then the chaotic environment of Bella's Bar all evening.  It doesn't' get much better...!

Tooling Around

On Friday April 10th, Chris and Byron and I went out exploring.  We headed basically southwest of Macklin.  Initially we were in the province of Saskatchewan, but it wasn't long before we had crossed the border into Alberta.  We stopped at a number of country churches, old farm yards and in the town of Bodo.  We spent several hours exploring and taking photographs.  Although the light was very nice, there was a bitter wind blowing, so once again I didn't take out the big view camera.  But I took a whole bunch of snapshots with my phone, and the other two guys used their digital cameras.

We were scheduled for a visit to the Czar Hotel for the Beer Parlour Project and we finished up our exploring and rolled in there at about 3:30 in the afternoon.