Scouting

On Sunday September 17th, while we were in Crowsnest Pass with Chris and Connie, we did a little scouting around for future locations for the Beer Parlour Project.  We checked out the Hillcrest Miners Club, which is a social hall that started out as the union hall for the coal miners at nearby Hillcrest Mine.  Although it is not associated with any hotel it remains a possibility for a future stop on the Beer Parlour Project tour.

We wandered around in Blairmore for a bit and checked out an old store, and the home that used to be the studio of a local photographer named Gushul.  He is famous for having taken many now historical images in the Pass.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the Greenhill Hotel and finished up some interviews, as well as took a couple more photographs.  Still later we made a run over to Hosmer to visit with Len at the Elk Valley Inn, but sadly his establishment was closed.

On Monday morning we were up early and checked out of the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  As I mentioned previously, we were expecting to have to rush back to Edmonton to pick up Helena from school.  But, as she was not feeling well, and didn't go to school on this day, we made a more leisurely trip back home.  We stopped at Lundbreck Falls, which I mention in a separate blog post.

Later we stopped in Pincher Creek and fueled the truck.  I showed Margarit the beautiful Lebel Mansion.  This historic building houses a gallery where my Procession West show was exhibited several years ago.  There was an interesting old building that housed the local branch of the Legion.

We made a stop in Fort McLeod and checked out some of the old buildings and shops there.  We had visited this area earlier in the summer with Arturo and Sharon when we toured the Turner Valley Gas Plant, and Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park.

We made a little side trip into the town of Stavely and checked out an old hotel there.  We also stopped in Nanton and attempted to check out the antique shops there.  Sadly two of them had permanently closed, and the ones that were left were not open on Mondays.  After that we continued on through Calgary and made a late lunch stop in Airdrie.

Finally back on the road we made yet another side trip into Ponoka.  We found a really cool mid-century medicine cabinet in an antique store, and bought it for the guest cottage.  We also found two really cool old hotels, and stopped for a beer in one of them.  The interior of one of them looked like it was stuck in the 1980's.

We eventually made it back home to the city, and to the girls, in the early evening.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day, and we found some good leads for future exploration.