I was born and raised in Alberta. I grew up travelling from prairie to hilly countryside to mountains. I vacationed everywhere: the Bad Lands, the Alberta mountain range, the Jasper and Banff provincial parks. Even though I will be gone for many years I know that I will be back to vacation in this beautifully diverse province again.

I will miss the city of Edmonton. Like many others, I bitch about the transit and weather and the fact that downtown closes at 4:30pm. But it's still a wonderful place to live and I've been lucky to grow up in such a wealthy place.

I have decided that I will miss two things most about living in Alberta. (Other than my friends and family, of course.)

Big Alberta Sky
Delicious Alberta Beef

(Although, I'm sure that I'll miss having 5% tax more and more after we get to Ontario.)

Thank you to my Opa, who out of all the places in the world, he picked Edmonton to call home. It's been an amazing place to live and grow up.

I'll miss you Alberta. I hope to be back for Real Winter this Christmas. <3

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

The first weekend in June 2014 I visited my friend Dom in Trochu, Alberta. She's lived there for almost 10 years now and I have been many times to see her. This was the first trip however that I got to go adventuring into the Heavy Metal Auto Wreckers where her fiancee works.

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Driving up, there's this huge sign pointing you down a curved gravel road. As you approach the shop the road opens up. There's a house to the right and the garage on the left. Looking towards the house you can start to see the drop down into the bad lands beyond. Flat prairie that just falls away, leading to the river below.

At this point, you can see some cars that are being worked on, etc. It's not until you get on foot and start the trek into the back of the yard that some real old treasures can be seen. We walked around, seeing the biggest pile of tires I've ever seen, along with the largest collection of literal old beaters. It's kinda neat seeing these old big cars, once the height of luxury, desired by so many, now tireless, smashed and overgrown with grass.

It was a spectacular day to adventure and I thank Domy for taking us to see everything! Love you lady! And everyone else, enjoy the pictures!

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist