The Car Graveyard

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. 

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

Mountain Climbing

This is the second year now that a group of friends, as organized by my bestie Jess, went to Canmore for a snowshoeing expedition. 

Two missing! They went snow boarding instead of breakfast =P

Last year there was 6 of us that hiked up a mountain. This year, however, we were a group of twelve. More the merrier! We drove up to the trail on the most precarious road I have ever been on. Literally mountain side, narrow road, cliff into a dammed lake. It took about an hour to drive the slippery curves, out of Canmore to start our hike to Rummel Lake. 

There were some pretty breathtaking views on the mountain top-ish. I have to say though, I'm so out of shape. Nothing motivates you to stop eating cake and go to the gym like when all your friends are hiking away from you at warp 2. (To be fair though, it wasn't as bad as last year!)

When we got to the top we had lunch: Safeway Lumberjacks and hot chocolate. Jess and Jon, master campers, had a portable/foldable camp stove. Best idea ever because it was freaking cold. Who would have thought the top of a mountain would be very cold. (JK!) Next time I'm bringing better gloves. 

Snow Bank = Snow Couches

The hike down didn't take nearly as much time as going up. (2 1/2 hours going up; 1 1/2 coming down. The BF wished we had crazy carpets.) We all made it back down in one, frozen, piece. Then back home for dinner and homemade pie. 

Cheers!

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

Fall Light

Photography is one of those hobbies that I say I do but really have no idea about. So basically, just like every other hipster with an iPhone, I too have succumbed to the taking of kinda pretty pictures and then filtering them through instagram, etc and calling myself a 'photographer'. I do actually have a pretty decent Nikon D80 that I also use (-plea of credibility-). 

My uncle gave me the old D80 a couple years ago when he upgraded to a new camera. I've read the manual, although it's incredibly confusing to a beginner, and learned about focal points and the different lens capabilities. It was all very math-y, which is fine by me. 

I supposed more than anything, I like taking pictures of light. Especially fall light. It ranges so much since Alberta is relatively far north; from pale white in the morning to syrup golden in the evenings. 

Really though, photography is about the pictures. So see them above! 

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist