Frozen in time in Southern Alberta | Budget Adventure Travel

| January 28, 2024

this blog post is specially inspired by and dedicated to moby, who i met once in new york. this piece is written in the style and images that moby has published on his blog on architecture in LA.

at first glance, southern alberta and the artist moby and hollywood don’t connect.

but dig deeper and a story unfolds.

i always pass through the town of fort macleod, which is located along a remote highway in between not much else. nearest city is lethbridge in the south. the city of calgary is a major hub located further north along the highway.

map of southern alberta

something very uncanny has happened on three occasions i have driven past this town.

each instance as i drove through, my ipod player in the car, which is always set to random, played a particular title by moby. the title is ‘look back in’. as they say, first time is chance, second time is coincidence, and third time is planned action.

so i stopped to take some photos of the historic streets of fort macleod on my return trip from lethbridge in april of 2012.

as i was writing this post, and investigating the history and images of fort macleod, i was stunned to learn that a famous oscar winning blockbuster hollywood movie was shot right here in this town. and the legendary late Heath Ledger has walked through here.

A cowboy hat worn by Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger sits on Table 25 in the Java Shop alongside roses sent by an admirer following the actor’s death.
Photo by Frank McTighe, The Macleod Gazette.

The hat used to be placed in the Java Shop Cafe in the old Greyhound station. Sadly, the shop closed down in 2008. Whereabouts of the hat are unknown.

i made a brief 2min 15sec video montage of the photos i took. click the video image below to view it. the chilling nostalgic soundtrack is by moby – “look back in” – from his album 18.

for those interested to find out more about fort macleod or heritage of alberta please visit the travel alberta website by clicking here. There is also a UNESCO world heritage site located nearby from here –HeadSmashed-In Buffalo Jump. I highly recommend a stop here as well.

For those interested to see the images above in technicolor, here they are.

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Category: Budget Adventure Travel, Canada Travels, Travel Alberta

About the Author ()

Larkycanuck is the pseudonym for the spirited, spontaneous and zestful Canadian. The Blog is focused on showcasing budget adventure travels for working families. Larkycanuck has traveled to over 15 countries, 38 cities in 10 years. He has never quit a job to do this. He travels with his wife and on some trips with the house rabbit (Pepper).

Comments (3)

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  1. wonder what happened to the hat?

    • larkycanuck says:

      Well i believe that it was left at the restaurant while it was operating but then it closed down and all items were left behind in there as is. Im sure people who came in after did not know its significance. It was either trashed or held as a collectible.

  2. Thanks for sharing such an interesting post with us here. Nice share!